Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) has been using Spatial Logistics this summer to provide critical deliveries to kidney dialysis patients across the world. FMC is a global leader in dialysis products and treatments for patients with chronic kidney failure, a condition that affects more than 1,300,000 individuals in the world.
The company offers dialysis services and related products to thousands of patients across the globe, through its network of 1,575 dialysis clinics in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.
The Spatial Group has been facilitating the international distribution of life-saving dialysis fluid to patients who take holidays independently of the HDI service. When a patient’s holiday request is received, FMC and Spatial agree the co-ordination of manufacture, packing, collection, and despatch times.
Accuracy and timing is critical to the operation to ensure that the fluid is cleared through Customs and is delivered to the holiday destination just before the patient’s arrival.
Spatial collects a consignment of fluid bags from FMC’s distribution centre in Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire. The bags are securely packaged in boxes then palletised before being airfreighted around the world.
Each order comprises at least one pallet of fluid. For a fortnight’s holiday this would typically consist of 14 boxes of fluid bags, each weighing 12kg.
Jeff Newcombe, operations director at FMC, says: “We expect the contract to expand over the next few years as patients learn to trust in the reliability of the service through personal experience. This should give patients the confidence to travel more frequently and to long-haul destinations.”
