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Pharmacutical Statistics

Having revently joined the wholesale medical supply business; I'm trying to establish some basic indicators.

One statistic that's proving to be elusive, is the amount of "shrinkage" due to expiration dates and/or stock-loss as a percentage.

Any pointers will be greatly appreciated

Many thanks in advance.

Maelstrom69 Mon 13/10/08 18:33

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buildersmate
Mon 13/10/08
21:05

Physical stock is managed using a system. That system tracks the quantity of product coming in from the manufacturer, and the amount going out as customer's orders are picked.
Every so often (driven by the Perpetual Inventory Mgt policies) someone goes and checks the physical stock qty against the computer system figure. Any difference is corrected as an unplanned issue / return - and coded as such in the variances report.

Product that has become expired due to its sell-by date is periodically removed as an unplanned issue - and coded as such in the variances report.
The above two paragraphs get to the bones of data you want to know - what has been lost/shrunk. Divide that by the total volume moved through in a year, say, gives you the ratio of stock loss to volume handled.
Does that help?

factor30
Mon 13/10/08
21:18

Good explanation buildersmate. I think that what Maelstrom69 might be looking for is some benchmarking data for the medical field

buildersmate
Mon 13/10/08
21:20

On reflection, you're probably right - not the way I read the question!

Maelstrom69
Tue 14/10/08
08:35

Question Author

Yes thanks guys, you're both right in a way. Buildersmate understands exactly what I mean. But... I'm looking for that statistic as an industry average to see if my own figures are better or worse than the norm, and to what degree.

i.e. in retail "shrinkage" runs at 1.1 - 1.7% but that's mainly shoplifting. I need the mean industry figure

buildersmate
Tue 14/10/08
21:05

Can't source you data - not my industry, I'm afraid.
Are there not benchmarking groups within your industry that share best practice and data?

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