EPC Familia supplies 100 pharmacies daily using Easy WMS

EPC Familia: providing healthcare at fair prices

The EPC (Popular Economy of Ciney) group was founded in this Belgian town in 1919 as a food industry cooperative. Starting in 1953, the company — with roots in the Christian Workers’ Movement — achieved great success after specializing in pharmaceutical distribution. With two million prescriptions processed yearly, EPC Familia brings its expertise to over 300,000 customers across its more than 100 pharmacies and an additional 7,500 residents of assisted care facilities.

When the goal is to make medications and healthcare accessible to as many people as possible at a fair price, logistics and cost control play a fundamental role. EPC Familia, part of the Popular Economy of Ciney group, understands the need to adopt the latest technological tools to professionalize its supply chain. Therefore, it digitalized its logistics operations responsible for supplying medications across Wallonia (Belgium’s French-speaking region) using Mecalux’s Easy WMS warehouse management system.

The former food co-op — which became a pharmaceutical company in 1953 — holds over 13,000 pharmacy and drugstore SKUs in its warehouse in the Belgian town of Ciney. EPC Familia is the leading supplier in the Walloon Region and the second-largest distributor of medications in Belgium. It fills two million prescriptions annually and serves over 300,000 customers plus 7,500 residents of assisted care facilities. Additionally, it recently made its foray into e-commerce for pharmaceuticals.

The preparations for fulfilling this major mission are carried out in EPC Familia’s warehouse in Ciney. The facility comprises three levels, each spanning 43,055 ft², and fills up to 24,000 order lines a day. Every night, the warehouse overseen by Easy WMS supplies a hundred pharmacies in Wallonia, ensuring patients receive their medication on time.

Professionalizing logistics operations

EPC Familia decided to implement this software to “transition from logistics 2.0 to a setup fit for the 21st century. We were looking for more rigorous traceability of our operations and to improve our service quality,” says a group representative. Another objective was for the pharmacies integrated into its network to receive a detailed list of the products sent in each shipment.

To streamline the pharmaceutical distributor’s flow of goods, Easy WMS interfaces with EPC Familia’s ERP software and the warehouse control system (WCS) that runs the conveyors. With this approach, the end-to-end software solution provides complete, real-time product traceability and boosts productivity in the facility. Since the WMS was integrated into the company’s day-to-day operations, human errors have decreased by 99%.

Easy WMS calculates and optimizes the movement of boxes along the conveyor system linking the three warehouse floors. Moreover, it assigns picking tasks to associates in the area where the unit loads stop. With this method, EPC Familia fills 12,000 to 20,000 packages a day that are subsequently sent to pharmacies.

One of the features implemented in EPC Familia’s facility is the receipt of advanced shipping notices (ASNs) from suppliers. These facilitate receiving and assigning locations to each medication. Additional advantages include guided stocktaking, zone-based replenishment, pre-packaging, and minimum inventory level monitoring, a capability essential for preventing stockouts. To ensure control over its IT infrastructure, the business chose to install Easy WMS in the on-premise model. This allows for greater customization in line with the group’s evolving needs.

By reorganizing its workflow, EPC Familia has achieved full traceability of its pharmaceuticals and improved the quality of its service. Furthermore, it has optimized picking operations with a pick-to-light system and increased its container fill rate for pharmacy delivery. Bernard Devriendt, Supply Chain and Quality Expert at EPC Familia, affirms that the company’s partnership with Mecalux has strengthened the network’s performance. “Mecalux’s customer care in the implementation phase was key to our success. We felt fully supported and valued their commitment and availability,” says Devriendt.

Mecalux’s customer care in the implementation phase was key to our success. We felt fully supported and valued their commitment and availability.