Supply Chain 4.0: The Efficiency of Silence
Hospital logistics and surgical implants and materials as part of patient safety, not just operations.
The chapter treats hospital logistics, especially the management of orthoses, prostheses and special materials, not as mere administrative back-office work but as a direct part of patient safety. A missing item at the critical moment, or poorly tracked inventory, can mean a cancelled surgery or an avoidable risk. The authors show how AI tools applied to demand forecasting and supply tracking bring healthcare closer to practices already mature in other supply chains, hence the term "Supply Chain 4.0".