/06 November 2012

Is Your Uniform Supply Chain Delivering?

Is your uniform supplier still delivering? We understand a good supplier becomes part of your business. You’re probably on first name terms with your account manager, and haven’t needed to change your supplier for 5 years or more. But things can change. 

Let’s tackle the elephant in the room first. Changing uniform suppliers is believed to be troublesome. There’s a view you can so easily change because of service issues just to face different challenges. So it’s no wonder firms have reservations about switching.

Of course the smart advice is to try to ‘bottom-out’ any issues with your current supplier. But there may come a point when you think your company would be better off making a change.

Companies do change suppliers successfully all the time. It’s a question of finding a supplier who understands your requirements and constraints and can deliver against them.  That’s the only way to make certain you’ll get hassle free service. For example, our solution here at Alsicare is a dedicated team who’ll look after orders from start to finish, from design through to delivery.  Customers are given a dedicated point of contact, whose sole job it is to ensure a smooth transition to us.

So why do health and care companies switch uniform suppliers? 

Price is rarely the main motivation, although we know it’s often the get-out-of-jail card presented to incumbent suppliers.  Perhaps a supplier has developed a less than perfect reputation? If uniforms are sourced abroad it’s vital to know who is making them and where they are made.

Sometimes there are issues in connection with missed delivery dates due to unforeseen factory downtime or due to another larger order taking precedence.  If your supplier doesn’t have their own manufacturing capability it’s easy to see how delays can be built into the supply chain. 

Health care uniforms have been the subject of many design and fabric innovations in the last five years. If you want to make improvements to your uniforms, or opt for a redesign as part of a branding exercise, your existing supplier may not be able to deliver what you want. Or perhaps pricing makes them non-competitive for more complex garments. Or there may be quality issues.

If you colour code uniforms as is a current trend, it can be difficult to get consistent colours for large numbers of units or source coloured fabrics that wear well.

The Alsico group of companies, was developed to address these issues and more. Whatever your company’s motivation for considering switching suppliers we’d be delighted to hear from you.

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