Pharmacy shopping experience

BD Rowa automates warehousing and medication dispensing for pharmacies, hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Digital systems for customer contact and advice as well as service terminals in pharmacy dispensaries complete the product portfolio. With more than 7,000 systems worldwide, the Rowa brand stands for quality and reliability "Made in Germany". All Rowa systems are developed and manufactured in Kelberg (Eifel), the company's headquarters. Since 2015, there has been another office in Frankfurt am Main. A total of 700 employees work for the Rowa brand at ten locations in Europe. BD Rowa is part of Becton Dickinson, a global medical technology company that advances healthcare by improving research, diagnostics and care. BD employs approximately 50,000 people in 50 countries. www.rowa.de

Added value for the customer

Management Summary

Modern pharmacies do not only rely on automation in the warehouse. There is also potential for presenting products in a clearer and more contemporary way and reducing costs at the same time. BD Rowa sells Vmotion, a solution that virtualizes visual and free choice products and presents them on large screens. In the process, IT-HAUS provides the optimum hardware basis and ensures trouble-free continuous operation of the digital signage solution.

Starting position

BD Rowa is present in pharmacy salesrooms throughout Europe with the virtual visual selection Rowa Vmotion. Instead of real display packs on shelves, pharmacy-only (non-prescription) medicines and over-the-counter products are presented to customers on large screens. These can be controlled by touch and are linked to the BD Rowa picking system. The selected preparation is automatically retrieved and transported to the manual sales counter. Pharmacies thus have a completely new way of organizing their visual selection. Not only do the screens always appear clean and replenished and physical stock maintenance is no longer necessary. Virtual stocking is also simple and flexible via a cloud-based web portal, allowing the display to be adjusted on a time-controlled basis. Additional content such as videos or photos can be integrated individually. As a result, customers are more aware of the visual selection and the products are presented in a clear and modern way. The system can be operated from any Internet-enabled end device, and several branches or a cooperation network can also be controlled centrally. The specially developed pharmacy picking system and the software are distributed directly by BD Rowa.

Requirements and goals

As a long-standing BD Rowa partner, the task for IT-HAUS was to develop a concept for a powerful and cost-efficient hardware basis for Vmotion that meets the highest standards of stability and reliability, even in 24/7 operation, in order to integrate it as a display solution in the shop windows. It was also necessary to develop and implement a procurement strategy that would ensure the customer fast and flexible availability of the relevant components and on-time delivery throughout the EU.

The challenge

What can be experienced by end customers and employees as an innovative shopping experience involves some initial considerations regarding the requirements for a sophisticated overall digital signage solution. In addition to a suitable CMS system, it is important to coordinate all the necessary components with the solution and to present an overall concept for the customer - which can also be adapted to different local conditions. A classically based PC system offers the advantage of direct connection to a larger number of screens. However, BD Rowa's point-of-sale solution had to take into account long distances of up to 25 meters, which would make an HDMI connection more susceptible to interference and signal loss. The direct integration of the devices into built-in walls proved to be a further challenge, as special requirements in terms of heat development of the devices and fire protection had to be taken into account. Optimal visibility in different daytime and weather conditions also had to be taken into account for the shop window solution for directly addressing passers-by.

Solution

In the specially created test center, IT-HAUS tested various real-time solutions that were to be used for optimal deployment at the point of sale. After an extensive series of tests, the choice fell on a mini PC solution from the manufacturer Intel. The Intel NUC concept comprises ultra-compact PCs with a volume of just 0.6 liters. Despite their small dimensions, they are powerful computers with low power consumption that are suitable for almost all areas of application. As the computers were mounted directly behind the screens, the temperature resistance of the NUCs proved to be a major advantage in addition to their compactness. The direct control of two screens meant that previous signal interference could be practically eliminated. As part of the collaboration with the customer, IT-HAUS GmbH also handles the direct pre-configuration and software loading of the devices with customer-specific images. In the event of a failure, the goods can be made available just-in-time thanks to fixed stock levels in the in-house warehouse, without ordering and delivery times delaying the delivery.

Benefit

A large number of pharmacies throughout Europe are equipped with the Vmotion system - and the trend is rising sharply. The demo environment at Föhren is maintained so that IT-HAUS can continue to carry out extensive tests for customers: in case the manufacturer launches new hardware or accessories, BD Rowa updates its software, support for the existing hardware expires, or to analyze errors. In terms of ongoing quality management, the functionality of various scenarios can be tested and documented here. Collaboration with the customer has become increasingly close, allowing the overall portfolio to be expanded.

Thanks to technical innovations, BD Rowa is able to offer Service 4.0 in the form of "proactive services". This means that impending error messages are detected in advance and can be rectified before an actual failure occurs. Although IT-HAUS GmbH offers its own complete digital signage solutions, the focus is on customer satisfaction and optimum implementation - even if the customer has its own CMS, as is the case here at BD Rowa.

Our experts will be happy to advise you on the individual options.

Fill out our contact form or call us directly. We look forward to talking to you.