Pan-European logistics with IBS Pharmaceutical software at Alloga

Customer Story

Pharmaceutical distribution software provides Alloga's business partners with a seamless pan-European logistics solution that can handle multiple languages and currencies, while keeping up with national and international government regulations.

Company background

Alloga was founded in 2000 as an independent joint venture between the Swiss company Galenica and British firm Alliance Unichem - two leading pharmaceutical wholesalers. Alloga has already established itself a leading specialist pre-wholesale company dealing in pharmaceutical and healthcare products. The company offers a comprehensive range of logistics services for the pharmaceutical industry on a pan-European level through its ten pre-wholesale facilities in eight countries. Alloga employs 450 people across Europe and had a turnover of EUR 383 million in 2002.

Business issues

A growing trend in the pharmaceutical industry is to outsource logistics functions to pre-wholesale companies such as Alloga. Outsourcing offers companies an attractive way of reducing their supply chain costs while focusing on their core business. This creates a high demand for logistics capacity. In fact, Alloga aims to double its European warehousing capacity over the next few years. The company recognized the need to modernize its logistics systems to keep up with the increasing demand for its pre-wholesale services. Pharmaceutical distribution is characterized by large transaction volumes created by day-to-day business operations. Distribution software solutions must be able to handle vast quantities of orders, and scalability is critical if they hope to meet future demands.

Operating in the pharmaceutical industry on a pan-European level demands that Alloga must not only meet stringent industry-specific regulations, but also those dictated by a range of governments. The company must also contend with conducting its business in multiple languages. It is imperative for Alloga to offer its clients a seamless national, regional and European logistics solution.

Solution and capabilities

Alloga needed a modern IT solution for distribution software, financial management software and business processes on an international level. After scrutinising various software solutions, the company eventually selected IBS Pharma, an industry-specialized software solution tailored for pharmaceutical distribution, based on IBS supply chain management software. A major decision factor was that IBS Pharma is specifically tailored to address the immense volumes, rapid lead-times and fast pace of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. The pharmaceutical software solution consists of components for supply chain automation, warehouse management, replenishment and inventory management, logistics planning, sales call planning, customer relationship management, financial management, business intelligence and e-commerce. The software's multi-language functionality and ability to meet national and an array of European regulations was a further decision factor.

IBS already has a proven track-record with Alloga's parent company, Galenica. One of Galenica's other subsidiaries, Galexis, has been using IBS' supply chain management software since 1996. IBS' success at Galexis demonstrated the company's industry-specific competence and proved the quality of the software solution. Alloga is convinced that IBS Pharma will give the company a competitive advantage.

Implementation

Alloga has recently completed the first phase of a pan-European implementation of IBS Pharma. IBS Financial software was successfully implemented at Alloga Switzerland during the first half of the year. A full implementation of the IBS logistics system is due for completion during the second half of the year. The basic IBS distribution system has been tailored for Alloga's specific needs as a pharmaceutical pre-wholesale specialist. The roll-out of the Alloga-specific solution across Europe will progress swiftly.

A detailed implementation plan for each site is presently under development. The first priorities are Portugal, Spain and France.

Benefits and value

Based on IBS supply chain software and developed exclusively for the pharmaceutical industry, IBS Pharma provides enhanced functionality in critical areas such as fully automated purchase order creation, fast order entry with phonetically corrected item searching, customer call plans, optimized picking and interfaces to automatic pickers. Users will also benefit from the calculation of actual return on investment (ROI) through a system of key performance indicators, the provision of centrally organized purchase conditions for all local subsidiaries of a corporation, and the possibility to plan all processes in a graphical environment.

IBS Pharma has been shown to handle a record-breaking 2.0 million order lines per hour with a response time of 0.04 seconds. It can easily accommodate Alloga's growing pan-European distribution network, and allow the company to make the best possible use of its physical infrastructure.

With IBS pharmaceutical ERP software, Alloga will be able to provide its business partners with a seamless pan-European logistics solution that can handle multiple languages and currencies, while keeping up with national and international government regulations.

Contact IBS for more information. »