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Large pharmacy chain

Merging two pharmacy chains. The design accounts for goods already on their way.

A large pharmacy chain bought another one. Illustration: with about one day of delay in the information, the same medicine could be ordered twice.

The problem
The stores bought would now get goods from the buyer's warehouses. Without seeing what was already on its way, their system could order it all again. Estimate: 391 stores × R$170k in sales a week × 1% ordered twice (assumption) ≈ R$660k a week in idle stock.
What Appfy did
Appfy connected the two systems without replacing what worked: every order got a number, like a tracking code, and the calculation now subtracts what is already on its way.
The gain
A historical engagement to integrate pharmacy-network replenishment after an acquisition. The surviving sources document how demand, warehouse execution, fiscal authorization and store receipt were connected, and the controls proposed for identity, partial quantities and delayed visibility. Measured processing time and realized store scope are absent.

  1. Scene 1 of 8The company

    One chain bought another. The open question was how to supply the stores it bought.

    A large pharmacy chain bought another one. The buyer's warehouses would now supply the stores it bought: like connecting one restaurant's dining room to another's kitchen.

  2. Scene 2 of 8The problem

    Every order went through many hands before it left.

    Every night, a team checks the sales, and the system works out what each store needs and splits the stock. Estimate for the broader processing window, not the allocation step: about 4 to 5 hours. Then come boxes, picking and the tax invoice.

  3. Scene 3 of 8The problem

    The risk: ordering again what was already on its way.

    Example: the store orders 100 and the warehouse has already set aside 80. The store's system only sees this a day later and orders the 100 again, like shopping without checking the pantry.

  4. Scene 4 of 8The choice

    Keep what works: add two controls.

    Appfy fitted the new stores into the operation that already worked. Every order got a number, like a tracking code, and the calculation now subtracts what is on its way.

  5. Scene 5 of 8What Appfy did

    “Accepted” does not mean delivered.

    The two chains used different codes for stores and products, like two languages. Appfy translated between them and named every step of the order: filling only part of it is not an error.

  6. Scene 6 of 8What Appfy did

    The invoice releases the truck, and the store closes the loop.

    The truck only leaves once the government authorizes the tax invoice. At the store, whoever receives it checks boxes and invoice, and that check goes back to planning.

  7. Scene 7 of 8What changed

    Everyone looking at the same order, by the same number.

    The design accounts for what has already left before the next order, and it proposes that the nightly calculation run in parallel per distribution centre. The time after that change was not measured.

  8. Scene 8 of 8And in your company?

    Restocking, or merging two companies? Start with what is on its way.

    If you restock, have merged two operations or connect a new system to an old one, Appfy starts with what is already on its way. Start with a free 30-minute conversation.