Pharmacy Supplies

Pharmacy Supplies Limited distributes to pharmacies, an environment where accuracy is not a preference and traceability is not optional.

Based in Draperstown, Northern Ireland, they run GenetiQ, previously Intact iQ, as their ERP.

The biggest problems were stock accuracy, some broken processes, inefficient picking and no replenishment. Pickers spent their time hunting for overstock — grabbing ladders and heading out into the warehouse to do other jobs — instead of picking, and the route around the floor was a series of zigzags rather than an ordered sequence.

Canary7 gave the pickers a single job. Pull-based replenishment keeps stock in the right bins, so pickers are purely pickers, following an efficient sequence instead of zigzagging. Packing and despatch sped up too, with faster scanning and the label delay removed. Picking errors and mispicks fell, because the system effectively forces the right stock to be picked. Orders flow from their GenetiQ ERP and the DPD courier link went in seamlessly — the whole switch-over was done inside about two hours one morning. Most of all, Pharmacy Supplies gained visibility: a full view from goods coming in the door to orders going out, and insight they never had before, like seeing a hundred replenishment jobs waiting on a Monday that would previously have gone unnoticed.