In the medical device industry, inventory doesn’t sit neatly on a warehouse shelf waiting to be picked, packed, and shipped. It’s out in the world—on the move, in reps’ car trunks, packed into loaner trays, or sitting in satellite warehouses near hospitals. And while that kind of flexibility helps ensure inventory is where it needs to be when it needs to be there, it also creates chaos for the supply chain.
The Field Inventory Fog
Unlike consumer goods, medical devices often follow a more complex path between manufacturer and point-of-use. Consider just a few of the moving parts:
- Trunk stock: Sales reps often carry high-value inventory in their vehicles to respond quickly to surgical needs. It’s convenient—but hard to track.
- Loaner trays: Used to support one-time surgeries or fill short-term gaps, these kits travel between hospitals, often without a system that records their whereabouts, contents, or condition.
- Satellite warehouses: Deployed to get closer to customers, these small hubs often have limited oversight or outdated data syncing methods.
Each of these methods adds flexibility—but also introduces blind spots. Who has what? What’s in usable condition? What’s expired, returned, or billed? These questions become exponentially harder to answer when inventory is scattered across dozens (or hundreds) of hands and locations.
The Real Cost of Poor Visibility
When inventory data is unreliable, everything downstream suffers:
- Overstocking or out-of-stocks: You buy more “just in case” or risk missing a surgery due to a missing component.
- Lost or expired inventory: Products expire in the field, or disappear without accountability.
- Billing errors: Without a clean usage trail, providers and manufacturers struggle with invoicing and reconciliation.
- Compliance risks: Regulatory bodies expect detailed traceability. If you can’t prove where a product was or who used it, you’re exposed.
Visibility Is the First Step Toward Control
Medical device manufacturers can’t eliminate trunk stock or loaner trays—they’re essential to how the field works. But they can get smarter about how they track and manage it.
The right tools can provide real-time inventory visibility across all those distributed touchpoints, giving ops teams the insight they need to manage field inventory proactively, not reactively. Whether it’s knowing which loaner trays are sterilized and ready to go, or which consignment stock has been used and needs to be replenished, visibility turns guesswork into strategic advantage.
Flexible Tools for a Fluid Supply Chain
The complexity of medical device inventory isn’t going away. But with the right platform, manufacturers can bring order to the chaos. Flexible inventory management tools that account for trunk stock, consignment, and multi-location workflows give teams the clarity they need to support both the field and the bottom line.
Because in healthcare, having the right product in the right place—at exactly the right time—isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s critical.
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