Warehouse Inventory and Material Process Flow Improvement in a Compounding Pharmacy

Abstract

Pharmaceutical inventory management aims to improve the control over critical raw materials and its traceability, when used in the compounding of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and reduce waste of expired materials. A compounding pharmacy dedicated for patient specific TPN products uses a variety of drug additives and components and raw materials that vary in final product quantity usage day after day. Improving inventory performance through lean Six Sigma approaches has been the objective of this research. By implementing Lean methodology with DMAIC tool, the material process flow in the Compounding Pharmacy has been able to reduce stock cost, material waste, diminish documentation errors and has effectively controlled and monitored the raw material inventory. Key terms ⎯ inventory management, Lean Six Sigma, process flow improvement, waste reduction