Accuracy the forefront at Church Pharmacy
August 29, 2023 | ASRS, AUTOMATED STORAGE SOLUTION, Awards, SOFTWARE SOLUTION
Church Pharmacy prides itself on being an award-winning pharmaceutical supplier and customer service provider, right from the beginning of a prescription order through until delivery for a seamless experience to clinics and hospitals. The main priority for the team is being able to continue to innovate and offer unparalleled customer services.
The Company:
With branches in Central London and the Midlands, Church Pharmacy are one of the largest suppliers of medical aesthetics and pharmaceutical products to healthcare professionals in the UK, to date they supply over 3000 SKU’s across their product database.
Church Pharmacy prides itself on being an award-winning pharmaceutical supplier and customer service provider, right from the beginning of a prescription order through until delivery for a seamless experience to clinics and hospitals. The main priority for the team is being able to continue to innovate and offer unparalleled customer services.
The Situation:
As a customer service focused team, they are growing fast and the demands on staff and the incumbent storage infrastructure was becoming a potential problem. Growth meant they started to think about moving to a larger premises, which was not desirable as they had already invested in a high-spec secure warehouse designed with power and I.T redundancies in mind.
To better understand the issue and what was needed, they appointed two of the technical team from UpSTEAM.uk, Danny Chavda and Joseph Stephen, who recognised that their manual warehousing, dispensary systems and current processes were holding them back. Re-innovation was required whilst maintaining high standards of GDP compliance, and so the team started to research a solution after fully analysing the business processes. They needed a scalable solution that would use the existing storage space efficiently whilst improving the overall picking process with capacity for scaling-up and ensuring compliance so that the day-to-day customer service was not affected.
The wellbeing of their staff was very high up on Church Pharmacy’s wish list. The previous manual picking process took up a lot of space and working areas were tight. The staff’s energy and focus were spent on locating and identifying products. The solution also needed to allow for continued growth, as well as future-proofing the business and above all maintaining a calm and smooth workflow.
The Solution:
The whole team at Church Pharmacy and UpSTEAM.uk came together to find the right solution and with Church Pharmacy’s clear vision it was recognised that although space was important, the focus also needed to be on accuracy and productivity. It was clear that a Kardex storage and retrieval system was the best approach for the business as it provided flexibility to adapt to complex business processes in a modular fashion.
In the past, part of the manual process meant that the picking team would walk around the warehouse to locate the stock for an order. This was then handed over to the pharmacists to make sure the items were correct prior to sending the order for packing. With the Kardex VBM and frame pick solution the time spent picking has been reduced from approximately 24-man hours a day to 6 hours, resulting in a 75% savings in time and savings while improving on picking accuracy.
The Kardex team took care in helping the client in selecting the right solution for their business while discussing their concerns of migration and business continuity. Kardex recommended their Vertical Buffer Module, (VBM) with the batch frame pick which turned out to be the best solution for their needs; combining accuracy, fast picking, security, and space-saving ergonomics, which was perfectly suited to their environment. The VBM delivers the exact product required to the picker, meeting their need for more ergonomic working conditions. It also offered the ability to have more than one access point for replenishment and retrieval and a laser pointer to easily identify the location of the pick. Kardex systems can store the bulk of their stock in a small footprint, which meant that Church Pharmacy were able to stay in their current premises. This has enabled enough space for 5x more order volume growth.
In the pharmaceutical industry, dispatching the incorrect medication can cause significant risks, so accuracy is the main driver and with the VBM, accuracy currently sits at 99.9%. This has made a tremendous difference with an increase in confidence by the team to pick the correct item to be presented to the pharmacist for the final accuracy check; this has also allowed the pharmacist to move more of their focus on the clinical patient checks.
The Hardware & Software:
Vertical Buffer Module – VBM
The VBM offers greater flexibility for individual order fulfilment. In Church Pharmacy’s solution a turntable, designed for fast order picking, sits at the front allowing the next presentation to be ready in advance.
The modular design with its small but secure footprint, allows for scalability whilst being able to work alongside other software and hardware solutions, such as a frame pick.
A single terminal used for batch picking presentations reduces the amount of walking and increases the size of the batches that can be picked using a frame.
Frame Pick
Frame Pick was added to provide a high level of flexibility, especially when additional labour would usually be required during higher order volumes. Church Pharmacy’s Frame Pick solution allows a batch of 36 orders to be picked simultaneously and includes optical indicators that direct the picker to the exact location of the order for the product to be picked into and out of. As the Frame sits 1.5m opposite the VBM terminal, where products are being presented, the walking distance between the presentation and order is dramatically decreased.
PPG Software
PPG Software navigates the orders through part of the fulfilment process. PPG also facilitates the batch picking which enables Church Pharmacy’s staff to fulfil multiple orders at the same time. The storage rules allow for maximum volume to be utilised whilst also allowing to batch pick from static racking. Each material can also be customised by using features such as lot, expiry, serialisation and kit.
The PPG software integrated with the flexible BatchMaster3000 batching and fulfilment tool designed by UpSTEAM.uk helps to increase picking speeds and efficiency by another 35-40% which ensures all stocked items are delivered on-time, in prioritised order, for efficient picking whilst delivering a tailored solution based on their material process and fulfilment flow.
The Installation:
It took a matter of 6 weeks to have everything fully operational, including the software installation, but as with any installation there are always teething issues that occur which was mitigated by ensuring the Kardex and UpSTEAM.uk teams worked closely together to ensure the launch of each phase taking into account the importance of business continuity of order processing. Kardex worked with Church Pharmacy to make sure the project was completed to their satisfaction.
‘We are 100% satisfied with the Kardex and UpSTEAM.uk teams. They were super responsive in all our queries and allowed us to scale-up faster than imagined. We have built a great relationship with them. Our confidence in them grew even stronger because of their after-sales support and we are now at a point of looking at the next fulfilment and inventory project with Kardex and UpSTEAM.uk” Shabbir Bhojani – Director, Church Pharmacy
The Benefits:
An unforeseen benefit was in training. Normally staff would take a minimum of one month to be trained on the goods in and picking processes. Now their staff are trained within a week.
‘Since the VBM was installed and our processes streamlined, our staff are working under less pressure and able to focus more on accuracy. They no longer need to remember so much information regarding all of the products when it comes to picking. They just need to follow the instructions provided by the optical indicators.’ – Georgy Paul – Inventory Manager, Church Pharmacy
Being able to stay in their high-spec warehouse has delivered many savings and they predict that an ROI will be experienced in less than 2 years.
Kardex PPG software now manages their multiple pharmacy branches and warehouses including their racked and refrigerated stock.
- Accuracy at 99.9%
- Batching speeds increased by 35-40%
- 70% increase in picking speeds
- Space saving increased by 300%
- Picking process staff training from 1-3 months reduce to 1-2 weeks
- Opening doors to more opportunities
It’s amazing when we look at what we have achieved in a relatively short time. We have increased their accuracy, and productivity. The staff are happier and their customers can be assured of continued great service. – Joseph Stephen – Head Software Architect – UpSTEAM.uk
Futures – a look ahead:
Work processes in the warehouse and production area have now been optimised by using the Kardex VBM. Retrieval and picking times are cut and inventory accuracy has significantly improved. The VBM will deliver a secure long-term investment thanks to high flexibility, modularity and scalability.
Church Pharmacy can now stay in their premises as they grow; taking on more product lines to offer their customers greater choice whilst also improving their level of customer service.
Added information:
Church Pharmacy started from humble beginnings in Church Gate Mews in the University town of Loughborough. The company was founded and setup by a Medical Doctor who ran a full-time aesthetics clinic and a pharmacist with 30 years of experience in running an independent chain of community pharmacies.
They have grown into one of the foremost suppliers of pharmaceutical products to medical professionals within the UK.
Introduction
UpSTEAM.uk was created due to an increase in demand from businesses to update their systems for smoother operations whilst staying relevant.
The company takes a personal, in-depth approach to the understanding and fulfilment of their clients’ vision. UpSTEAM.uk analyse their client’s existing processes and design a solution in line with their business model. They work with their clients and other third-party providers to transform the vision into reality.
Church Pharmacy was quickly growing, but also facing a plateau in the number of orders they were able to process. We analysed and overhauled their systems for them to be able to scale up to 5x more orders in their current premises with less than half the man hours required. We have a big vision for the way we work, it’s a growing market in order processing and warehouse solutions services. We are committed to setting a high standard in delivering a catered service but also one that ultimately creates excellence in our field. – Danny Chavda – Systems and Innovations – UpSTEAM.uk
UpSTEAM.uk has experience in working within highly regulated and complex industries, such as pharma and logistics. At the forefront of the solutions, they offer are; security, accuracy, modularity, scalability and staff wellness. A team of business and solution analysts, system architects, project managers, designers, developers and more makes UpSTEAM.uk a force that drives the future.
This content was provided by Kardex