Challenge: Slow-moving products were delaying order fulfillment and clogging existing automation systems for a large pharmaceutical distributor. Totes filled with outgoing products were backing up on conveyors — creating a bottleneck, diminishing throughput and ultimately underutilizing other automation systems down the line.

Analyst Insight: To address changing patient and market needs, pharmaceutical companies are expanding their product portfolios to include specialized and even individualized drugs. Precise, real-time control is indispensable to avoiding quality issues during the production or shipment of these smaller-batch items. To support this growing trend, systems of the extended supply chain need to be integrated to provide synchronization and process visibility.