AEP Selects RELEX Solutions to Automate and Optimize Their Wholesale Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

AEP, a German pharmaceutical wholesaler, will partner with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified retail planning solutions, to improve core supply chain processes including demand forecasting, replenishment, forecast sharing, and promotion forecasting. The RELEX solution will service AEP’s distribution center, driving automation, forecast accuracy, product availability, and inventory visibility throughout the supply chain.

AEP supplies more than 5,500 customer pharmacies throughout Germany from their central warehouse. Previously, the pharmaceutical wholesaler handled most of their demand forecasting manually. However, the company recognized the need to modernize and automate their supply chain.

In their search for a planning software, AEP found the RELEX system particularly compelling because of its AI-driven demand forecasting and automated replenishment capabilities, which enable the wholesaler to consider seasonality, promotions, and product expiry dates in their planning.

AEP also found RELEX’s product lifecycle management capabilities to be a great value-driver for the business. Based on product attributes, the system automatically selects reference products, saving manual planning work when AEP introduces new products or phases out products nearing the end of their lifecycle.

Finally, RELEX’s ability to make smart, predictive investment purchases was attractive to AEP as a wholesaler. The system proposes investment buy orders before supplier price increases or during discounts phases, securing the wholesaler the most favorable buying price.

“Implementing this software enables AEP to be even more responsive to customer needs and to optimize our entire supply chain,” says Dr. Heike Brockmann, CEO at AEP.

“After an extensive market analysis across different vendors, I was convinced by RELEX’s AI-driven forecasting and automatic replenishment software and its flexibility and agility to adapt to ever-changing market conditions,” adds Marc Henninger, CIO at AEP.

For Daniel Becker, AEP’s Head of Purchasing, the focus is on improving forecasting accuracy, more efficient goods replenishment and availability: “To this end, RELEX provides us with the perfect modules to optimally design availability for our customers together with our supplier partners.”

Frank Lord, RELEX Chief Revenue Officer says: “We are honored by the trust AEP places in us. RELEX has become a true center of excellence for supply chain planning in pharmaceutical wholesale, as is evidenced by our growing customer base in this segment.”