Centralia Pharmacy’s newest helper is streamlining the store’s operations and maximizing efficiency at unhuman levels.
That’s because it is not human.
The pharmacy recently installed a new filling robot called the Parata Max 2 that contains several hundred medications and counts them, puts them in a vial, labels and caps vials and dispenses them by last name.
Co-owner Courtney Quinby said the implementation of the robot, which took place April 1, has allowed store employees to strengthen their core values.
“One of our core values here is making sure that we build lifelong relationships with our customers, including understanding what their needs are. I want to make sure that all of our staff have more time to be able to have that conversation or help them with whatever they need,” she said. “One of the limiting steps is sometimes counting, and we are a busy pharmacy, so we want to make sure we can serve everyone and keep growing.”
Centralia Pharmacy, 417 S. Tower Ave., has been in talks to acquire the Parata Max 2 for about a year, and staff timed up the installation with a typically slow period so as to avoid any potential impacts of business flow.
The robot, nicknamed “Max” or “Big Blue” by store employees, has quite the brain. It’s not a typical robot with arms on the outside; its arms move vials around behind the scenes. Every medication has an information box that staff can read on the screen, and the robot is even prepared for potential errors. “Max” knows where every medication should be located, but if containers of medications are somehow swapped, it will recognize their new location. It also takes photographs of what the tablets look like in the vials.
This kind of machinery is not rare for major pharmacies to have, but not every independent pharmacy has one. Because of Centralia Pharmacy’s smaller staff but growing clientele, the robot has been a huge hit already.
“We’ve got a lot of people to serve and take care of. The drive thru is always busy. We don’t want to make anyone wait longer than they have to, but we also want to make sure that there’s time to have the conversations people need to have,” Quinby said.
