Nowadays, Time Based Competition is rapidly shifting towards Information Based Competition. Regardless of the industry in which a company operates, it must reckon with the fact that without fast, reliable information, it will be doomed to failure in the near future. The geometric pace of technological progress and widespread computerization offers various opportunities to companies that notice this trend.
The company represented by Fresenius Medical Care Polska SA is a leader on the Polish market of suppliers of solutions for renal replacement therapy. FMC POLSKA SA is part of the international Fresenius concern, the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of equipment for peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis.
The last few years have been a period of dynamic development of company structures worldwide, but the Polish branch is also keeping pace with the parent company and is constantly increasing its market share, the number of customers, as well as economic and financial indicators. It was precisely this development, the increased scale of FMC POLSKA’s operations, FMC AG’s shift towards Supply Chain Management solutions, as well as the constant pursuit of excellence, that were the main reasons for FMC POLSKA’s decision to implement a comprehensive IT solution to support company management. The choice of the system was preceded by a phase of detailed analysis of information and functional needs. As a result of the analysis, several areas of the company’s operations were defined that could benefit from the introduction of an integrated system. These areas include, among others, logistics and service. An interdisciplinary team was appointed within the company, responsible for detailing the requirements for the software. As a result of its work, a report was created – a wish list regarding the system’s functionality. Together with the FMC AG headquarters, after analyzing the specifics of the requirements, especially regarding the module for managing relationships with peritoneal dialysis patients, the choice fell on the 4Business system. It is a dedicated application written by Fresenius IT specialists from Russia, implemented and successfully operating in many countries to date, and meeting the requirements resulting from the specifics of the industry.
Also, the implementation of 4B in Poland did not take place without adapting it to the specific requirements characteristic of the Polish healthcare system. However, these changes were carried out quickly and without major difficulties from the application and hardware side. The most important issue, however, was the matter of the “Polish” system’s cooperation with the SAP system, which operates in Germany. Due to the complexity of SAP, the decision to implement it in Poland was rejected. The choice fell on 4B, which was adapted to work with SAP.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 4/2003.