For pharmacies considering automation, the first question is often about speed. How quickly can a system dispense a prescription? How many packs can it handle? How much faster could the pharmacy process medication?
These are useful questions, but they are only part of the decision. A dispensing robot does not operate in isolation. It becomes part of the pharmacy’s wider workflow, alongside staff, storage, stock deliveries, existing technology and the physical layout of the dispensary.
For that reason, the system with the most impressive headline specification is not necessarily the system that will create the most capacity in your pharmacy. Before investing in automation, it is important to look at how the technology will fit into the way your pharmacy actually works.
Does the system fit your pharmacy?
One of the first practical considerations is space.
Pharmacies have to work within the buildings they already occupy, often balancing dispensing areas, storage, consultation rooms, counters and staff movement within a relatively limited footprint. Adding automation therefore isn’t simply a case of finding somewhere to put a machine.
The system needs to work within the available space while allowing staff to move efficiently around the dispensary and carry out the other parts of their role.
This is where the footprint and configuration of an automation system become important. Different pharmacies will have different requirements, and a solution that works well in one environment may not be appropriate for another.
That doesn’t necessarily mean choosing the smallest system available. A larger system may provide valuable capacity, while a more compact solution may be better suited to a pharmacy with tighter space constraints. The important thing is understanding how the system will interact with the pharmacy around it and whether it supports the way the team actually works.
The MEKAPHARM range available through AcornRX Technologies includes different approaches to dispensing, storage and automation, allowing pharmacies to consider a solution around their individual requirements rather than working from a one-size-fits-all model.
What happens when the stock arrives?
Another consideration that can easily be overlooked is what happens before a prescription is dispensed.
Medication first has to arrive at the pharmacy, be received and then make its way into storage. Depending on the pharmacy, staff may spend considerable time scanning deliveries, sorting products, loading medication and replenishing stock throughout the day.
This matters because a dispensing robot can only retrieve medication that has already been loaded into the system. If dispensing has been automated but stock receiving and loading remain heavily manual, the pharmacy may simply find that the bottleneck has moved somewhere else.
This is why loading speed and stock management deserve to be considered alongside dispensing speed. Looking at the whole journey of medication from receiving a delivery through to storing, dispensing and ultimately supplying the patient gives a much better picture of where automation could create capacity.
ALPHA, for example, is designed to automate the loading, scanning and sorting of incoming stock while providing tracking by batch, lot number and expiry date. The supplied MEKAPHARM information states that the system can accommodate up to 1,200 boxes.
The wider principle is straightforward: automation should improve the workflow as a whole, rather than simply make one stage of it faster.
How will automation change the staff workflow?
Perhaps the most important question is what automation will actually mean for the people using it every day.
A dispensing robot should not be judged solely on what the machine can do. Its impact on the pharmacy team is just as important. If automation can reduce the amount of time staff spend walking around the dispensary, searching for medication, retrieving stock or carrying out repetitive processes, it can create valuable capacity elsewhere.
However, introducing automation also changes the way a pharmacy operates. Staff need to understand how the system fits into dispensing, checking, replenishment and the other processes that take place throughout the day. A system that performs well in isolation may not deliver the expected benefits if it creates unnecessary complexity elsewhere in the workflow.
This is why it is worth considering what a typical working day will actually look like after the system has been installed. Will staff spend less time on repetitive tasks? Will medication be easier to access? Will busy periods become easier to manage? And does the system make the overall process more organised and predictable?
The best automation should work with the pharmacy team, helping them spend less time on repetitive processes and more time on work that requires their expertise.
Look beyond the headline dispensing speed
Once the wider workflow is considered, it becomes easier to understand why different automation systems take different approaches. We covered this in more depth in our guide on how dispensing automation can create more capacity, but the short version is below.
For some pharmacies, increasing dispensing speed may be the main priority. APOTEKA, for example, is designed around high-speed prescription delivery using dedicated fixed-ejection technology, with a compact configuration and refrigerated option also available.
For other pharmacies, storage and retrieval may be more important. OMEGA uses automated high-density storage and retrieval to manage both fast- and slow-moving medication, while providing medication tracking by batch, lot number and expiry date.
Some pharmacies may need to address both areas. OPTIMA combines robotic storage with high-speed dispensing channels, allowing medication to be stored within the robotic system while products that require rapid access can be handled through dedicated dispensing channels.
These different approaches don’t mean that one system is universally better than another. They demonstrate why the right choice depends on the pharmacy’s individual requirements. A pharmacy should therefore look beyond a single throughput figure and consider how the entire system will perform within its own workflow.
What else should pharmacies consider?
Once the main requirements have been identified, there are several other factors that can influence whether an automation system is a good long-term fit.
Prescription volume is an obvious starting point. A pharmacy should consider not only how much it is dispensing today, but how volumes could change as the business grows and its services develop. The medication profile is also important, particularly where there is a significant difference between fast-moving and slower-moving products.
Integration with existing pharmacy systems and processes should also be considered. Automation needs to work as part of the wider technology environment rather than becoming a separate process that staff have to manage alongside everything else.
Finally, pharmacies should think about what happens after installation. Training, implementation, ongoing support and maintenance all form part of the overall experience of introducing automation and should be considered alongside the machine itself.
Taking these factors together provides a much more useful basis for comparison than looking at headline speed alone.
The right dispensing robot is the one that fits your pharmacy
There is no single specification that can tell a pharmacy which dispensing robot it should choose.
Speed is naturally important, but so are space, loading, storage, staff workflow, integration and future requirements. A system that performs exceptionally well on one measure may not create the capacity a pharmacy actually needs if it doesn’t address its wider operational challenges.
The more useful question is therefore not simply “Which dispensing robot is the fastest?” It is “Which automation system will make the biggest difference to the way our pharmacy actually works?”
Finding the right automation solution
At AcornRX Technologies, we believe the starting point for pharmacy automation should be understanding the pharmacy itself.
The MEKAPHARM range provides different approaches to dispensing, storage, retrieval and stock management, while AcornRX can provide operational analysis and consider financial and architectural requirements when developing an automation solution around a pharmacy’s needs.
The goal isn’t simply to install a dispensing robot. It is to find an approach that fits the pharmacy, supports its team and creates meaningful additional capacity.
Considering dispensing automation for your pharmacy?
Contact AcornRX Technologies to discuss your requirements and explore which approach could work best for your pharmacy.
