Managing Inventory and
Warehouse Operations
A pharmaceutical distributor optimizes SAP deployment with bar code scanning.
Distributing pharmaceuticals is a
challenging and complex business. Margins on drug products
can be small, and distributors must
comply with numerous state and federal regulations to ensure supply-chain
safety and security.
Med-Health Pharmaceutical Products, a mid-sized drug wholesaler
based in Las Vegas, has been able to
ensure the accuracy and efficiency of
its warehouse operations by using an
automated, bar code–based system in
conjunction with SAP’s enterprise
resource planning (ERP) software.
Med-Health Pharmaceutical has
strategic alliances with a medical supply distribution company and a pharmaceutical repackaging business. In
2006, the company decided to upgrade
its existing enterprise software in order
to comply with FDA regulations that
its new pharmaceutical business would
be required to meet.
The company approached Idhasoft
(Irvine, CA), a systems integration
company that specializes in SAP
implementations. Idhasoft deployed its
SAP-qualified Business All-in-One
solution for wholesale distribution, an
industry-specific preconfigured solution that leverages the power of the
SAP ERP application, across all of
Med-Health’s businesses.
Because Med-Health needed an
accurate way to label and track products throughout its warehouse facility,
Idhasoft recommended its partner,
BCC Distribution Inc. (BCCD), to
install a bar code tracking system.
Med-Health Pharmaceutical Products coupled an automated, bar code-based system with enterprise resource planning to bring efficiencies to its warehouse operations.
BCCD deployed TranSAP, a bar
code–based inventory scanning system
that integrates with the SAP system.
“It’s really a turnkey solution,” says
Mark Hames, director of operations
for Med-Health Pharmaceutical Products. “Nevada is very strict when it
comes to regulating the wholesale drug
industry, and we wanted to go above
and beyond its requirements to ensure
we could operate as efficiently as possible, while maintaining full compliance
with state requirements. With Idhasoft’s Business All-in-One solution and
TranSAP, we were able to deploy a
fully compliant solution in a very short
period of time.”
“People think SAP is a complex,
expensive system that only large companies can deploy,” says Jon Newman,
CEO of BCCD. “Idhasoft offers this
preconfigured, industry-specific SAP
template for smaller companies, and
they are typically up and running very
quickly.”
The pharmaceutical warehouse is a
28,000-sq-ft facility with a full-scale
racking system. A separate enclosed
area in the warehouse secures all controlled substances along with a refrig-
