Medline launches custom product fulfillment technology

NORTHFIELD, Ill. – Medline has launched a product fulfillment system called Pick Pack Pro at its distribution center in Montgomery, N.Y. The company says the system marks a significant investment in advanced automation to support its health plan customers, including providers that administer Medicare benefits.

Medline engineered Pick Pack Pro to help with orders that are pulled from a smaller range of products at high order volumes.

“We want to help the health plan providers we serve drive greater member satisfaction and better overall care outcomes,” said Brad Mariam, executive vice president, non-acute care sales, for Medline. “With our Pick Pack Pro system, we can support commitments our health plan customers make to their members by getting benefit items to members quickly and accurately, as well as delivering directly to their homes.”

The problem: Managing intense fulfillment spikes

Unlike traditional distribution models that support thousands of products, health plan orders typically draw from a more select catalog of medical supply items for everyday use, such as over-the-counter medications, heating pads and compression socks. Plan members purchase these items inside specific ordering timeframes. This ordering pattern creates intense fulfillment spikes throughout the year, followed by more consistent volume during the remainder of that year.

The solution: Maintaining delivery times & order accuracy

Pick Pack Pro integrates optimized order batching, robotic sortation and automated packing and shipping to address the challenge of maintaining delivery times and order accuracy inherent in serving health plans and their members. The system is expected to allow Medline to improve accuracy and speed of delivery to health plan members, an important part of serving customers who are health plan providers.

Medline developed the Montgomery installation with three key vendors, representing its first capital and staffing investment in this technology. The company plans to deploy Pick Pack Pro to other locations throughout its network of 45 distribution centers across the U.S.