Page 33 - Case Study Annual 2018

LAA Gold Award
A lean learning
organisation
UPD prides itself on ‘doing the simple things exceptionally well’.
UPD IS a wholesaler and distributor of
pharmaceuticals to the private market and is a
subsidiary of the New Clicks Group LTD. UPD
owns and operates fi ve strategically placed
regional distribution centres and runs a fl eet of
over 100 vehicles.
Due to UPD operating in a highly regulated
price environment, it has had to continually
reinvent and reorganise itself to stay competitive.
Over the years the management team has used
a few aces, such as automation, reorganising and
diversifi cation to derive effi ciency and value.
The challenge
UPD found itself facing a number of problems,
which it needed to overcome. These included:
• Market economics and social needs are driving
down the pricing of pharmaceuticals, with costs
rising above infl ation, thereby placing pressure
on the revenues earned and profi tability
realised by UPD.
• UPD diversifi ed into other business streams to
The Logistics News Case Study Annual 2018
mitigate the diminishing value risk, however
faced a huge learning curve. Winning more
clients than it anticipated placed a burden on
its ability to service these clients.
• It became evident that in order to survive it
needed to do something radically diff erent.
Before addressing these problems, certain
challenges needed to be considered:
• Stakeholders, shareholders, clients and
customers were becoming more demanding,
requiring quicker speed to market, frequent
new drug launches and seeking additional
value, making the competitive environment
tougher than ever.
• Whilst operating a unique balance of
automation and manual processes, UPD has
had to fi nd ways to remain competitive and
profi table. This has not always been easy given
its bespoke ERP and WMS system, which has
been in the company for over 25 years, driving
manual processes.
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