Manufacturing in healthcare: Developing the business case for redistributed manufacturing (RDM) in deployed healthcare

Uwalaka, Victor

Abstract

This research presents the findings of a study into redistributed manufacturing within healthcare, focusing on deployed medical operations. With the increasing frequency of geopolitical disruptions, such as natural disasters, conflict and disease outbreaks, there is a need to reconsider the supply of critical healthcare products. Deployed medical delivery often involves a long logistical tail, resulting in a lack of resilience and agility in the supply of healthcare products. There is an urgent need for cost-effective technologies that can deliver essential healthcare products on-demand and close to the point-of-need, thus alleviating pressure on both the deployed personnel and the emergency healthcare systems, especially during crises situations.
The COVID-19 pandemic placed a spotlight upon the coordination issues and weaknesses of large-scale, global supply chains across different sectors, highlighting the need for greater resilience in manufacturing and supply chains. Redistributed Manufacturing’ (RDM) is defined as the expertise, processes and methods that change the management and arrangement of production, especially pertaining to the location and production scale that has the potential to address these issues. Advanced manufacturing technologies such as additive layer manufacturing, are enabling a move away from the large-scale, centralised production of healthcare products, towards localised, small-scale manufacturing processes and supply closer to the point-of-need or care. Focusing on scale-out as opposed to scale-up, RDM has the potential to disrupt existing business models and supply chain configurations, challenging existing operations management theory and practice. In exploring the viability of RDM and its successful implementation, this study investigates the business case for RDM in deployed healthcare and explores the challenges and opportunities that are posed by its adoption.
The study drew upon a review of relevant literature exploring the evolution of different manufacturing systems, healthcare supply chains and deployed healthcare to develop a conceptual framework for RDM in deployed operations. Adopting critical realism as a research philosophy, multiple case studies were undertaken to describe and further explore the RDM approach in more depth. Four exemplar cases were investigated in four priority areas of healthcare: additive layer manufacturing, cell and tissue therapies, clinical fluids, and pharmaceuticals. Employing value stream mapping (VSM) as a technique, the research explored the current supply a critical healthcare product from each of the four priority areas, comparing the current supply chain to a future RDM-led approach. In line with the factors measured when employing VSM, the performances of the current and future RDM-led approaches were evaluated in terms of safety, quality, delivery, cost and people, and introduced an additional factor – emissions (carbon). Additional data were gathered from interviews and workshops in order to test the study’s research questions and the initial conceptual model. Building upon the findings, the study presented a refined version of the conceptual framework for RDM.
The findings indicated that RDM brings:
1) A reduction in process steps along the treatment pathway.
2) Less material movements in supply chain.
3) Reduced carbon emissions.
4) Less stockpiling of supplies.
5) A reduction in the need for skilled operators at the point-of-care.
6) A reduction in man-hours (both medical and non-medical) along the value chain.
Based on these findings, the research suggests that RDM has the potential to support resilience in healthcare supply chains and transform patient care pathways, especially in deployed operations.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Apr 3, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 5, 2024
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11875331
• Award Date: Sep 5, 2024