A new automation system for the distribution of incontinence products
Visser Trading Aruba (VTA) is one of the biggest pharmacies on Aruba with 6 branches spread out over the island. Besides medication they sell drugstore goods, medical instruments and medical aids. Since some time VTA is a member of Mediq, the biggest Dutch pharmaceutical organization. Hans Mondria started in 2012 as a manager at Visser and shares his experiences with VCC International NV.
New Incontinence Material for all AZV Insured Patients
In January 2013 the AZV organized a tender for the distribution of incontinence material for all the AZV insured patients. At the end of May AZV announced that Visser Trading Aruba (VTA) won the tender and that they had to start distributing from July 1st.
“It was an enormous challenge for our company to build a computer system that registers the handout to all the individual users in Aruba using a new product line that fits the needs of the users and is simultaneously the best replacement for the old one” Hans explains. We got a lot of assistance from our supplier Hartmann during this process.
New Software for distribution
The place of distribution had to be close to the home address of the client, so VTA opened 3 outlets spread out over the island. This made the logistic process even more complicated.
Some other starting points for the new to build administration system were the fact that it should have an interface with the existing accounting software EXACT® ( for the inventory, ordering and finance department), an access-database with all the information concerning the usage of the incontinence material and it also had to communicate with the AZV system to exchange information and to produce a monthly bill. In order to monitor the number of users who entered the program, we used Crystal Reports® to generate specific reports that gave us all the necessary information about their actual status.
Working under pressure, with success
Since the new software had to be connected with our existing software we contacted our supplier VCC International. Its director Bert Vermaas rose to the occasion, realized our request and produced all necessary software within the very limited time. Within 4 weeks he and his staff, together with some of our specialists, succeeded in delivering a complete automation of the distribution of incontinence material. Additionally, they made an easy to adapt route-planner for the distribution of the material to heavy users, disabled people and others who are confined to their home. With a simple click we can now produce a list of all the users, their usage and our actual stock. On a daily basis we can see which deliveries have to be made.
We are convinced that because of the effort and the determination of the people of VCC International we were able to meet our target and to successfully launch our new service to the incontinence product consumers in Aruba.
Hans Mondria,
Manager at Visser Trading Aruba