From the beginning of the Peter Dodd era, UniChem had striven hard to give a high level of customer service. It had always been a company policy for Branch Managers to carry out a planned programme of regular visits to all of their members, so that each one felt that he or she was important to UniChem. This undoubtedly had a good effect and it was often noticed how much sales improved, following a manager’s visit.
In the earliest days of this regime, one of the most frequent requests from customers had been that they receive their invoices with the actual goods, rather than a delivery note. This improvement would allow immediate pricing to be carried out by their staff.
Unfortunately, such a change was never going to be possible with either the original invoicing or ordering systems. However, in 1974, IBM arranged for the UniChem senior management team to be taken to see a new method, which was being pioneered by a very successful Swiss co-operative pharmaceutical wholesaler, called Galenica.
Using this system, the order clerk at the branch, whilst in telephone contact with the customer, typed the order straight into a Video Display Unit. This same VDU was also connected to the relevant warehouse. During this live conversation, an up-to-date stock availability situation, and the exact price of the goods ordered, could also be given to the customer, As soon as the order was finished, it was printed out in several copies, at the warehouse, itself. Therefore, these printed hard copies provided an assembly document, a delivery note, and an invoice, all at once. To the watching UniChem staff the new system looked like Utopia.
The system was named by UniChem’s computer department as the Warehouse On Line Facility (W.O.L.F.), and this acronym was to flash round the industry.
Despite its high cost, this superb system was adopted at once. After modification to UniChem’s individual requirements, it was installed in every Branch by 1975.
During the extra adaptations, designed and carried out by UniChem’s own Data Proccessing Division, the format of the printed document changed. It was altered so that the order lines were printed out in the shelf sequence at the relevant UniChem branch, rather than the sequence ordered. This greatly increased assembly speed and accuracy.
The existing UniChem members welcomed this introduction, and sales per customer began to rise as a result. Additionally, it proved to be a popular recruiting tool, and it was several years before UniChem’s major competitors caught up. Although the adoption of this ordering method was of major importance, the real breakthrough in the individual pharmacy’s own ordering procedures was still to come.
In 1977, the UniChem computer department, led by David Walker, began to work on the development of an even more revolutionary method for placing of orders. Under this new system, the participating member was provided with an electronic, hand-held, order terminal. At their own convenience, he or she keyed in the order using UniChem’s unique product codes. At a pre-arranged time chosen by the member, the local branch rang the pharmacy, and in order to download the order, the dispensary telephone was coupled to the terminal. The goods were then delivered a few hours later. The new order system was called PROSPER, and it hit the market with a massive impact, giving the UniChem sales force a very useful advantage over competitors, when attempting to open new accounts.
Following on the introduction of Prosper, membership rose to nearly 4000, and the percentage of each participating members’ total purchases, that were being placed with UniChem also rose perceptibly.