With more than 25 years in the automation industry, we are constantly innovating to create systems that help optimize performance and output. iA has been committed to centralizing prescription dispensing with a focus on an integration plan that makes clear how iA robotics and technology can improve prescription processing and management of inventory.
And if you follow iA across our social channels and read the iA blog, you’ll find that commitment is driven by a collective passion across our team to work together to continuously improve iA products and the NEXiA software platform. At iA, we’re never satisfied – and the most recent example of this commitment is the release of our all new iA SmartPod.
SmartPod is the latest example of iA’s passion for pharmacy fulfillment.
SmartPod is a fully contained robot with impressive vial-filling technologies that allows iA customers to configure the SmartPod to add line items and expand pharmacy fulfillment across their pharmacy with very little to no downtime. It’s a comprehensive solution and we are proud to say that SmartPod is only available from iA.
SmartPod was created to provide pharmacies with the ability to grow and scale up pharmacy fulfillment as their business grows. It also allows customers to adapt their mix of automated and manual fill over time. We work with potential customers to configure their system and help them take advantage of the iA SmartPod to improve the ratio of automated fill to manual fill.
As demand grows SmartPods can be expanded by simply adding in a new cabinet configuration that eliminates the need to purchase a new SmartPod. The expansion doesn’t require infrastructure changes or additional space from our iA customers. As demand grows, SmartPod can be expanded by simply adding in a new cabinet configuration, eliminating the need to purchase an all-new SmartPod. The modularity of the SmartPod is a huge benefit to the customer, who doesn’t have to purchase additional SmartPods to expand their prescription fulfillment capacity, saving valuable floor space, and downtime with traditional hardware replacement. This introduces a new level of cost-effective scalability for iA customers.
In short, SmartPod is a game changer for pharmacy fulfillment.
And while I have shared with you an overview of the performance and scalability of benefits, I think the best part about SmartPod is that it really does reflect iA’s passion for pharmacy fulfillment.
Last year, when our CEO Marvin Richardson began his tenure, one of the first things he did was send out an email across the company inviting iA team members to share their best thinking that could inform a breakthrough idea. Marvin shared that he would then work with the iA executive team to identify ten ideas that iA could implement in the first year.
Well, I’m proud to say that one of those ideas was from my colleague Dave Royce. When Dave heard Marvin’s call for new and innovative ideas, Dave was working on a need to improve iA’s current robotic pod by scaling the performance of it from the inside. It was a truly out-of-the-box idea – or perhaps in this instance an “inside-the-box idea.” Rather than asking iA customers to add more pods, Dave asked the question of, “Why not provide iA customers with the opportunity to make their installed pods better?” And hence, the SmartPod was born, and the pharmacy will be better for it.