August 18, 2022 – Conrad Emmerich is the Senior Vice President, Supply Chain, Lab, Imaging and chief Product Officer at Atrium Health. Read an excerpt from The Journal of Healthcare Contracting’s “10 People to Watch in Healthcare Contracting” below.
What are the most important attributes of successful supply chain teams today?
Collaboration, communication and trust.
Collaboration: It’s imperative for success that we share a common understanding of the challenges facing supply chain today and tomorrow. This shared understanding means working hard to partner with and align internal customers, as well as vendor partners we work with every day. We must develop solutions together to meet the common goal of improving health.
Communication: Your team and your leaders need to know where and how your supply chain operations are evolving. Strong communication is required to keep teams informed, motivated and focused. Communicating in a variety of ways, formal and informal is essential for success. You are always sending a message, even when you don’t know it.
Trust: There are few attributes that can damage a team’s ability to win each day more than lack of trust. Highly successful teams push each other to be great and conflicts may arise, but the hard conversations only make the output better and the team stronger.
What project or initiative are you looking forward to working on?
I’m looking forward to our organizational ESG work and how supply chain can lead. Supply chain can play a significant role in making an organization’s commitment to sustainability real. The World Health Organization (WHO) says climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity. We, as an entire supply chain community, can drastically change the emissions output caused by healthcare.
In addition, we can impact how our organizations work within the communities in which we reside though supplier diversity. We are working to bring more local, minority-owned vendors to our organization for the opportunity to earn business. This brings significant value to the communities we serve.
What changes brought about by the pandemic are here to stay in the supply chain?
Resiliency isn’t a buzzword. It’s always been in the DNA of robust supply chains throughout industry. However, it’s a requirement now for anyone in this business. The advancement of transparency in the supply chain, and the partnerships between providers and manufacturers must continue. The transition to vertically integrated supply chains can only benefit our ability to reduce supply chain disruptions. Another element here to stay is the redistribution of the globalization of supply chains. Nimble organizations will be less reliant on some specific regions going forward.
To see the rest of our 10 People to Watch in Healthcare Contracting list, click here.