ICT spoke with Judson Boothe, marketing director of medical supplies for Kimberly-Clark Health Care, about last year’s H1N1 influenza pandemic and the resulting pressures brought to bear on the healthcare supply chain. Although it’s only summer, it’s not too early to begin planning for the fall and the next outbreak of influenza or other infectious disease that requires significant usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the appropriate management of materials to help facilitate infection prevention and control.
Q: How do manufacturers make the decision to provide products to some customers and not to others?
A: As a result of the H1N1 influenza virus alert, we had an unprecedented increase in orders for a number of our healthcare-related products, including our N-95 respirator masks, surgical and procedure facemasks, isolation gowns and nitrile exam gloves. As a result of this increased demand, controls were put in place to insure our normal demand could be met without interruption at historical levels. Prioritization of available supply above current average demand levels was prioritized based upon following customer criteria:
1. Protection of first-line responders: Medical personnel treating the sick, primarily hospitals
2. Protection of pharmaceutical production: Medication production and vaccine research
3. Protection of global commerce/transportation: Global and local transportation, shipping and airline traffic
4. Protection of public transportation employees
5. Protection of major infrastructure/utilities/critical manufacturing customers
6. Protection of the general public
Stockpile building and replenishment orders were delayed until the pandemic alert crisis passed and additional capacity and inventories were available.
