Online pharmacy investment in Beaverswood Labelling just the medicine for improvements

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Investment in new warehouse storage and handling systems has helped an online pharmacy secure an estimated 30% improvement in productivity.

A Beaverswood labelling system has been specified for an online pharmacy, delivering significant productivity enhancements. 

Using a system to allow patients to have repeat prescriptions ordered and fulfilled via online platforms, the pharmacy has seen its operations increase after the installation of new shelving units from Bito Storage Systems with an integrated labelling and identification solution from industrial visual communications specialist, Beaverswood. 

The move follows the pharmacy’s decision to invest in additional capacity at its secure fulfilment centre in North London to meet growing customer demand for its services. This has seen the installation of 68 new bays of extra shelving to accommodate increased stock holding, creating in the process an additional 2,000 storage cells to cater for rising order numbers.

To ensure prescriptions are processed as efficiently and safely as possible in a just-in-time style operation, Beaverswood products have been specified as part of a package of bespoke storage and handling upgrades.

This included a new labelling system to meet the requirements of individual shelving units, which measure 40mm high. The labelling system can be quickly and easily reconfigured and repositioned around the warehouse to support a variety of different product selection and picking options as the 16 strong team of operatives’ process orders in line with fluctuating demand for certain medicines.

The Beaverswood package of support features a tailor made solution built around self-adhesive shelf and rack label holders. These have been added to help to meet the requirement for a more effective order identification and processing system as the pharmacy gears up its operations to meet increased demand. 

This is contributing significantly to improved warehouse productivity, driving a 30% increase in order selection and despatch as the healthcare provider moves to ramps up its activities with additional staff. Ravi Singh, solution design manager at Bito, who has overseen the installation project, said Beaverswood labelling also supports effectively voice-picking technologies used by the workforce.

“The customer is benefiting from improvements using the new integrated shelving and labelling system, making life much easier for order picking and processing. Operatives can better see where they need to be in the warehouse and identify quickly where to they should be picking.

“Beaverswood has supplied a good quality product, which is well supported and serviced, that delivers demonstrable warehouse efficiencies.”

The package of products provided by Beaverswood includes also safety signage and racksack, which is a simple-to-use waste management system designed to ensure compliance with current EU and UK waste segregation legislation.

In the UK, employers must endeavour to provide a safe workplace for people and use various strategies and signs to warn them of potential hazards. So with safety paramount when it comes to workplace operations at the healthcare supplier, the adoption of a new common sense-based approach to using safety signs, is helping to protect people is a busy and hazardous environment.

Suspended from the end of shelving lines, racksack is supporting picking operations, helping to keep the workplace tidier - free from potential slip or trip hazards - and saving valuable floor space as pickers are able to quickly and conveniently dispose of waste such as card and paper, which is then sent for recycling.

The adoption of well thought out product management systems is clearly effective in benefiting order fulfilment based healthcare operations. The combination of clear, unambiguous labelling, signage and waste management system in harmony with good quality shelving, can play an important role in facilitating improved levels of productivity, while nurturing a safety-first culture for the online pharmacy.

It also shows the importance of tailor made solutions to meet specific needs – the one size fits all approach won’t always work in an environment where the optimum flow of productivity is paramount. Investment in terms of quality, reliability and performance, together with supplier added value, will contribute significantly to securing a far more productive and safer workplace.