TEAM MEDICAL SUPPLIES
ANSWERING CRITICAL NEED Team Medical Supplies (TMS) is driven by the goal of helping those who need it by delivering healthcare consumables and equipment to medical institutions across the vast footprint of Australia. We speak to the company’s executive team to learn more Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: Callam Waller COVID-19 has forced everyone to adapt, and although parts have been challenging, the pandemic has allowed us the opportunity of anticipating industry needs and acting accordingly.” Team Medical Supplies (TMS) is one of Australia’s top medical consumables and equipment suppliers for medical centres. They also provide a wide variety of medical accessories, pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments and more to medical institutions across the country. For Marijke Vriens, founder and Creative Director of the company – and orator of the opening statement – the onset of COVID-19 has allowed TMS to show its client base what it can achieve. “We saw the logistical Marijke challenges posed by the Vriens pandemic before they were properly apparent, and as such, we were prepared to combat these issues effectively for our customers,” she 2 | APAC Outlook issue 52
explains. “Operating in Australia is always challenging because you must cover vast distances when delivering goods. You can’t really compare it to Europe, where you can effectively transport a package from Portugal to Finland with ease. In Australia, transporting medical items such as vaccines, that require a consistent cold storage environment, becomes a task in itself. “With already challenging distances, trying storage requirements and then those further issues caused by COVID19 – namely restrictions and the shortage of PPE across Australia – we had foreseen the need to change its operation to suit a new environment.” Since the onset of the pandemic, TMS has been answering the demands of the high-pressure and concerning period through supplying rapid antigen tests and more to medical facilities across the nation. In the face of an uncertain future
and opposed to the conservative choice of reducing operations as to see what was to come next, the company took pre-emptive action to invest in securing stock early on during the pandemic. This played to TMS’ advantage when it came round to facilitating institutions and the spike in demand for medical stock; a service that made the company stand out from its competitors in the space and amplified TMS’ name as a reliable partner in the healthcare logistics sector.
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“Product reliability, products with clinical support. This product quality, service and ensures better patient outcomes by experience are all things providing quality to our GPs.” that our clients know we TMS’ service is industry have and bring to the leading and is a significant market,” Tom Vriens, contributor to the reason General Manager of the company has grown Tom Vriens, TMS continues. “We from nothing to a business General Manager partner with major that has yielded over $500 brands to ensure million in sales across the the most stable supply chains. Larger span of 10 years. manufacturers and brands have “Our team goes above and beyond greater pull when there are limited for customers,” Matt Vreins, Head of resources. We only stock quality Procurement at TMS adds. “Flexibility
and adaptability are key to making sure our GPs have a seamless experience, meaning they can spend more time with patients. The same can be said for our online capabilities that have made ease of orders paramount. “We also have Matt Vreins, vast amounts Head of of experience Procurement in our team. APAC Outlook issue 52 | 3
TEAM MEDICAL SUPPLIES “At heart this is a family business,” explains Pieter Vriens, CEO. “We have many decades of collective experience in the business and have built a very good culture among our staff; we care for everybody and acknowledge their hard work and dedication to our customers. CLIENT FOCUSED OPERATION “When people reach out and work The high level of the company’s with our team, they gain a sense of service as well as its proven care and respect that is genuine, adaptability throughout the COVID-19 and we see to it that if there are any period are two contributors to TMS’ problems that we will fix the place at the forefront of problem. TMS has always the Australian healthcare provided its customers full supplier space. However, solutions and this human there is an additional, approach to customerand very much humbling, centricity is what makes us aspect of the company that stand out from our larger drives a human-to-human corporate competition.” approach to business, The company’s focus allowing the development on its customer and client of trust, understanding base is intertwined in TMS’ and reliability between past, present and upcoming TMS and the institutions it Pieter Vriens, CEO projects. serves. Many staff have worked in our specific industry (supplying GPs) for more than 20 years. This allows us to pass the knowledge onto our customers, so they make the most informed decisions.”
ABOUT THE TMS TEAM Team Medical Supplies was founded in 2011 and is an Australian owned, family run medical wholesaler. The company distributes nationwide and caters for almost all medical practitioners and centres in Australia. TMS has access to over 100,000 high-quality medical products and stocks the most well-known and reputable brands in the market. TMS is committed to providing customer satisfaction, reliable service, and competitive pricing across the board. Currently, its customers include individual general practitioners, medical centres, day surgeries, podiatrists, hospitals, nursing homes, dentists, through to large Super GP clinics. TMS also works with a range of specialists including skin cancer, day surgery, dental, cosmetics and many more. TMS has worked hard to establish itself as the trusted source of medical consumables and equipment throughout Australia.
Sanofi Make influenza vaccinations available to all your staff A case of influenza can have implications for your employee’s personal life, as well as your business. Influenza is a serious disease that affects people of all ages. Influenza can cause serious respiratory illness and complications like pneumonia which could lead to hospitalisation or even death. Influenza can cause absenteeism and presenteeism, which can be costly to your business. Sick adults that come to work also risk spreading influenza to colleagues, clients, family and vulnerable members of the community. Influenza in 2022 Infectious respiratory diseases have shown unusual activity during the current COVID environment. Low influenza vaccine coverage in 2021 combined with low influenza cases in 2020 and 2021 are likely to have resulted in low immunity amongst Australians which makes us vulnerable to influenza. As lockdowns and border controls are eased and international travel gradually resumes, there is the risk of an influenza rebound and an increase in influenza cases. Annual vaccination is the most simple & effective way to protect your employees from influenza & its complications.13 Benefits of workplace influenza vaccination 3,4 1. Lift staff satisfaction – show employees that you care about their health & wellbeing. 2. Provide a safe work environment. 3. Prevent unexpected staff shortages due to sick leave. 4. Maintain business productivity. For further information regarding influenza prevention, speak with a healthcare professional. For further information about workplace vaccinations, please contact Melissa Uhlman from Sanofi at Melissa.Uhlman@sanofi.com
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MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WORKPLACE
Offer employee vaccinations against influenza Sanofi-Aventis Australia Pty Ltd. Macquarie Park NSW. MAT-AU-2101739 September 2021 References 1.Keech M, Beardsworth P. Pharmacoeconomics 2008;26(11):911–24. 2.Australian Government Department of Health. The Australian Immunisation Handbook: Influenza. https:// immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au/vaccine-preventable-diseases/ influenza-flu (Accssed August 2021) 3.Leighton L et al. Occup Med 1996;46(2):146–150. 4.Van Wormer JJ et al. American Col. Occup & Environ Med. 2017;1135-1139.5.Treanor JJ. Influenza (including avian influenza and swine influenza) in Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases (Eighth Edition): Elsevier; 2015. 2000–24. e6 p 6.NcNab, S. et al 2021, Clinical Infectious Diseases, ciab240, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab240 (Accessed August 2021) 7.Nature 588, 388-390 (2020) doi: https:// doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03519-3 (Accessed August 2021) 8.Australian Government. Department of Health. Australian Influenza Surveillance Report 2020 National Influenza Season Summary. Available at: https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ozflu-surveil-season-summary-2020. htm#current (Accessed May 2021).9.Australian Government. Department of Health. Australian Influenza Surveillance Report - No. 08, 2021. Available at: https:// www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/cda-surveil-ozflu-flucurr.htm/$File/pdf-flu-08-2021.pdf (Accessed August 2021). 10.Australian Government. Department of Health. Influenza (flu) immunisation data. Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/influenza-flu-immunisation-data (Accessed August 2021).11.Sanofi Pasteur. Data on File 12.Australian Government. National Plan to transition Australia’s National COVID-19 Response. Available at: https://www.pm.gov.au/sites/ default/files/media/national-plan-to-transition-australias-national-covid-19-response-july2021.pdf (Accessed August 2021).13.WHO. Fact sheet: In¬uenza (Seasonal). 2018. www.who.int/newsroom/fact-sheets/detail/influenza-(seasonal) (Accessed August 2021) MATAU-2101739 August 2021
TEAM MEDICAL SUPPLIES
TEAM MEDICAL SUPPLIES FLU VACCINES TMS is one of the largest providers of influenza-related supplies to the private market. The company distributes upwards of one million flu vaccines each year and prides itself on being the leader in private flu vaccine distribution. TMS follow the highest standards in distribution to ensure all flu doses arrive at the right temperature for maximum safety and efficiency for patients. The company has sold and supplied flu vaccines since its establishment, and it has become a major part of the business.
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Within the recent past, during the start of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout across Australia, TMS worked alongside one of the first providers of the vaccine who were at the time immunising those in aged care facilities across New South Wales and Victoria. TMS was asked, and immediately accepted, the all-important task of supplying consumable products required for the vaccinations, involving many urgent and rural deliveries spanning every day of the week. “We have also recently integrated our ERP with one of our major customers,” Tom Vriens tells us. “This bespoke integration allows them to leverage the unique website that we have built, including order approvals, while having full transparency of their orders in their own ERP. For larger organisations this is becoming more important, as they can have the best
“PRODUCT RELIABILITY, PRODUCT QUALITY, SERVICE AND EXPERIENCE ARE ALL THINGS THAT OUR CLIENTS KNOW WE HAVE AND BRING TO THE MARKET” – TOM VRIENS, GENERAL MANAGER, TEAM MEDICAL SUPPLIES of our purpose-built website without losing visibility of spending within their system. “We are also currently investing heavily into our digital marketing capabilities,” Marijke Vriens continues. “TMS has partnered with the Salesforce platform to do this. We want to better
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TMS wants to better understand its customers, delievering
understand our customers so we can bring them more relevant content. This ranges from product information to education, industry news and operational updates. “By improving our data and better understanding our customers, we can ensure they only see what they need to out of their very busy days. It’s all about improving the customer’s overall experience with TMS.”
LOOKING AHEAD This focus on digitalisation is key to unlocking TMS’ continued success
and potential into the future. On top of this, the company is very aware of the uncertainty that the COVID-19 period has caused. In light of this, the company has the shorter-term goal of continuing to support its customers as much as possible across its services. “I see the main goal of TMS as simply making sure that we do right by our customer base,” Marijke Vriens elaborates. “Prioritising and supplying the right people and maintaining the stability that we have is our number one goal, especially into the next six to 12 months. “We are also moving to a new distribution centre to provide a better service for our customers, as
well as other investments within our digital marketing strategy; effectively keeping up-to-date with the latest methods of operation. In the next five to 10 years as the business grows, expansion plans will be on the table, but throughout this period we will be sticking to our core values of being customer-centric and transparent; we are in the business of supplying health and help.”
Tel: 1300 22 44 50 info@teammed.com.au www.teammed.com.au
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TEAM MEDICAL SUPPLIES 29/276 New Line Road, Dural 2158 NSW Australia Tel: 1300 22 44 50 info@teammed.com.au www.teammed.com.au
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