Medacta International Partners with SATO & SAIT to make Orthopaedic Implant Logistics more efficient and accurate with PJM RFID Technology

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in implementing SATO's PJM RFID solution into the healthcare sector, significantly improving Medacta's operational efficiency and setting a new benchmark for accuracy and innovation in orthopedic care.

 Radiation-hardened ISO/IEC 18000-3 PJM RFID (HF) tags for item-level identification of orthopaedical implants.

Medacta faced challenges managing resources for orthopedic surgeries. To improve efficiency, the company turned to SATO's PJM RFID technology as a replacement for its existing barcode system, which was laborious and time-consuming. SATO's technology is designed to resolve such challenges.

SATO's advanced PJM RFID technology has been a game-changer for Medacta. Unlike other UHF and HF tags, SATO's radiation-hardened D-chip memory allows tagged products to be sterilized via gamma irradiation, which would render most tags useless. This step makes it possible to tag products at a single location—the factory—and track them across all Medacta facilities worldwide throughout their lifetime.

The air interface ISO 18000-3 Mode 2 Phase Jitter Modulation (PJM) RFID is an open standard for high-speed and bulk identification at the item level. This technology enables the batch reading of multiple tags densely stacked in various configurations in medical flight cases with unparalleled precision. This efficiency is achieved by avoiding double product readings, leading to a remarkable improvement in operational efficiency at Medacta's headquarters: more than 30% since the implementation, resulting in a reduced staffing cost.

This shift has resulted in a 100% accuracy rate in inventory management. In international markets where the technology rolled out, including the United States, Japan, and multiple European countries, including Italy, the technology achieved efficiency improvements ranging from 5% to 15%.

In the future, the tagging of loan kits could unlock even greater efficiencies and accuracy if expanded to more touchpoints across the vendor intralogistics system. Currently, gate readers are employed for the inbound and outbound stocktakes of individual products at Medacta’s factory and warehouses.

Head of SATO Europe, Laurent Lassus, expressed, "The successful deployment of this technology was significantly facilitated by SAIT, SATO's trusted Italian partner. Their invaluable on-site approach was instrumental in seamlessly integrating the technology into Medacta's existing operations, ensuring a smooth transition and effective implementation."

The deployment of SATO's PJM RFID technology, including the D-Series labels’ existing NFC capabilities, has been a game-changer for Medacta.

The NFC feature, under consideration for broader implementation in the future, could allow the scanning of implants quickly without the need for specialised hardware, thereby offering another layer of efficiency. The collaboration with SATO and SAIT has been crucial in driving this transformation, showcasing the impact of teamwork in automating tasks on-site.

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