Dishwashers are amazing...

What is a Virtual Appliance?

The first time a housewife learns that a dishwasher can reduce time and stress and easily integrates soap, detergent, and water with a cleaning and drying mechanism she really gets the concept of using appliances to do your daily chores. 

So what does this have to do with supply chain software you say?

Well it's simple really...
The MDS System is now available as a virtual appliance, you will see lots more information on the specifics in the coming weeks.  And we will be announcing availability on the competing platforms:

• Vmware
• IBM Pure
• Amazon EC2
• HyperV 
• Xen
• VirtualBox
• KVM

But in it simplest form, it turns the complexity and hard work often associated with installing a server , setting up a database and configuring Enterprise Resource planning software into a quick and easy operation. 

Benefits of Virtual Appliances

Q: What benefits do virtual appliances offer over traditional software?

A: Traditional software as sold by software vendors have to be customized to a variety of hardware platforms. Once shipped to end customers they are often difficult to deploy and configure. Virtual Appliances are pre-packaged and so help reduce the time to market for Software Developers, reduce complexity of installation and configuration for their end users and hence reduce support costs.

Q: What benefits do virtual appliances offer over hardware appliances?

A: A virtual appliance extends the concept of a hardware appliance by offering the same benefits in a far more dynamic, scalable, and flexible way. Virtual appliances eliminate the need for custom or 3rd party physical hardware and enable solutions to be run on a virtualization platform.

Q: How do virtual appliances enhance the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model?

A: With virtual appliances, IT organizations can maintain their applications and data within a virtual appliance in their own data centers for peace of mind and security. Virtual appliances also have a more traditional fee structure, eliminating the risk of unpredictable storage, bandwidth, and per seat costs of SaaS. In addition, virtual appliances can be used as a delivery mechanism for any software on an IA-32 x86 platform, including custom built software. For Software Developers virtual appliances do not require expensive reengineering of the application to support multi-tenancy. 

Want more information on how your can move your operations to the Cloud using an MDS Virtual Appliance? Click here and tell us how we can help you with your business solutions. Cloud Hosting  Your Choice of OS: 32/64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Server,Windows Server 32/64-Bit Single IP Address for Access Per GB monthly access charge (contact for pricing) Simple Single monthly Access Cost , Server and Software

For more information on TSH or MDS call The Systems House, Inc. at 1-800- MDS-5556. Or send a message to sales@tshinc.com

Click here and tell us how we can help you with your business solutions.

2013 Supply Chain Dept of the Year - GHS

 
Greenville Health System named Healthcare Purchasing News  2013 Supply Chain Management Department of the Year. Click here for the Full Article
The Systems house, Inc. congratulates GHS on this prestigious award, and is proud to provide and maintain the systems that drive supply chain excellence. 

The GHS Supply Chain’s crown jewel is clearly the 125,000-square-foot Materials Distribution

GHS Materials Specialist picks supplies 
using Pick-to-Light technology

 Center (MDC), which is staffed by more than 84 full-time employees, and fortified with a fleet of automated guided vehicles (AGV), carousels and conveyor belts, linked electronically through an enterprise-resource planning system from The Systems House.  The MDS Healthcare Suite is the perfect solution for a variety of healthcare supply chain models. 

GHS utilizes the MDS warehouse management system with:

• Low-unit of measure replenishment
• Pick to light technology
• Tote Scanning and Sorting 
• Wireless Barcode scanning with Handheld Devices 
• Mirrored Carousel POD locations to load balance and optimize picking 
• Statistically sampled quality control to measure picking accuracy
• Seamless integration with the hospital MMIS systems

Fast Facts on Greenville Health System
Headquarters: Greenville, SC	2012	2013
Facilities: 4 acute care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, six outpatient care facilities, two long-term care facilities, two wellness centers and a host of affiliated practice sites and related programs.  Employees/FTEs (at GHS): 186.5 Beds (licensed and average operating): 1,268 + 91 = 1,359
Outpatient Visits (2012 vs. 2013):	2,434,453	2,802,570
Surgical cases (2012 vs. 2013):	42,366	41,847
Total net revenue (2012 vs. 2013):	$1,173,163,000	$1,354,111,500
Annual purchasing supply expense (FY2012 vs. FY2013):	$114,592,983	$120,186,744
Annual purchase order volume (FY2012 vs. FY2013):	$299,715,123	$332,981,519
Total annual operating expenses: $16,668,716
Source: Greenville (SC) Health System, July 2013

For more information on TSH or MDS call The Systems House, Inc. at 1-800- MDS-5556. Or send a message to sales@tshinc.com

Click here and tell us how we can help you with your business solutions.

Next Day Shipping (JIT) - The secret to the perfect fill rate...

Use your vendor partners to get your fill rates where they need to be

 An ever elusive goal is the perfect order, 100% fulfillment and no backorders, but the reality of today's business is that heavy inventory investment is no longer a possibility.  You can just keep everything in stock any more.

To help you compete in the fast paced "JIT"- Just in Time , or Next Day Shipping environments, MDS now offers a Next Day Vendor module. Rather then try to figure out usage patterns and forecast demand etc.. 

You can now pass those headaches to your vendors and make the process transparent to your customers. 

Many distributors already do this and we have already discussed our special Tie to sales order PO logic - which allows you to take a sales order and have it create a special po to ship and match to the sales order, - well with the next day vendor logic , any Item flagged as next day vendor is treated as in stock and will go on a building order for that vendor. 

The Major difference is that it will show up in the warehouse on the picking documents with a flag indicating the item will be next day shipped. Customers wont see any evidence that you shipped from an alternate source. 

Many vendors allow you to aggregate orders for the day and take one big purchase order for all the items you need for the day. The will then ship them overnite and have them at your warehouse the next morning. 

Your customer's order will then ship the next day with the other goods you already had in stock. and you can cut down on the paper work  with a single purchase order to your vendor and no second or third shipping documents. 

For more information on TSH or MDS call The Systems House, Inc. at 1-800- MDS-5556. Or send a message to sales@tshinc.com

Click here and tell us how we can help you with your business solutions.

MDS User Group Meeting 2013

Our Annual MDS User Group Meeting will be held on Monday, October 21, 2013.

Please Contact mlv@tshinc.com for registration details and Hotel Arrangements. If you would like to arrange a private meeting for October 22^nd  during your visit you can register and request a meeting on your form. 

MDS User Group Meeting 2013

  

MDS Enhancements (including the status of last year’s requests), training on various aspects of the MDS system, and customer Q&A with an opportunity for users to share their experiences, needs, and wants with MDS/TSH during our Round Table wrap-up session.

In addition, TSH personnel will be available for one on one meetings on both Monday afternoon as well as on Tuesday.  The one on one meetings will be scheduled for 30 minutes.  If you require more time, please advise us ahead of time.

The centerpiece of this year’s meeting will be the release of our new version of WinMDS, featuring a completely updated and enhanced look and feel. In addition extensive changes have been made to our Dashboard and lookup functions. These will be covered in two presentations that are scheduled after the MDS enhancement presentation.

The afternoon will be dedicated to providing updates on key areas of the MDS system:

1.  Pharma – This session will discuss the specific Pharma related capabilities integrated into MDS. This will include a discussion of pedigree management, control of licenses and controlled substances, and ARCOS and DEA reporting.

2.  Inventory Management – This session will explore the expanded purchasing capabilities incorporated into MDS. The objective is to identify the vendors and products in need of replenishment. The Inventory Management module attempts to minimize inventory investment while reducing stock outs and backorders.

3.  RemoteNet – Many enhancements in both function and appearance have been made to RemoteNet during this past year. This session will review these enhancements.

The meeting will be at our offices in Clifton, New Jersey. 

We will be hosting a dinner Sunday evening for all attendees planning to be in town on Sunday, October 20.

Looking forward to seeing all of you there!!! 

MDS Quick Lookups - Real-Time Pricing, Inventory, and Customer Sales History

MDS-Nx – Cleaner, Easier and Faster access to your MDS system.

MDS Quick Lookups - Real-Time Pricing, Inventory, and Customer Sales History with a simple mouseover. 


Tabbed Lookups Include:

• Products
• Customers
• Vendors
• Sales History

Including Real-Time Inventory with both onhand and available to sell , Pricing specific to a customer , Contract Pricing and Rebate information with Acquisition Cost Basis. And the ability to setup custom filters and columns by operator logon. 

Click Above for a video on MDS Quick Lookups

For more information on TSH or MDS call The Systems House, Inc. at 1-800- MDS-5556. Or send a message to sales@tshinc.com

Click here and tell us how we can help you with your business solutions.

To build repeat customers, be consistent. TSH welcomes back repeat customer Chuck Graham

To build repeat customers, be consistent.

“Don’t be a stranger now.” You’ve surely heard that expression, a most hospitable one

If a customer comes back to your business, chances are pretty good that they liked what they saw the first time around. 

On the surface, a solid base of repeat customers might seem little more than a matter of providing excellent service or products. True, but excellence cannot be a hit or miss proposition—repeat customers return because their experience is consistently solid.

By definition, a repeat customer is someone you get to know. Nurture that by keeping your relationship as personal as possible.

TSH is proud to welcome back Chuck Graham , an industry veteran who has joined up with US Medsource LLC.  and has purchased his second MDS System. This brings Chuck into an Elite but not small group of TSH clients who have purchased multiple systems while working at different companies. 

"Connecting on a personal level with customers is one of the hallmarks of TSH, Everyone loves it when they go into a coffee shop and the server remembers their name and their favorite drink, at TSH they answer the phone and know who you are"

We are excited about the opportunity to grow with Chuck and US Medsource. 

TSH President Sy Fertig welcomes Chuck Graham back aboard
 at the NDC 2013 Conference