Welcome to BlueBin's Operations Focus newsletter! We're excited to bring you insights on the intersection of supply chain operations, patient care, and staff safety. This newsletter will provide valuable analysis and strategies to help you navigate the challenges of maintaining Lean Six Sigma 2.0-level operations in your healthcare supply chains. Stay tuned for expert insights and actionable tips to strengthen your decision-making for a high-speed, accurate, and digitized operational future!
Employee Spotlight
Get to know our team!
Learn more about the folks here at BlueBin who keep supplies and operations flowing.
MARGARET BOWERS
What inspires your passion for the healthcare supply chain?
I’m passionate about the healthcare supply chain because it lets us drive meaningful impact at scale. At BlueBin, we work behind the scenes—solving problems, organizing workflows, and pushing for the next right step even when change is hard. When our solutions click, everyone wins: hospitals operate smoothly, supply teams and clinicians feel empowered, and patients receive better care. That ripple effect motivates me every day.
Can you share a specific “before and after” example of the impact of a BlueBin implementation?
One of my most memorable “before and after” stories involves an EP Lab supply coordinator who was overwhelmed, skipping lunch, arriving early, and staying late just to keep up. After implementing BlueBin, my PM and I did a week‑long time study: I shadowed him, pinpointed bottlenecks, and introduced targeted changes based on our SOPs. We limited orders to empty bins, avoided overstocking, and moved put‑away tasks to after lunch once deliveries arrived. By week’s end, he was noticeably less stressed, followed a transparent, efficient process, and even could manage more. That shift—from merely surviving to truly thriving—is the impact BlueBin delivers.
Outside of Work
My time usually starts with a fundamental debate—between me and my two corgis, Bernie and Tess—about which dog park we’re heading to that day. (Spoiler: they always win.) These two are my forever sidekicks, tagging along wherever they can. On sunny days, you’ll find us adventuring on beach walks or cruising down local trails—sometimes even by bike, if I’ve got enough energy to tow them behind me! When the weather’s not so great, I trade the outdoors for cozy quilting projects and getting lost in an Elin Hilderbrand book.
Industry News
Learn what's happening in the healthcare operations.
Healthcare COOs are shifting from fragmented point solutions to secure, cloud-based operations platforms to streamline workflows, reduce costs, cut clinician burnout, and enable scalable AI and enterprise-wide resilience.
Hospitals are already using advanced analytics and ML—via tools that optimize patient discharge, predict deterioration, allocate nursing resources fairly, and schedule surgeries—to reduce length of stay, boost capacity, improve staff retention, and enable AI-driven, explainable care to enhance clinical performance and operational efficiency.
BlueBin Client Success Story
Learn more about BlueBin client partner successes.
UCHealth leveraged BlueBin to streamline real-time inventory visibility—boosting emergency department (ED) item utilization from the 60% range to over 90% and eliminating $5,400 in dead stock (16% reduction in ED inventory valuation)—resulting in significantly lower waste, optimized stock levels, and stronger supply chain efficiency.
Request a Complimentary Supply Chain Resilience Assessment
For a limited time, BlueBin is offering a complimentary supply chain resilience assessment for healthcare organizations, including acute and non-acute facilities, to evaluate their resilience framework against industry-leading practices.
Note: BlueBin’s mission is to transform healthcare by enhancing the supply chain process, ensuring that patient care staff have the right supplies at the right time and maximizing efficiency. In line with this mission, BlueBin advocates for and supports the AHRMM Keys for Supply Chain Excellence. By focusing on improving inventory management, optimizing supply chain processes, and minimizing waste, we aim to reduce costs, accelerate operational efficiency, and enhance clinical outcomes throughout the continuum of care. The AHRMM Keys for Supply Chain Excellence serve as key performance indicators (KPIs), establishing essential standards for supply chain management in the healthcare field. Learn more about the AHRMM Keys.
Blog summary: Hospital supply room efficiency improves dramatically when staff are routinely trained, given clear labels and organization, empowered to report low stock via simple systems, and equipped with tools and processes—such as hands-on training, consistent categorization, and proactive reorder protocols—to keep critical items accessible and reduce waste.
Did you know? BlueBin equips frontline staff with hands-on training, intuitive visual labels, and real-time BlueQ alerts, making it easy to keep supply rooms organized, eliminate waste, and ensure critical items are always on hand without the hassle.
Operations Tip
Slash Rework & Labor Waste with a Bin Sequence Report
Utilize aBin Sequence Report to ensure bins are scanned and restocked in the correct A/B order. This prevents mis-sequenced replenishment that causes workflow confusion, missed scans, unnecessary stat calls, and backroom rework, saving hours of labor each week across clinical units and reducing avoidable inventory disruptions.
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