What it takes to get the right medical device to patient

Medical device manufacturers need to link demand forecasting with supplier planning, transport capacity, and hospital requirements to prevent shortages that delay treatment. Supply chain leaders are addressing these challenges through closer supplier partnerships, alternative delivery options and better inventory visibility.

“It’s not about their problem; it is our problem,” said Anith Sankaran, Vice President & Head of Supply Chain Management, Shalby MedTech, describing the company’s approach to working with manufacturing partners. He said this at the Global Pharma Logistics Summit 2026 conference and networking event in Mumbai on Friday, October 9, 2026.

The discussion brought together businesses handling cardiovascular devices, hospital consumables, surgical equipment and orthopaedic implants. Their experiences showed why medical devices require different inventory and delivery approaches than pharma, even when the products ultimately serve the same hospital.

Forecasting must account for the right size
Demand planning emerged as the conference audience’s leading concern. In a poll of 20 participants, 55% (11 respondents) identified forecasting demand and stocking the right products and sizes as the biggest risk to a device reaching a hospital on time. International freight and customs clearance ranked second at 20%, followed by domestic transport and final delivery at 15%, and supplier readiness and manufacturing lead times at 10%.

For Gaurav Bhatia, Vice President and Global Supply Chain Head at Sahajanand Medical Technologies, this concern is central to managing a cardiovascular device portfolio that includes stents, catheters, and heart valves. His responsibilities cover demand forecasting, supply planning, warehousing and logistics across a business serving about 95 countries.

SMT manufactures in Surat and Hyderabad, India, and operates a heart-valve-focused manufacturing facility in Thailand. Its markets span India, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. The network must accommodate differences in demand by country and by product size.

“Your forecast, by virtue of the name itself, will never be 100% accurate. It’s a forecast, right?”
Gaurav Bhatia, Sahajanand Medical Technologies

Bhatia explained that stents alone come in 88 sizes, creating a much more detailed stocking challenge than simply forecasting demand for a product category.

“You cannot put a different size to a different patient,” he said. “Like somebody said, right product at the right place at the right time. Here, there is also a complexity of right, or opportunity of right, size and right quantity, because in a day you do multiple surgeries in a hospital, in a cath lab.”

His approach combines statistical forecasting, product classification by demand frequency, and sales and operations planning that incorporates information from field teams, product managers, and commercial leaders. Frequently used products require different stock policies from sizes that sell only occasionally.

In the company’s distribution network, regular sizes are kept close to demand, while odd sizes are fulfilled from a regional or central warehouse.

“Your forecast, by virtue of the name itself, will never be 100% accurate. It’s a forecast, right?” Bhatia said. “That’s where your supply agility comes in.”

The practical task, therefore, is to set stock levels and delivery arrangements that can absorb the gap between predicted demand and what hospitals actually need.

“Orthopaedic surgery requires a complete kit of instruments and components. After surgery, the kit comes back and the items used need to be replenished. How do you manage the planning and inventory for that cycle?”
Hanoz Tarapore

Planning begins with the surgery
Shalby MedTech faces a related challenge in knee and hip implants, although its procedures are generally planned in advance. Sankaran’s responsibilities span demand and supply planning, procurement, manufacturing coordination, international logistics, warehousing, and distributor management.

The company manufactures in California, with its Indian business supplied entirely through imports. Its markets include the United States, India and Southeast Asia, while it is also exploring opportunities in Europe. Indian distribution runs through a central warehouse in Mumbai and onward to distributors, with small, high-value consignments typically moving by courier.

The planning process begins with expected surgery numbers and the regions in which they will take place. Historical demand then translates those numbers into requirements for each implant size.

“So basically, it is like a multi-layer forecasting model,” Sankaran said. “First layer forecasts the number of surgeries. The second layer handles SKU-level forecasting. Then the third layer takes care of the execution.”

Long-term forecasts support manufacturing and procurement, but a separate check is needed close to the procedure. Scans can indicate likely implant requirements, while the final size may only be determined in the operating theatre.

Sankaran described coordinating with hospital and distributor teams one or two days before surgery to identify required sizes and close any gaps. He said the supply chain was organised to get missing implants to the relevant hospital or distributor within a maximum of 10 hours in the situations he described.

“But we are in knee and hip business, so usually the surgeries are well planned in advance,” he said. “So the hospital team will also be more proactive, and the surgeons' team will also be more proactive in understanding the implants required.”

The hospital's requirements extend beyond the implant itself. Responding to an audience question by Hanoz Tarapore, Country Supply Chain Head - ASEAN, KR, ANZ, QuidelOrtho, about surgical kits, Sankaran said an instrument set can contain about 150 stock-keeping units, or SKUs. Those sets must also replenish consumables as procedures proceed.

Shalby uses a surgery planner that links scheduled procedures to implant and instrument-consumable requirements, much like a manufacturing bill of materials links production to the components it consumes. Separate managers oversee instruments and implants.

“We have separate planning for the many sets being deployed in the market and how many surgeries are happening for those sets,” he said. “So it’s like both instrument management plus implant management. So that’s how they go hand in hand.”

“We are competing with the e-commerce business where margins are very high, and medtech cannot give more freight to the service provider because we also need to give better prices to patients.”
Chirayu Deolekar, B. Braun Group

Securing capacity when transport networks are busy
For Chirayu Deolekar, Senior Supply Chain Manager, B. Braun Group, the challenge covers a wider range of products and delivery requirements. His remit includes plant operations, warehousing, transportation, customer service, imports and exports, as well as digital transformation.

B. Braun’s portfolio spans hospital consumables, surgical instruments and equipment such as dialysis machines and high-end cameras. Its Indian business combines substantial imports with local production of IV fluids in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, syringes in Hyderabad and sutures in Chennai.

Deolekar described a business that imports roughly 90% of its material, with overseas manufacturing in Germany, Spain, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the United States. Most imports arrive by sea, while certain high-value or specialised products use air freight.

Operational gateways include Nhava Sheva for imported goods, Kandla for raw materials, and Chennai for selected shipments. The main warehouse located in Bhiwandi facilitates distribution, while a smaller facility in Kolkata manages spare parts. Additionally, Indian manufacturing caters to customers in France, the Philippines, and African markets.

The Chennai operation shows how manufacturing can move in both directions: raw materials arrive from Spain, are manufactured in India, and return by air to Barcelona for final packing.

Once products enter the domestic network, however, medical shipments compete with other industries for capacity. Deolekar pointed to periods when e-commerce demand fills transport hubs and warehouses.

“We are competing with the e-commerce business where margins are very high, and MedTech cannot give more freight to the service provider because we also need to give better prices to patients,” he said.

B. Braun responded by appointing a fourth-party logistics partner, or 4PL, with access to multiple national carriers. Instead of relying on a direct arrangement with a carrier whose network might be congested, the company can switch through the coordinating partner.

“During the peak season, if service provider A is facing a resource challenge, their hub is jammed, their warehouse is packed, we go for B because the 4PL partner has an agreement with all players,” Deolekar said.

He reported that service levels rose from about 70–75% to nearly 95–96%, with about 95% now achieved each month. He also said the 4PL arrangement had delivered lower rates than the company’s direct carrier agreements.

Digital shipment visibility gives customers and internal teams the information they need to act when a delivery falls behind. Deolekar said teams could move a shipment from road to air when needed, while regional warehouses and large distributors near demand help shorten the journey to hospitals.

Suppliers need time and information to prepare
The audience’s preferred improvement reflected its concern about forecasting. In the second poll, nine of 17 participants (53%) prioritised better demand information and inventory visibility. Stronger supplier planning and manufacturing capability, and more reliable international freight and clearance, each received three votes (18%). Dedicated medical logistics capacity and temperature-controlled delivery received two votes (12%).

“If we are able to prioritise their [manufacturing partners’] procurement and give enough breathing time for them to plan for the inventories and their manufacturing lead time, then a reliable supply chain is feasible.”
Anith Sankaran, Shalby MedTech

For Sankaran, the information needs to travel upstream as well as towards hospitals. Shalby depends on external manufacturing partners for components that cannot all be produced internally. Those partners serve other customers and need enough notice to reserve capacity, obtain materials and schedule production.

He described a planning horizon of at least six months for the established business, with longer horizons for capacity decisions. That makes supplier lead times an essential input to procurement and production plans.

“Their lead time also should be integrated into our ERPs, and the orders should be proactively shared with them,” he said. “If we are able to prioritise their procurement and give enough breathing time for them to plan for the inventories and their manufacturing lead time, then a reliable supply chain is feasible.”

A supplier’s manufacturing capability does not necessarily mean it has equally strong planning processes. Shalby therefore works with partners on capacity, procurement and inventory planning, supported by fortnightly or monthly discussions about production challenges.

Sankaran said the company was aiming for more than 95% on-time, in-full performance. The target depends on understanding supplier operations early enough to respond.

Alternative routes protect international deliveries
The international networks Bhatia and Sankaran describe rely heavily on air freight because their shipments combine high value with relatively small volumes.

For Shalby, longer sea transit would add weeks of inventory in motion without necessarily resolving an unexpected shortage of a particular implant size. Its imports typically enter through Mumbai Airport, with reliable arrival commitments and documentation prepared at both ends important to avoiding clearance delays.

SMT uses Mumbai and Hyderabad airports for exports from India and Bangkok for shipments from Thailand. SMT consolidates products manufactured in Surat through Mumbai, while it dispatches Hyderabad production locally. The company combines its own warehouses with third-party facilities across Europe and in markets including Brazil and Australia.

That reach provides options, but it also exposes deliveries to disruptions across multiple countries.

“You need to have multiple vendors. You cannot rely on one,” Bhatia said. “Last but not least is visibility of what my shipment is, where it is, when it is going to arrive, and what time and which place.”

He described using different airlines, slots and transport channels, including express services when urgency justifies the additional cost. The requirement differs from a planned knee replacement because an urgent cardiovascular case may leave very little time to respond.

Bhatia gave the example of supplying Kyiv through Europe and completing the journey by road when direct air delivery was unavailable.

“So we move it to Europe, and then it goes via road to Kyiv,” he said. “Even in war zones or war-prone areas, we still deliver because ultimately it’s a patient.”

Temperature protection must survive every handover
Temperature requirements further distinguish products. Shalby’s knee and hip implants move in sterile protective packaging at normal room temperature. Within SMT’s portfolio, Bhatia had explained that heart valves require cold-chain handling, while its stents and catheters do not. B. Braun’s range brings further variation across consumables, instruments and equipment.

Deolekar argued that the weak point can occur between the transport modes, particularly when cargo leaves an aircraft and waits to enter a warehouse or complete clearance procedures. A controlled flight alone does not ensure the entire journey remains within the required conditions.

“Material needs to wait for almost two to three hours for the customs clearance and all these procedures,” he said.

He also highlighted gaps in suitable cargo handling and temperature-controlled connections outside major cities. The final road journey can be particularly difficult where specialised vehicles are scarce.

His proposed response combined airport handling procedures, clear symbols on packaging, temperature monitoring and access to refrigerated vehicles. Monitoring devices and data loggers can alert teams when conditions move outside the required range, allowing them to intervene.

“But then we need more knowledge development, at least for the non-pharma product like equipment,” Deolekar said. “So, knowledge development is a key success over there.”

That brings the discussion back to the people handling the shipment. A forecast, warehouse, or transport contract only supports treatment if staff understand the product’s requirements and can act when things change. For medical device supply chains, reliability ultimately depends on whether the hospital has the right implant, instrument, or consumable when it needs it.