CooperVision Incorporated

Innovative Kiosk Turnkey Solution for Automated Inventory Management Delivers Dramatic Results

Situation

CooperVision, Inc., with corporate offices located in Lake Forest, California, is one of the world's leading and fastest growing manufacturers of contact lenses, currently the second largest manufacturer in the United States with a worldwide distribution network in 18 countries.

Known for their leading premium quality toric lenses for people with astigmatism, CooperVision also manufactures lenses for people with spherical and presbyopic conditions and opaque lenses for patients who want to change the appearance of their eye color.

CooperVision distributes their lenses in over 30,000 optometrist offices across North America for recommendation and distribution to patients. CooperVision needed a solution to effectively track their inventory of sample contact lenses placed in these offices in order to maximize their share on new patient fittings. The lens manufacturer wanted to insure that their various contact lens product lines could be made available to patients at all times. Out-of-stocks at a doctor's office could mean a lost sale so having the right mix of sample lenses in each office is critical to growing market share in the competitive contact lens industry.

It was not efficient or reliable to depend exclusively on CooperVision's sales reps or the individual doctor's office staff to keep track of lens inventory across so many locations. CooperVision needed an accurate, consistent and real-time method for monitoring inventory and usage to assure that their sample lens kits were replenished on a timely basis and made available for fitting to prospective patients.

Solution

Ultimate Technology's account team worked with CooperVision to understand their business issues and specific project objectives. Through this process it was determined that not only did CooperVision need a device to remotely collect and transmit contact lens usage data from locations across the country but that they also needed a way to consolidate, warehouse and report the data once it was sent in from each doctor's office.

Ultimate Technology's life-cycle management approach to meet CooperVision's objectives began with the design of an innovative turnkey solution that included the development of a desk-top kiosk and custom written software for data collection, warehousing, and reporting. The kiosk units are staged at Ultimate Technology's integration facility with location-specific data provided by CooperVision to a dedicated FTP site before shipping and arrive at the optometrist's locations ready to be installed and operated.

When CooperVision lenses are dispensed to a patient, the bar code imprinted on the contact lens package is scanned at the desk-top kiosks. Every night each kiosk is programmed to download the day's dispensing activity to Ultimate Technology's data center, where it is compiled in an electronic report and transmitted to CooperVision for analysis and action. The kiosk solution provides CooperVision with real time information on the status of lens inventory in specific doctor's offices and allows them to proactively initiate shipments of lenses to insure an in stock position.

Ultimate Technology's services include data hosting at their Rochester, New York data center under a 3-year hardware and software maintenance agreement.

Results

In locations where the kiosk has been deployed CooperVision has seen dramatic results. CooperVision reports that the time sales reps spend in managing trial lens inventory has been reduced by approximately 50%. In addition, CooperVision's trial lens inventory position has significantly improved at offices utilizing the kiosk. Further, the doctor's offices have accepted the CooperScan kiosk into their business practice processes and are realizing the many benefits of automating a process that was previously very labor intensive.

Tom Shone, Vice President of North American Marketing for CooperVision, said: "We embarked on this project to solve a business issue that has been a challenge in this industry for a long time. The early results of this solution have been great. Not only has our in-stock position improved dramatically in offices where the kiosk is deployed, but the office personnel and our sales reps can work on more productive tasks. So not only are we able to provide our customers with better inventory flow and management but we free up valuable time for their resources that can better be spent on servicing their customers and building their practices. The Ultimate Technology team did an exceptional job understanding our critical business needs and developed an effective and efficient solution that positively impacts both our bottom line results and that of our customers."