Case studies
Meeting the National Product Catalogue deadline
One of the first suppliers to go live was Briell Marketing, which supplies hospitals with Sony and Mitsubishi medical equipment and consumables. Briell needed to load 110 products the NPC. While the team ultimately only had to make minor adjustments, Zorica Obradovic, Briell’s office manager, called on GS1 Australia's Professional Services for guidance.
"We worked out the time it would take, set milestones and pre-arranged all our meetings," Ms Obradovic said. "Because of the Advisor’s excellent planning and realistic scheduling, all sessions were informative and well organised. In all, it took us about six days over a month-long period and the only delay was while we waited for supplier information."
"It was complex and it's much easier to have someone sitting beside you explaining it," she said. "Now that we've had that training, it won't be a problem to maintain."
Multinational healthcare products supplier, Abbott, was equally committed to meeting the NPC deadline and like Briell Marketing, Abbott engaged GS1 Professional Services to assist with preparation for the uploading of data onto the NPC.
"Australia is the first country to develop data synchronisation within the healthcare sector and, although we've got a good team who understand the healthcare supply chain, we did need help from a GS1 person who knew the GS1 System. My advice to anyone else is to select the right cross-functional team, look for support from your global operations if you have them and get GS1 to help," said Abbott customer supply chain manager, Dianne Prince.
