Application of value stream mapping to design and develop an inventory management system in a hospital

Insufficient drug reserves in hospitals pose significant challenges in management, procurement, and distribution. Rising demand often leads to shortages, while overstocking causes waste and expiration. These issues reflect inefficiencies in medical supply warehouse management and highlight the need for improvement. Therefore, enhanced resource management processes are essential to ensure a balanced and efficient medication reserve system. Lean Management is a systematic approach to eliminate waste, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. Value Stream Mapping (VSM), a core Lean tool, supports process redesign by categorizing activities as value-added (VA), necessary but non-value-added (NNVA), or non-value-added (NVA). In this study, VSM was employed to comprehensively analyze the drug disbursement process within the medical supply warehouse management system and to design and develop an enhanced drug inventory management system to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

This research employed action research methodology with 22 participants from the drug warehouse, outpatient, and inpatient medicine rooms. A user-centered system was planned through focus group discussions. This phase emphasized conceptual framework development and planning. Potential improvements were expected to enhance satisfaction, reduce waiting time, and increase convenience, sufficiency, and availability.

Phukhieo Chaleomphrakeit Hospital created a future state value stream map, reducing process steps from seven to six. The current system required 1,925 minutes. The redesigned system is expected to take 435 minutes, including 395 minutes for valuable activities. The proportion of value-added time increased to 20.52%, significantly reducing waste from waiting.

The study demonstrates the effectiveness of VSM in identifying inefficiencies and redesigning processes. The collaboratively developed system eliminated unnecessary steps, reduced waiting times, and enhanced operational efficiency. This provides a practical model for improving pharmaceutical supply chain management in similar hospital contexts.