Every year, medical device manufacturers face a costly and familiar challenge: kits and equipment shipped to hospitals or field representatives that are never used. In some organisations, as many as one in five medical kits are returned completely untouched, an inefficient cycle that ties up capital, wastes resources and can delay care. What should be a straightforward logistics task often becomes a slow, manual process that works against both operational efficiency and patient outcomes.

Traditionally when a surgical procedure is cancelled or rescheduled, the associated kit must be shipped back to a central warehouse before it can be reassigned. This rigid workflow creates several issues:

• Delays in getting critical equipment to where it’s urgently needed
• Increased freight, handling and reverse-logistics costs
• Loss of visibility once shipments leave the warehouse
• Heavy administrative burden on field reps and logistics coordinators

In a fast-moving clinical environment, this lack of flexibility and real-time insight becomes a significant bottleneck.

To address this, Envio partnered with ZS and a global MedTech leader to rethink field inventory from the ground up, placing automation, real-time visibility and digital infrastructure at the centre of the model.

The turning point came with the deployment of Artac, Envio’s IoT-enabled digital shipping label that also acts as a cellular asset tracker. Built on low-power ePaper technology, Artac can be updated remotely with new destination and routing information without replacing the physical label. Fully compatible with industry-standard carrier labels from providers such as UPS and FedEx, the solution enabled a fundamentally different way of operating:‍

• ‍Dynamic routing. Loaner kits would no longer need to be returned to a central warehouse. Shipping labels could be updated remotely, enabling field reps to send kits directly between hospitals or to other reps without printing labels or managing address details.‍
• Intelligent diversion. Remote detection confirmed whether a kit had been opened, ensuring only sealed, unused kits were rerouted.‍
• End-to-end visibility
  Every shipment became traceable throughout its journey, eliminating spreadsheets, email chains and manual relabelling.‍
• Reduced waste
  Unused kits already in the field could be matched to upcoming procedures, improving utilisation and reducing unnecessary production and scrap.

Smarter, Faster and Leaner Operations

By combining ZS’s custom kit-matching algorithms with Envio’s digital label platform, the programme delivered measurable impact:

• $6–$11 million in projected annual savings for a single customer
• Lower inventory holding and working-capital costs
• Reduced labour across distribution centres, manufacturing and field operations
• Significant reductions in shipping volume and material waste
• Streamlined workflows for field reps, freeing them to focus on clinical support rather than logistics