COVER STORY
The need to support customers comes as the industry undergoes a shift that Chris Dimos, president of retail solutions for McKesson’s ad. Supplylogix Health Mart division, McKesson characterized 1/2 as apage fundamental change in pharmacy’s role. “Pharmacy was previously looked at as a distributive business, focused on product distribution. Today, we’re seeing that
The
POWER
knowledge distribution is becoming much more important,” he said. That change creates the dual need “to provide knowledge in a way that is impactful for the patient, while still having quality products and a robust supply chain.” Indeed, a key way that McKesson enables its customers to enhance their offerings is by leveraging its distribution network — through which roughly one-third of the nation’s medications pass on a nightly basis, according to Gene Cavacini, senior vice president and COO of U.S. Pharma. “If we’re doing our pick, pack and ship job right, nobody ever thinks about us,” Cavacini said. “Everything should just happen seamlessly and invisibly so customers don’t have to give that part of our relationship a lot of thought. This allows us to focus on helping them become more efficient in their operations and supporting them in delivering care to their patients.” To get to that point, though, the company has invested heavily in its distribution capabilities, according to Ammie McAsey, senior vice president of distribution operations. “Our network of 26 distribution centers has continually undergone upgrades, in some cases, we’ve built new locations and we’ve •retrofitted Drug Store News, February others,” she said. “For the2019 last 10 years, we’ve accelerated our implementation of automation.” Among the automation that McKesson’s DCs leverage are automatic order-picking machines that can operate between 800 and
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February 2019 DRUGSTORENEWS.COM
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