Efficiency of Medical Supplies Layout Using Application of Theory of Prioritizing Importance of Inventory and Visual Control at the Office of Disease Prevention and Control 6 Chonburi

Abstract

  The Office of Disease Prevention and Control 6 Chonburi is an organization with the mission of reserving, managing, and supporting medical supplies when epidemics or public health emergencies occur in the 8 provinces, namely Chonburi, Samut Prakan, Chachoengsao, Prachinburi, Sa Kaeo, Rayong, Chanthaburi, and Trat. Currently, the layout of medical supplies in the warehouse is informal, making it difficult for new personnel or personnel from other departments who come to assist in the mission to work efficiently. This is especially problematic during public health emergencies.
  The researchers conducted action research with all inventory officer. We selected non-drug, non-chemical medical supplies to be relocated, as these items have smaller quantities and need to be stored separately in accordance with the organization's storage standards. In total, 60 medical supplies were chosen for this study. The study's objective was to improve the layout system of the medical supply stock by applying the theory of prioritizing the importance of inventory items, dividing them into three categories: fast-moving, slow-moving, and non-moving medical supplies, along with a visual control method. Data were collected as time and distance before and after the warehouse relocation. Afterward, they evaluated the efficiency of the layout through statistical analysis.
  The study found that relocating the medical supplies was effective in reducing both time and distance in searching and picking steps. Specifically, it reduced the time by 1.01 minutes and the distance by 42.81 meters on average. The most significant reduction occurred in the non-moving followed by fast-moving and slow-moving medical supplies, respectively. Similarly, the most prominent distance reduction was observed in the fast-moving followed by non-moving and slow-moving medical supplies, respectively. Additionally, when calculating the reduced time and distance per year, the layout improvements resulted in an average reduction approximately 151 working days and a reduction approximately 18 kilometers per year.