Strategic Collaboration Yields Near-Perfect Fulfillment, Real-Time Visibility, and Resilient Medical Logistics Across 14 Hospitals
Ryder System and BJC Health System, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, have been honored with the prestigious SMI Tom Hughes Collaboration Award, recognizing their groundbreaking work in transforming the healthcare supply chain. The award, presented annually by SMI—a nonprofit network of healthcare providers and supply chain partners—celebrates organizations whose collaborative efforts generate measurable, meaningful improvements in healthcare logistics and patient outcomes. This year’s recognition highlights how Ryder and BJC’s strategic partnership has become a model for modernized, patient-centric healthcare supply chain operations.
SMI President Jane Pleasants praised the collaboration, emphasizing that it represents the essence of what the award stands for: “With BJC’s visionary leadership and Ryder’s operational expertise, this collaboration exemplifies the spirit of this award – healthcare supply chain’s absolute best models of collaborators working together to deliver patient-centric care during a period of profound industry transformation.”
Identifying a Broken Model and the Need for Change
The roots of the partnership trace back to 2019, when BJC’s East Region took a hard look at the inefficiencies embedded in the traditional healthcare supply chain. Hospital staff, especially clinicians, were often pulled away from patient care as they navigated supply shortages, inconsistent deliveries, and opaque inventory processes. These inefficiencies not only strained daily hospital operations but also exposed vulnerabilities when crises occurred.
Recognizing the urgent need to elevate supply chain performance, BJC launched a search for a third-party logistics (3PL) partner with the ability to introduce innovation, stability, and scalability. Ryder, known for its expertise in logistics across advanced industries including automotive and high tech, emerged as the ideal collaborator to help BJC reshape its distribution model.
Tom Harvieux, BJC’s Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, explained the bold shift in thinking: “To break industry norms of the past 20 years, we looked for innovation that could bring best practices from more mature supply chains. When we formally began this transformation in December 2020, the pandemic had already demonstrated the critical importance of speed, agility, and resilience.”
Building a Modernized, Patient-Centric Distribution System
With BJC’s long-term vision in mind, Ryder moved quickly to design and implement a radically improved supply chain infrastructure. Central to this transformation was the development of a 416,000-square-foot Consolidated Services Center (CSC)—a state-of-the-art distribution hub engineered to streamline supplier channels, support operational growth, and ensure a steady flow of essential medical supplies.
The CSC serves as the engine of BJC’s logistics operations across the East Region. With automation, orchestrated workflows, and integrated systems, the center continuously feeds critical care supplies to:
- 14 hospitals
- 3,300 beds
- 4,600 physicians
operating around the clock, 365 days a year.
Remarkably, less than a year after opening, the CSC was already handling 87% of all servicing for the region. This translated into roughly 13,000 daily lines of medical supplies, a significant milestone reflecting the efficiency and reliability of the new system.
Resilience Through Visibility, Precision, and Technology
A key strength of the Ryder–BJC model lies in its advanced technological backbone. Inventory control and demand planning are managed through a modern warehouse management system paired with RyderShare™, Ryder’s proprietary real-time visibility and collaboration platform.
These digital tools allow teams across both organizations to track inventory levels, predict supply fluctuations, address disruptions proactively, and maintain uninterrupted patient care. The value of this system became particularly evident during emergencies. For instance, during the 2024 Hurricane Helene IV fluid shortage, which severely impacted hospitals nationwide, BJC maintained continuity of care thanks to the real-time insights and decentralized resilience provided by its improved supply chain.
Ryder also implemented highly sequenced deliveries, ensuring that the most critical supplies arrive at hospital loading docks in priority order. This method not only improves access but also allows clinical and support staff to operate with greater efficiency and confidence.
Driving Cost Transparency and Reducing Capital Outlay
Beyond operational efficiency, the collaboration brought dramatic financial advantages. Through direct sourcing capabilities and improved inventory control, BJC gained far greater visibility into its cost structure. Additionally, the streamlined model reduced storage burdens and eliminated redundancies that had once required significant capital investment.
By reducing inventory-on-hand levels by 25 days, BJC not only optimized warehouse and floor space but also freed capital that could be redirected into patient care initiatives or other critical system needs.
Transformative Outcomes
The results of the Ryder–BJC collaboration are both compelling and quantifiable. Among the most significant improvements:
- Hospital order fulfillment rates increased from 90% to more than 99%
- On-time, in-full delivery rates rose from 27% to 75%
- Order processing costs dropped by an impressive 80%
- Nursing unit service levels climbed above 98.5%
- Inventory-on-hand reduced by 25 days, supporting storage efficiency and cost reduction
- 100% inventory control achieved with end-to-end real-time visibility
These outcomes underscore how a well-designed, technology-enabled supply chain can strengthen healthcare delivery, reduce operational burdens, and enable clinicians to focus on what matters most: caring for patients.
A Unified Team Driven by Purpose
Cherie Brinkerhoff, Ryder’s Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Solutions, highlighted the shared mission driving the partnership: “It’s extraordinary – you can’t see where one team ends and the other begins. From frontline associates to executive leadership, everyone shares in BJC’s mission to improve patient care and save lives. There are patients at the end of this supply chain; they could be our friends, our families, our neighbors. That’s why we show up every day with purpose.”
This alignment of purpose—bridging Ryder’s logistics expertise with BJC’s commitment to clinical excellence—has created a supply chain model that is not only high performing but deeply human-centered.
A New Benchmark for Healthcare Supply Chains
The SMI Tom Hughes Collaboration Award affirms that the Ryder–BJC partnership has set a new standard for what healthcare supply chain innovation can achieve. The transformation demonstrates that with the right mix of technology, strategy, and teamwork, healthcare organizations can unlock efficiencies that directly improve patient outcomes, operational resilience, and cost effectiveness.
The success of this initiative is now poised to inspire other health systems across the country, serving as a blueprint for how collaborative, data-driven logistics can strengthen the entire healthcare ecosystem.
About Ryder System, Inc.
is a fully integrated port-to-door logistics and transportation company. It provides supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions, including warehousing and distribution, contract packaging and manufacturing, e-commerce fulfillment, last-mile delivery, managed transportation, professional drivers, freight brokerage, cross-border solutions, full-service fleet leasing, maintenance, commercial truck rental, and used vehicle sales to some of the world’s most-recognized brands. Ryder provides services to businesses across more than 20 industries throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In addition, Ryder manages nearly 250,000 commercial vehicles, services fleets at approximately 760 maintenance locations, and operates nearly 300 warehouses encompassing more than 100 million square feet. Ryder is regularly recognized for its industry-leading practices; technology-driven innovations; environmental management; safety, health and security programs; and recruitment and hiring initiatives.
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