By Pete Bennett, senior vice president, global supply chain
When we ask healthcare providers what they need most in a medical products distributor, the answer goes far beyond quality supplies and solutions. Providers want to work with a distributor who leads with transparency, delivers global supply chain expertise and fosters a culture of perseverance in the face of volatility.
Our Global Medical Products and Distribution (GMPD) team serves as a strategic, collaborative supplier for our customers who deliver critical patient care every day. To ensure we are continually evolving, enhancing our service and staying future-ready, we’re undergoing a multi-year transformation journey — one built on years of investment, lessons learned and a commitment to resiliency.
The medical distribution network for tomorrow
Made up of more than 50 locations, our North American distribution network is supported by seasoned operators and supply chain experts who specialize in business continuity planning. Our teams, in collaboration with our commercial organization, work to efficiently serve our customers each day and ensure our network is prepared for the unexpected. We are advancing how we respond to fluctuations in demand, maintain flexibility to withstand disruption and support continuous supply chain optimization.
The performance of our network can directly impact the ability to provide patient care; it’s imperative to continue to evolve, with a focus on our people and technology.
Optimizing our footprint
Our distribution infrastructure is the backbone of our operations by which we fulfill every product order. Our regional hub-and-spoke approach provides flexibility to accommodate market fluctuations and mitigate the effects of external impacts, such as weather events or global trade disruptions. We centralize key operations at main hub locations across our network and connect multiple, smaller “spoke” locations to those hubs. Products flow through the hubs and out to the spokes, making it easier to adapt to demand changes and reroute around disruptions so our customers consistently have the products they need when and where they need them.
Since spoke facilities are positioned closer to customers, they enable shorter delivery distances, improved service levels and more predictable lead times, allowing hubs to manage complexity like bulk product replenishment. Centralizing inventory at our hubs helps reduce duplication across the network. We carry less excess inventory, reduce our costs and clearly see supply availability across the network.
Whether we’re increasing capacity at an existing location or adding a new connection in our supply chain, we continually evaluate ways to strengthen our network and ensure we are well-positioned to service providers wherever they’re located.
Leveraging smart technology
We’re introducing new technology solutions that help improve overall efficiency and workflows for frontline employees within our distribution centers.
Across our facilities, we are implementing solutions that help sort, pick and ship orders faster and more accurately. From autonomous robots that reduce the physical burden on our team members to pilot RFID technology that improves inventory visibility and order accuracy, smart tech is advancing our operations and quality of service.
New technologies are enabling us to more easily modernize our warehouse management system (WMS) — the software used across our facilities for real-time visibility and process optimization. Our WMS is designed as our playbook for operational excellence in standardization, consistency and quality control.
Strategically incorporating AI
We’ve invested in AI-powered planning tools that help us predict and prevent disruptions in our supply chain. Through our relationship with Kinaxis®, a global leader in supply chain orchestration, we can model best- and worst-case scenarios with a high degree of accuracy and speed. Kinaxis® and other AI tools provide end-to-end visibility into every connection point within our supply chain, allowing us to identify and plan for demand fluctuations before any major impact to our network or our customers’ supply rooms.
As with any new technology, our goal in implementing AI is to make the work of healthcare providers easier and improve the patient experience. When evaluating AI tools for our operations environment, we look for solutions that help enhance day-to-day efficiencies, reduce manual work and administrative tasks and support safety and overall quality for our customers. In some cases, that means using AI-based tools to streamline operational notes, track shipments or synthesize insights from complex datasets. In more comprehensive use cases, AI can help us identify vulnerabilities in the supply chain more quickly, and automatically initiate mitigation steps to help secure the best possible outcomes.
Empowering our people
Our North American distribution network prides itself on the passion and tenure of our employees — which is an average of more than eight years*; some leaders have worked at Cardinal Health for decades. They care deeply that we timely deliver the products clinicians need to improve patient outcomes and save lives.
We prioritize ongoing education and encourage our team members to be active within the industry so we can keep pace with what’s new and next. We drive operational excellence through a balance of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to deliver high value to our customers — through process improvement, a people owner mindset and world class performance execution.
Customer engagement, feedback and collaboration are also pivotal to our operations. We were recently recognized by industry peers and the Healthcare Industry Resilience Collaborative (HIRC) with the HIRC Member Choice Award for Supplier Transparency. Based on customer nominations, the award recognizes our focus on predictable, responsible and shared practices that enhance resiliency, and the discipline and commitment our teams deliver in protecting patient care across every link in the supply chain.
Advancing healthcare together
In the coming months, we will provide a deeper look into our transformation journey across GMPD and hear from various team members who are leading impactful change. We will share more about investments in technology, the design of our hub and spoke distribution network and much more.
I am proud of the dedication and hard work of our team and am confident in the strategy we are driving with our customers for our collective success. At a time when the healthcare supply chain continues to navigate global logistics challenges and providers face mounting pressures, our commitment to resiliency has never been more critical.
Pete Bennett is senior vice president of global supply chain for Cardinal Health’s Global Medical Products and Distribution (GMPD) business. He oversees global and U.S. supply chain, logistics, distribution, planning and inventory management for the Global Medical Products and Distribution organization. Bennett has a Bachelor of Science in the American Legal System from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also holds a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University.
*Cardinal Health data on file: September 2025