Dr Blesa, your pharmacy is located in one of Tenerife’s main tourist areas. How does your work change throughout the year?

Our pharmacy is located in Los Cristianos, in the municipality of Arona, in the south of Tenerife. Although we are in one of the island’s main tourist areas, many of our customers are also local patients.

Seasonality has a significant impact on our work. During the winter, both the number of visitors and demand related to seasonal illnesses increase, while in summer, needs change and, for example, we see more demand for sun protection and skincare products.

 

Before automation, what was the main challenge in your day-to-day operations, and when did you realise it was time for a change?

Order management was one of the most demanding activities: receiving, checking and storing deliveries required many hours and several members of staff – resources we would have preferred to dedicate to our patients. Finding products could also lead to inefficiencies when the location indicated by the system did not match their actual position.

There was no single moment when we decided to install a robot. It was a decision that developed over time as we focused on efficiency and continuous improvement. At a certain point, we realised that it was difficult to make further progress using manual processes alone. Automation therefore became the natural next step in the way we work.

 

How did you choose the solution, and what convinced you to choose SINTESI?

We compared the main solutions available on the market, evaluating them on several criteria: capacity, speed, reliability, ease of use, expiry-date management and maintenance costs. To make the comparison as objective as possible, we even assessed the solutions without knowing which manufacturer they came from.

In the end, SINTESI by Pharmathek proved to be the solution that best met our needs.

 

You chose to install SINTESI on the upper floor. Why?

We wanted to preserve as much space as possible for patient services. We therefore moved all the logistics to the upper floor: the robot, storage area and order reception. This allowed us to keep the patient area open and more comfortable.

Although we initially would have liked patients to be able to see the robot, we found an alternative: screens in the service area show the preparation of orders in real time.

 

What has changed in the team’s day-to-day work?

The change has been very significant. Before, staff had to move frequently to the storage area to look for medicines. Today, the dispensing stations are organised around the robot’s exits, so unnecessary movement has been reduced to a minimum.

But the most important change is the time we have gained. While SINTESI prepares the medicine, our team can continue talking to the patient, answer questions, explain a treatment or provide advice without constantly having to interrupt the conversation.

 

And what has changed for patients?

The quality of our service has improved noticeably.

Waiting times have been reduced, and queues that could form during peak periods are now much less frequent. Product availability has also improved: thanks to our storage capacity and better stock control, we are now more often able to provide patients with their complete treatment in a single visit.

Our patients have also responded positively to the technology.

 

Which SINTESI features do you value the most?

Pharmaload’s automatic loading system is certainly one of the features that has had the greatest impact on our day-to-day operations.

Being able to load an entire delivery and let the robot handle it autonomously has allowed us to eliminate a task that previously required a great deal of time and staff resources.

The Connected Exits have also become essential: they give us real-time visibility of what is being dispensed, which order it belongs to and what is on its way. Especially during the busiest periods, having this visibility makes our workflow smoother and gives the team greater peace of mind.

 

Since the installation, what do you consider to be the most important benefit of automation?

Today, the team can give more attention to the person in front of them, without constantly having to interrupt the conversation to look for a product or deal with logistics. We can listen more carefully, explain treatments more clearly and provide more personalised advice.

In a tourist pharmacy like ours, where the pace can vary significantly throughout the year, having this peace of mind really makes a difference.

 

What advice would you give to a pharmacy like yours operating in a tourist destination?

We would recommend viewing automation as a long-term strategic investment and starting with the actual needs of your pharmacy.

You should not focus only on the initial investment, but also on how much a solution can improve your organisation, team efficiency and patient service over time.

For us, Pharmathek has been a very positive experience in this respect. We felt supported from the very beginning, starting with the project design, and we have continued to receive availability and support even after the installation.