How BD Rowa reduces the downtimes of order picking systems

Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany GmbH (BD Rowa) is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of order picking systems for pharmacies, hospitals and pharmaceutical wholesalers. The complex systems of the company based in the small community of Kelberg in Rhineland-Palatinate support healthcare facilities in 53 countries to efficiently store and manage the supply of pharmaceuticals. In this context, smooth service processes are indispensable. Any downtime of the costumer’s systems would lead to bottlenecks in the supply of medicine to patients.

“Since we are a part of the health care system, our work is based on speed, efficiency and safety. This is why offering reliable customer service for our complex systems is of great importance. At the same time, we continuously strive to improve,” Dr Dorothée Gößwein, Project Manager at BD Rowa, says. “Digitalisation and the use of real-time data open up completely new opportunities for us. Just like we wanted to improve our products, we also wanted to be able to have more time for our customers, while technology takes care of the other tasks automatically.”

Agile methods guarantee reliability

The set goals were clear, but how could the plan be put into practice – especially in terms of technology? As Dr. Dorothée Gößwein explains, “For such a complex project, you need the right partner on your side. The solutions proposed by ORAYLIS immediately convinced us that they would be the best partner for us to implement this project. The team had a clear idea of what our solution should look like. At the same time, the agile working method of our partner always assured us that we were on the right track.”

Data delivered in real-time

ORAYLIS built a state-of-the-art digital platform in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. Previously, machine data was collected on hardware servers in a lengthy process and could only be processed or forwarded at fixed times. The platform now enables a centralised data collection from all customer plants and makes it available in near real time. This applies not only to basic information, error messages or temperature data that the cooling units of the plants continuously send; even extensive videos generated by cameras inside the machines are available immediately. For this purpose, highest security standards in the transfer of data were indispensable.

Avoid malfunctions before they occur

BD Rowa’s support staff can now quickly and efficiently access all of the relevant information via a user-friendly web application. “This enables us to proactively support our customers,” Dr Dorothée Gößwein says enthusiastically. A return channel in the cloud solution even makes it possible to carry out necessary work remotely. Likewise, enquiries to the hotline can be processed with the constantly updated app data without lengthy waiting periods. In addition, the database allows forecast scenarios that can be used to avoid malfunctions in the systems before they occur. “All of these new possibilities help us to further reduce the already low downtimes of our plants, so that our customers can benefit from even higher availability.”

In the future, the cloud approach in Azure will make it possible to flexibly add more and more attractive functions and digital services. For example, BD Rowa’s next step is to use its existing data for an application that allows customers to independently gain valuable insights into the performance of their machines. “Therefore we are very pleased that the ORAYLIS team will continue to support us in our future plans as a guarantee for success ,” concludes Dr Dorothée Gößwein.

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