Do you have time to chase multiple vendors for each item in your supplies list? Of course not. Each additional vendor offers new stipulations, account management, billing, and supply issues to address. Simplify your work by taking the time, as you are now, to find a supplier who understands your business and does not only cater to it.
The ultimate contract would be with the manufacturer. If you cannot order a few containers of masks at a time, that could be a problem. Factories sell in quantity levels that are not conducive to efficiently managing smaller dental practice consumables.
When we need a box quantity of nitrile gloves, dashing down to a local store is the opposite end of poor nondurable goods management. Their prices are multiple times more than properly timed and ordered deliveries from known sources.
Consistency in pricing, billing, and receiving is a relief to many possible roadblocks but not all. Quality is a major concern with sterilization of the equipment we use on clients and protect ourselves with. I don’t know about you but when I find good customer service, I want to stay with that company.
We have all heard the warnings pertaining to single-source supply and yes, if a single supplier has a business event, it could negatively affect the chain of goods. Our minimum supply limit should represent our concern level. Keep a backup supplier on record, but do not feel the need to hand them a partial order to keep them interested. The right vendors will understand loyalty.
Always back up your bibs, caps, gowns, masks, face protection, sterile pouches, scalpels, cotton batting, etc. to a level required for two months of standard operation. Then make weekly inventory a real practice and put your hands on all counts.
Tracking this data will help you present accurate consumption and use records for efficient store positioning in the future. It will also make the accounting side very happy. Any steps we can take to keep them happy will make other requests go smoothly.
We recommend clients take daily care of their dental health. As dental professionals, we need to keep our office function healthy. Efficiency is a great first step to sustainable and eco-responsible operations. These bulk consumables all see the landfill and anything we can do to mitigate their waste is important to our future. Smile more.
