Avanços logísticos no varejo nacional: o caso das redes de farmácias

This paper describes recent logistics developments observed in retail operations of pharmaceutical products in Brazil. Most pharmacies restructured themselves in chains. They improved their physical appearance. Some operate full-time. They rely upon advanced software and use refined formulas, based upon the best theory, to manage inventories. The central storage areas are well administered; a couple of them are automated; deliveries to stores are made daily; bar coding helps controlling product flow. A score of problems still hampers the obtainment of an authentic just in time result and a real zero-shortage situation: data bases lack capacity to register all the necessary information concerning 5,000 different items in 100 outlets; barriers persist between sales and purchasing departments; deliveries by suppliers to the central store are not as frequent and quick as desirable, so are deliveries to retail stores; harmful to efficiency is the presence of quite a number of low turnover, slow moving medicaments. Recommendations are offered in order to foster the still remote implementation of the dreamed Supply Chain Management.