Barcoding in pharmaceutical inventory management Botswana experience TechNet Meeting, 5-7 February 2013, Dakar, Senegal Muhammad Farooq Chohan Manager Central Medical Stores
Presentation Outline Country Profile Central Medical Stores (CMS) CMS Warehouse Processes Receipt Process Coding System and Locations Use of Barcoding - Warehouse Management System (WMS) Barcode Labels (Receipt, IMU and Distribution) Advantages Challenges
Republic of Botswana Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Adopted its new name upon independence in 1966. Population 2,098,018 Population growth rate 1.5% Life expectancy at birth 56 years HIV incidence rate (adult) 24.8% (2009 est.) 198, 553 / 202,789 on treatment (Dec. 12) Health Expenditure - 10.3% of GDP (2009)
Central Medical Stores (CMS) CMS is public sector entity which is responsible for Procurement, storage and distribution of Pharmaceuticals and other health commodities in public sector 4 departments Procurement, Warehouse (Technical Operation), Quality Assurance and Corporate services. Staffing-166 staff, & Budgets 2012-13 USD 95 Million/year 1,544 stockable products on the CMS catalogue + Special Orders (Non- Stockable) 700 customers (public facilities, Mission and Mine Hospitals) Process approx. 10,000 items per month (Schedule Orders & Emergency Orders) ISO 9001 certification with Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) in November 2012. Fully automated warehouse using WMS (Pulse) in inventory processing, from receipt, to the service delivery point (SDP). Introduced the current WMS in 2003, previously another system was used called Triton.
CMS Warehouse Processes: RECEIPTS: INVENTORY MANAGEMENT: DISTRIBUTION: Checking Offloading and sorting Quality Check Receiving Putaway Cycle Count Housekeeping Replenishment Move Stock Annual Stock take Inventory Fault Management Expiry Management Order Management Picking & Packing Affixing sales order label Checking & Closing Dispatch to the facility
Receiving Process FIN Process payment QA to inspect product Product pass inspection? No (Attach red sticker) Quarantine product End QA to change Q to 1 grade QA 2 Inform QA to inspect product Yes Collect invoice and Log products onto Pulse. Configure product Attach GRR to invoice and sign. Log products on to Pulse for putaway (Labels print) PT/ LT Print: Pallet labels / SKU labels/ GRR Separate batches Palletise and stack product per pallet label ID Record invoice / GPO in invoice register. Send invoices / GPO to finance Label product Putaway stock to Hazardous area Putaway stock to small pick Putaway stock to Fridges (Cold chain / Vaccines / HFD s) S O C Putaway stock to Bulk
Coding System and Locations Alpha-Numeric Codes: CMS uses an alpha-numeric coding system for product identification. The product code consists of three alphabet and three numerical characters. The supplier of the product is specified by adding three additional numerical characters. For example Store Keeping Unit (SKU) SOD008005: SOD = Sodium Chloride 008 = 0.9% irrigation solution, 3000 ml 005 = the 5 th registered supplier for this product. Stock locations are where stock is kept. Locations in IT System (PULSE are identified by a five segments code as illustrated below (Zone, Aisle, Bay, Level and Slot) AA-AA-99-99-99
Use of Barcoding- Warehouse Management System (WMS) WMS interfaces with business management software (Oracle) which includes procurement, quality and financial management systems, etc. The WMS uses barcodes and radio frequency devices to provide a seamless, automated and accurate inventory management system. A Barcode is an optical machine readable representation of data relating to the object to which it is attached. An RF device is an a handheld scanner used for reading printed barcodes. The CMS warehouse has 20 RF ports and 26 scanners for its operation.
Barcode Labels Barcode labels are generated at different section of the warehouse, depending on the specific process. The smallest unit that is barcoded is a box and not the individual unit (vial/bottle). The barcodes are used to identify products, suppliers, pallets, cartons, and product storage locations. Barcodes contain several other critical information e.g. Transaction date, time and reference number. There are six different barcode labels are generated by the system Receiving : Store Keeping Unit (SKU) label, Pallet Label, & Putaway Label. Inventory Management Unit: Replenishment and Move labels Distribution: Sales order label
Receiving - SKU Label This label provides detailed product information including expiry date, batch number and number of units per carton. This helps to pick the right product in the right quantity.
Receiving - Pallet and Putaway Label Pallet label: provides pallet identification and configuration ( number of boxes and their arrangement on the pallet). Putaway label: This label inform the picker about the location at which product will be putaway in the warehouse and this is directed by the system.
IMU - Replenishment and Move Label These labels inform to pick products from get location to put location. Both of these labels are used during house keeping procedures in the warehouse. Replenishment label is used to replenish stock from bulk location to small picking area. Move label is used to pick product from one location to other location in the warehouse. e.g.; from Bulk to Expiry
Distribution - Sales Order Label During distribution processes, a label is produced after picking from any storage location and is known as Sales order label. This label identifies the customer details and is used during the dispatch process.
Warehouse
Warehouse
Advantages Rapid processing of large amounts of data, i.e. Fast and reliable transfer of information to the system. Efficient and reliable reports. Reduces human error. Ease of transactions as well as fast and accurate processes. Traceability of products up to facility level.
Challenges Unable to track products up to end user (patient). Manual picking Unable to see the stock while processing the customer order. System requires upgrading and on going training of staff. System does not automatically convert the unit of measure, if the item comes in different unit than the standard unit. Unable to print some reports in the excel format and this makes difficult to analyse data for decision making.
Thank you for your attention