Highlights:
- Increase output by 59% with no capital investments
- Reduce waste by 40%
Company Description:
Golden State Medical Supply (GSMS) is a Veteran-Founded, U.S.-based company serving the pharmaceutical marketplace since 1986. They are the leading low-cost provider of generic pharmaceuticals to the $2.5B federal healthcare market, specifically the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Serving primarily as a packaging and distribution company of generic tablets and capsules, the company has seen significant growth over the past six years, including a >20% CAGR in volume and revenue.
The Business Challenges:
FlowVision was selected for both their ability to deliver world-class inventory optimization software through ION and their ability to train the current team on best practices around lean execution. ION was a strong fit to quickly solve the challenges of “a poor inventory mix caused by managing the business on spreadsheets,” said Dave. Coupling patented mathematical algorithms with the powerful “visual planning” tools in ION enabled planners to quickly gain an understanding of inventory levels. They were also able to easily understand where there were opportunities to improve fill rates for understocked items while simultaneously reducing inventory of overstocked items.
Implementation:
The implementation of ION very quickly shifted GSMS from a spreadsheet organization to one that was leveraging a purpose-built solution to manage inventory levels and Reorder Points (ROP’s). “The ability to change our planning parameters dynamically based on statistical information rather than an unreliable forecast is something that we were flat out unable to even think about before ION,” said Dave. GSMS planners went from waiting on inaccurate external spreadsheets to tell them what data to put into their ERP to using ION on a daily basis to make informed decisions based on statistics. Buyers looking at ROP data in GSMS’s ERP “now trust the triggers to buy because the accuracy of the master data from ION is better than ever.”
Results:
ION has enabled GSMS to increase their packaging volume by 59% with no capital investments. Along with that, “because our inventory has a shelf life, if we don’t carry the right mix we have to throw out expired product…ION has helped reduce the scrap rate of our products by 40%,” Dave said.
Despite disruptions in generic pharmaceutical marketplace, GSMS successfully completed sale of company to private-equity investor group at attractive multiple, due in part to increased operational output and execution.