Press Release: Medicine Storage Robot Makes Customer Service Smoother at the New Pharmacy at Duo Mall in Tampere

On 20 November, a new Bonusapteekki Pharmacy will be opened at the Duo mall in Tampere, Finland.

A medicine storage robot will manage the pharmaceutical logistics at the new pharmacy. The robot itself will not be visible to the customers. However, they will notice the results of its accurate operations at the prescription submission desk.

Pharmacy owner Helena Jalonen and Finance Director Markku Jalonen visited the NewIcon factory in Kuopio, Finland, on 25 October to see their new Iso-Fixu medicine storage robot. The Iso-Fixu will be commissioned in the 6th Bonusapteekki Pharmacy in Tampere on 20 November.

“Thanks to the medicine storage robot, our pharmacists will have more time for giving advice to our customers. We can concentrate on smooth customer service while the robot collects the medicine packages for us. This also improves medication safety: the robot collects the exact medicine on prescription,” says pharmacy owner Ms Helena Jalonen of the 6th Bonusapteekki Pharmacy in Tampere.

The Iso-Fixu medicine storage robot is delivered by NewIcon Oy from Kuopio, Finland. The company specialises in automation devices of the pharmaceutical services in pharmacies and hospitals. The big brother of Iso-Fixu, the Mega-Fixu is a medicine storage robot that is in use at the HUS Pharmacy and at the hospital pharmacy of Kuopio University Hospital, for example.

The main difference between the devices is their size. Common features include the medicine robot inside the medicine storage robot and the new multi-package collection feature that enables the robot to collect and deliver up to 14 medicine packages at a time. The feature, designed for hospital pharmacies, has been copied for the use in the medicine storage robots in large public pharmacies.

“This is a feature that further speeds up our customer service. We believe that the number of customers we serve per month may be as high as about 10,000 customers, 7,000–8,000 of whom are customers with prescriptions. There is a versatile mix of shops in Duo, which attracts a lot of customers both to the shops and our pharmacy. There has not been a pharmacy here before, so we believe that we will also bring new customers to the other shops,” says Ms Jalonen. Earlier, she worked as a pharmacist (M.Sc.) in the Ylöjärvi Pharmacy.

The medicine storage robot is commissioned on 15 to 17 November. The well-lit, spacious and modern Bonusapteekki Pharmacy will open its doors to customers on Monday, 20 November. In addition to traditional medicine services, the pharmacy also has a service point for health and beauty.

“The medicine storage robot was tailor-made to the needs of our rooms, making it much more compact than a traditional storage area. This in turn freed up space for various services. Customers can also come into the pharmacy with their shopping trolleys,” Ms Jalonen rejoices.