Logistics in a university hospital is highly complex and dynamic. It must not only be efficient, but also customizable.
Every day, large quantities of a wide variety of goods are moved, from surgical instruments and medical consumables to food deliveries to the departments. Some of these goods are standardized, while others, such as medication or diet menus, have to be specially tailored to the patient.
Retail and industry have been relying on digitalization and automation for some time now in order to save costs and become more efficient. The USZ is now adapting these concepts for hospital operations in the new MITTE1|2 buildings. The aim is to complete logistics tasks reliably, quickly and efficiently. This will be achieved by linking the logistics system even more closely with existing IT systems and by using new tools such as automatic transport robots to supply the medical areas with all the goods they need around the clock.
On the upper, light-flooded floors, the existing space should be available for people as much as possible. The space for technology and storage in the departments was therefore kept very tight in the planning. An automated small parts warehouse is planned for the basement, with space for around 7,000 containers.
When an order is received, a transport robot picks up the relevant container from the small parts warehouse and hands it over to the goods lifter, from where it is delivered directly to the relevant station. This means it only takes a few minutes from order to delivery. However, the aim is not so much to be able to process as many orders as possible at short notice, but rather to deliver the material “just in time”, i.e. when it is actually needed. This avoids decentralized warehouses and patients benefit directly from the new system: for example, they can decide when they want to receive their meals.