Hospital logistics: How Sana and FIEGE ensure care for over four million patients

Sana Kliniken AG is Germany’s third-largest private hospital operator and one of the leading providers of integrated healthcare services. Sana Einkauf & Logistik GmbH ensures optimal strategic procurement and seamless logistics—which are crucial for providing care to patients in hospitals—and has been working closely with FIEGE to achieve this for over ten years.

Highlights at a Glance

A Hidden Champion in the Healthcare Sector: Through the Sana Purchasing Group, more than 1,500 healthcare facilities in Germany and Switzerland ensure the care of their patients—with an annual procurement volume of approximately four billion euros.
Since 2014, Sana Einkauf & Logistik (SEL) and FIEGE Healthcare have been working hand in hand—with a clear division of responsibilities: SEL is responsible for strategic procurement, while FIEGE handles logistics and warehousing.
Three shared locations with approximately 12,000 square meters of logistics space and over 50 FIEGE employees working around the clock ensure a comprehensive supply of hospital supplies—from examination gloves to pacemakers.

Sana Einkauf & Logistik, or SEL for short, is probably exactly the kind of company for which the term “hidden champion” was coined in the 1990s. Want some hard numbers? Currently, more than 1,500 healthcare facilities in Germany and Switzerland rely on the Sana purchasing network—which recently announced its merger with the Vivecti Group—to ensure their patients receive the supplies they need. The product range includes medical devices, consumables, capital goods, as well as pharmaceuticals and laboratory supplies. SEL negotiates prices and terms with over 700 manufacturers for these products. Based on these agreements, the affiliated clinics and healthcare facilities procure goods worth approximately four billion euros annually. In addition, SEL offers comprehensive logistics services to numerous clinics.

The example of SEL illustrates that providing optimal care for patients requires far more than “just” qualified staff in healthcare facilities; above all, it requires a reliable supply of products. SEL keeps a close eye on precisely this supply security throughout the entire supply chain, because in addition to medical technology and pharmaceutical products, medical and nursing supplies form an indispensable foundation for daily work in hospitals.

Reliable logistics are the be-all and end-all

SEL has been working closely with FIEGE since 2014 on the part of the supply chain that plays a key role in determining whether a needed product is available in a hospital’s ward cabinet. Only through reliable and seamless logistics can hospitals be assured of having access to all necessary products at all times.

That is why, together with FIEGE, we have developed a distribution model that meets the demands of everyday hospital operations: central transfer points, digital batch tracking, temperature-controlled transport, and overnight logistics.

Julian Hupe

Managing Director of Sana Einkauf & Logistik GmbH (SEL)

Stationsversorgung Krankenhaus durch zwei Fachkräfte — Together with Sana Clinics, we ensure optimal care right at the patient's bedside.

The pinnacle of this field is considered to be comprehensive hospital supply management—that is, the entire process from ordering to delivery on the ward.

Michael Lorca

Managing Director FIEGE Healthcare

Consistent Product Availability

Of course, alongside the protection and well-being of patients, ensuring the continuous availability of supplies is the top priority. Hupe says: “To this end, we’ve been working successfully hand in hand with FIEGE for over a decade. We rely on a clear division of responsibilities: We handle strategic procurement and the operational ordering for the clinics, while FIEGE handles the logistics and storage of the goods.”

It’s a collaboration that works and is precisely coordinated. The Sana Clinics have grown steadily over the years, with new facilities integrated into the care network. Accordingly, the joint network of locations operated by FIEGE and SEL has been optimized to achieve today’s perfect balance. Three shared locations, with approximately 12,000 square meters of logistics space, form the stable foundation of the supply chain. Lorca explains: “Today, our joint network of locations is designed—in terms of size, staffing, warehousing technology, IT systems, and distances to the clinics—to ensure efficiency in day-to-day operations while also offering the necessary flexibility to respond quickly to order spikes at any time—and, of course, to meet all regulatory requirements, such as the Medical Device Regulation.”

By every means possible

At the shared locations, more than 50 FIEGE employees are now working around the clock for SEL and are available to ensure efficient warehouse logistics and seamless transport all the way to the hospital. This means that the goods and supplies needed by the hospitals are already picked and prepared for shipment in the warehouse in such a way that they can later be distributed to the individual departments as quickly as possible—and via the most efficient routes—by SEL’s so-called supply assistants. Everything runs like clockwork—or as Hupe puts it: “What sets our partnership with FIEGE apart is our shared understanding of hospital logistics, with the highest standards and uniform rules to ensure optimal processes. In this way, we ensure that supplies literally reach our patients—from a simple examination glove to a life-saving pacemaker.”