Logistics center built to streamline support services

The logistics center will lead to greater efficiency within the UMMS supply chain.

Image courtesy of University of Maryland Medical System

The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is looking to better manage high-cost drug purchasing and utilization and reduce waste with a new, centralized 400,000-square-foot logistics operations center that will house supply chain, pharmacy and clinical engineering operations at the Tradepoint Atlantic complex in the Sparrows Point area of Baltimore County. 

“Our core objectives are to improve standardization, reduce waste so we have less materials moving about and … improve our readiness to meet patient needs,” says Richie Stever, MHA, SASHE, vice president of real estate and construction, UMMS. “There are a few things that we are doing differently as we construct the facility, though.” 

Most notably, the operations center is being built to comply with Maryland’s Climate Solutions Now Act, which was passed in 2022. 

“Maryland basically put the flag in the sand and said, ‘We are going to really reduce our carbon emissions as it relates to buildings,’” Stever says. “Because of that, we are not bringing any natural gas to this building. The building is going to be all electric and solar ready.”

Leaders also are looking to reuse the heat that is generated by central sterile processing.

“It takes a lot of heat to sterilize the instruments,” Stever says. “We are designing a way to capture that heat and reuse it ... through heat exchangers. We’re going to let the dirty water go down the drain, but we’re not going to let the heat go down with it.” The heat will be moved to the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system via a chiller.

Finally, leaders are focusing on the building envelope, which will feature all double pane glass. Insulation is not only being installed in the wall panels but also below the concrete slab to prevent heat transfer from the ground.

Construction of the logistics operations center started in November 2023 and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2025.

“[We] have reached the point of organizational maturity, sophistication and clinical reach where a central integrated facility is needed to support many of our core functions,” says Joel Klein, M.D., chief information officer at UMMS and system and operations executive for the logistics operations center. “The logistics operations center will support cross-docking of direct vendor purchases and provide space for a large reference lab, a tertiary-level pharmacy and significant sterile processing capability.”