Canderm Pharma is a family owned and operated business with over 40 years of experience in the marketing and distribution of skin care products. Operating out of a 28,000 square foot facility located in Ville St-Laurent, Quebec, Canderm has become the leading independent dermatological care company in Canada.

The Challenge
Canderm Pharma was running their paper-based warehouse using a cardex system, in which manual logs were kept noting the location and movement of goods throughout the facility. When it came time to provide reports for the senior management team, the reports were built manually on an excel spreadsheet – a laborious and potentially error prone process.

As Canderm Pharma’s order load increased, and it looked like more staff was going to have to be hired keep up with demand, the company began to consider alternatives to the current system. Tighter inventory control, a desire for an accurate ‘real-time’ exchange of information between the warehouse and the back office, as well as the need for increased productivity without increasing labour, all influenced Canderm Pharma’s decision to look into automating their processes and installing a warehouse management system (WMS).

The Solution
In late 2001, Canderm Pharma entered the WMS marketplace looking to find a system that could accommodate their inventory control requirements, increase their order accuracy, and expand their enterprise wide visibility with an interface to their Platinum accounting package. They specifically needed a system that could meet these requirements at a cost a mid-market distributor like Canderm Pharma could afford. "Several systems were explored during the initial search for a perfect fit," explains Canderm Pharma’s Director of Finances, Danielle Lecuyer. "We are not a large company and the cost/benefit analysis couldn’t justify a huge investment, so cost played a considerable role in our decision to go with Radio Beacon."

System costs aside, Radio Beacon’s integration capabilities, enhanced functionality and user-friendly interface convinced Canderm Pharma that this was the system for them. "When we saw the system we liked the way the information was presented on the screen and on the handheld," says Brian Moore, Logistics Manager, Canderm Pharma. "From the systems we evaluated, Radio Beacon was the easiest to understand, work with, and be trained on – which is very important when you are hiring new people."

The system was up and running in January of 2002 and minus a few bumps along the way, the transition from paper-based to a fully automated Radio Beacon WMS, including an interface to the Platinum for Windows accounting package, was a relatively smooth one. With Radio Beacon V 3.4 in the warehouse, Canderm Pharma has been able to realize a number of process efficiencies.

As with most distributors of the health care products, Canderm Pharma needed strict inventory control in the event of a product recall. Lot, serial and product numbers had to be tracked throughout their lifecycle in the warehouse. Using RF handhelds and barcode technology, Radio Beacon allows Canderm Pharma to track and trace every product as it is received, putaway, picked and shipped.

Because Radio Beacon is web enabled, Canderm Pharma’s customer service team knows exactly what is in the warehouse at any given time, allowing for accurate and efficient customer service and increased order response times. The arrival of Radio Beacon also significantly improved the quality of information related to the distribution of free goods. In the past, reporting of free goods shipments was a cumbersome and time-consuming task with the information being grouped together and manually entered into the host system. This lag time between the entry and receipt of information made cost centre tracking almost impossible. Now, with Radio Beacon’s real time data transfer, Canderm Pharma can effectively track each and every free goods shipment and generate reliable, accurate reports.

Canderm Pharma capitalizes on many of Radio Beacon’s advanced reporting features, which allow for fast and reliable data transfer and report generation. In fact, Canderm Pharma’s management team no longer has to wait for reports, as they can now be created on demand through the fully integrated Radio Beacon-Platinum for Windows system.

The Benefits
The benefits of installing the system were felt almost immediately at Canderm Pharma. The warehouse was running with a minimum number of staff as the system was being implemented and Radio Beacon allowed Canderm Pharma to continue its operations, with the increased demand, without having to add any new floor staff. Today, the orders being processed per day are up almost fifteen percent over the levels achieved in 2001, without the corresponding increase in staff.

Order picking times have decreased by almost a third, but without compromising accuracy, which has increased to over 99%. Receiving of stock takes twenty-five percent less time than before and the return-to-stock process is down almost fifty percent. With Radio Beacon constantly cycle counting in the warehouse, Canderm Pharma has seen its monthly inventory reporting time plummet more than forty percent. And, of course, now that Radio Beacon has rendered Canderm Pharma’s warehouse virtually paperless, costs for stationery supplies have also decreased significantly!

Canderm Pharma expects to achieve even more with Radio Beacon in the future. By working with Radio Beacon’s kitting function Canderm Pharma anticipates a further reduction in the amount of time and paper used in the warehouse to pick and assemble internal production orders. Radio Beacon will give Canderm Pharma’s production department full access to all the key information prior to a production run, eliminating a number of steps in the warehouse and reducing the risk of data or paper trail errors dramatically.

"Given all that Radio Beacon offers, I could not imagine returning to the old system," enthuses Mr. Moore. "I believe Radio Beacon has proven itself, and I for one am certainly satisfied. We are a growing company confident that Radio Beacon will fulfill our needs for many years to come. With Radio Beacon, we are ready to face the challenges of a very competitive business now and down the road."

Canderm Pharma was running their paper-based warehouse using a cardex system, in which manual logs were kept noting the location and movement of goods throughout the facility. When it came time to provide reports for the senior management team, the reports were built manually on an excel spreadsheet – a laborious and potentially error prone process. In late 2001, Canderm Pharma entered the WMS marketplace looking to find a system that could accommodate their inventory control requirements, increase their order accuracy, and expand their enterprise wide visibility with an interface to their Platinum accounting package. They specifically needed a system that could meet these requirements at a cost a mid-market distributor like Canderm Pharma could afford. "Several systems were explored during the initial search for a perfect fit," explains Canderm Pharma’s Director of Finances, Danielle Lecuyer. "We are not a large company and the cost/benefit analysis couldn’t justify a huge investment, so cost played a considerable role in our decision to go with Radio Beacon." Canderm Pharma capitalizes on many of Radio Beacon’s advanced reporting features, which allow for fast and reliable data transfer and report generation. In fact, Canderm Pharma’s management team no longer has to wait for reports, as they can now be created on demand through the fully integrated Radio Beacon-Platinum for Windows system. The benefits of installing the system were felt almost immediately at Canderm Pharma. The warehouse was running with a minimum number of staff as the system was being implemented and Radio Beacon allowed Canderm Pharma to continue its operations, with the increased demand, without having to add any new floor staff. Today, the orders being processed per day are up almost fifteen percent over the levels achieved in 2001, without the corresponding increase in staff.