We have doubled our capacity for outgoing orders with WaveOMS
PAUL O’HEA, HEAD OF E-COMMERCE
Overview
Inish Pharmacy was established in 2007 and started trading online in December 2013. Inish Pharmacy places huge emphasis on providing customers with excellent service. The quality of service, large product range and Loyalty Programme has resulted in a high volume of returning customers who regularly shop with Inish Pharmacy. This rapid growth in online sales resulted in Inish Pharmacy investing in WaveOMS.
The Challenge
Inish has experienced significant annual online sales growth over the last 10 years. A big challenge was maintaining operational efficiency as order volumes grew. Paul O’Hea, Head of eCommerce, knew that adding more staff to his existing process would not give him the efficiency levels he needed.
“Now we'll do 500 orders by 12 pm, we have double the daily order packing capacity with WaveOMS.” Consolidated Picking allows us to pick multiple items per 'Bin Visit' thereby avoiding the need to go back to a bin location multiple times, which is very inefficient.”
Manual, paper based
Surge in orders
Over staffed
Inaccurate picking & returns
Revenue inefficiencies
The Solution
With their old picking process Inish Pharmacy picked about 25 orders at a time using a tote system. WaveOMS allowed them to move to “Consolidated Picking” there by increasing productivity by 50%. Another nice feature of WaveOMS is that order errors have gone to zero as every item is scanned at the packing stage.
x2
Doubled the daily order picking capacity
80%
Increase in operational efficiency
Centralised dahsboard keeps staff active
Results
Prior to installing Wave OMS, Inish Pharmacy would be lucky to hit 500 orders packed per day. “Now with consolidated picking, we complete 500 orders by 11.30am or 12.00pm. Efficiency has increased by at least 80%. Having the right real-time information has helped Inish Pharmacys to make better decisions and understand how they can allocate scarce resources better.”
WaveOMS has enabled more agile and lean work practices. Productivity is higher with plenty of variety for staff. This has increased job satisfaction and retention rates. All online orders with OTC Medicines with contraindications must be released for processing by a qualified Pharmacist. The move to Wave OMS has transformed Inish Pharmacy’s business. Inish Pharmacy’s Online business can now grow at a faster pace than competitors as it is not constrained by its warehouse.
Insightful Management Information
Prior to the switch over to Wave OMS, one issue was the lack of management information to make informed decisions. As order volumes grew the need for reliable real-time information became more important. Information such as the number of single & multi-line orders packed and by who in the last hours, the number of outstanding orders to be picked and the number of orders that are missing an item that is not in the warehouse. All these KPIs became essential to maintaining efficiency and delivering excellent customer service.
“Having the right information in real time has helped us understand how the day is going and how we can allocate resources better.”
More Flexible Work Practices
Management knew that the warehouse staff needed to transition to meet increased demand. The senior team wanted to enable staff to have the ability to multitask and to be more self-directed and autonomous in their work. They didn’t want people saying “I just pick or I just pack”. WaveOMS allowed Inish Pharmacy to achieve this, as it is an extremely simple system to use and by the realtime information it displays on the Dashboard.
WaveOMS Dashboard, which updates every 10 minutes and operates on a Traffic Light System “allows staff to see for themselves where they are needed. For example, staff can now see that 100 orders are ready for packing and can switch from picking to get this done”. WaveOMS has enabled more agile and lean work practices. “As a team productivity is much higher with plenty of variety in the working day. This has helped increase job satisfaction among warehouse staff and lead to higher retention rates.”
Dealing with OTC Medicine
Inish Pharmacy sell Over The Counter (OTC) Medicines such as Ibuprofen & Viagra online. Some active ingredients in OTC medicines may have the potential to be misused or cause harm if not taken correctly. WaveOMS’ order processing rules allows Inish Pharmacy to have orders containing OTC medicine with contraindications checked by a qualified Pharmacist before being released to be sent out. This process is fully auditable and gives great peace of mind.
Summary:
“The team at Wave come from a retailing background so they know what works. They get it if you are explaining something complicated. What’s important too is that they have been great to work with. They are very helpful if there are issues to sort out. Get Wave if you are serious about your eCommerce growth!”
Paul O’Hea, Pharmacist & Head of eCommerce
Wave Case Studies
