Apace Packaging

The Challenge

As a packaging, repackaging and serialization service provider for leading pharmaceutical brands — helping package and manage medicines for, among others, organizations supporting the US military — Apace Packaging is a critical hub in both the private and public healthcare sectors. Apace provides a fully aggregated serialization solution for its manufacturing partners, and must maintain a fully compliant environment (FDA, DEA, and varied state regulations), which means inventory management is critical. “We need to know when a shipment arrives, who‘s driving, what’s in the shipment, and what are the next steps,” said Barry Blue, Director of Manufacturing.

The Solution

Apace came to Argano through its sister company DCS, which leveraged Microsoft technology and Argano expertise to create a smart warehouse and enjoy a 300% efficiency increase. With such tremendous results, the decision for Apace to choose Argano and switch from an on-premises legacy ERP to a cloud-based instance of Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management was practically preordained.

In addition to Dynamics, Apace chose Power BI for data visualization and dissemination, and leaned on Argano’s integration expertise to connect third-party system such as Antares. The project was a massive success, being completed in less than 10 months and coming under budget.

The Results

Prior to Dynamics, Apace would often find itself in a bind where an order would be created in the system and inventory would not be available. To ensure Apace had sufficient inventory, it over-stocked many items. Now that Dynamics is implemented along with Power BI, Apace can forecast, and align the ordering process to meet the forecasted requirements of a Just In Time (JIT) approach, which has allowed it to reduce its overall inventory. Apace can provide one of the quickest turn times in the industry. With Dynamics 365 and Power BI, Apace now has one source of truth for the whole company.

Success is in more than just solutions delivered: it was also in relationships created. “I can’t say enough good things about the Argano team,” said Blue. The feeling is mutual.

“The client really stepped up to focus on specific wins and avoid scope creep,” said Henrik Jensen, Senior Director, Strategic Engagements at Argano. “Apace avoided ‘death by a thousand cuts’ helping us beat both the timeframe and the budget.”

“In addition to those specific wins,” added Jensen, “Apace is now equipped for further enhancements, such as electronic batch records [a Dynamics extension designed by Argano engineers that enables digitization of record management] that will help supercharge productivity.”

With Dynamics and Argano, Apace is prepared to set the pace in its market and help its clients — the pharmaceutical companies making the medicines, and the healthcare companies getting them into providers’ and patients’ hands — enjoy increases in both satisfaction and longevity.