Medacta International Partners with SATO and SAIT in order to make Orthopaedic Implant Logistics more efficient with RFID
Medacta faced challenges in managing resources for orthopaedic surgeries. To improve efficiency, the company turned to SATO's PJM RFID technology as a replacement for their existing barcode system which was laborious and time consuming. SATO's technology is designed to resolve such challenges.
Unlike other UHF and HF tags, SATO's radiation hardened D-chip memory allows for tagged products to be sterilized via gamma irradiation, which would render most tags useless. This step makes it possible to tag products at a single location—the factory—and track them across all Medacta facilities worldwide throughout their lifetime.
The open standard ISO 18000-3 for HF RFID phase jitter modulation (PJM) utilizes is designed for high-speed bulk conveyor-fed item-level identification. This technology enables the batch reading of multiple tags densely stacked in various configurations in medical flight cases with unparalleled precision. This efficiency is achieved by avoiding double readings of products, leading to a remarkable improvement in operational efficiency at Medacta's headquarters; more than 30% since the implementation resulting in a reducing staffing cost.
This shift has resulted in a 100% accuracy rate in inventory management. In international markets where the technology has been rolled out, including multiple countries in Europe including Italy, the United States, and Japan, it has achieved efficiency improvements ranging from 5% to 15%.
In the future, the tagging of loan kits could unlock even greater efficiencies and accuracy if expanded to more to more touchpoints across the vendor intralogistics system. Currently, gate readers are employed for the inbound and outbound stocktakes of individual products at Medacta’s factory and warehouses.
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