"Good prices, good recovery" is the slogan of ratiopharm Arzneimittel Vertriebs-GmbH — part of the global Teva family and one of the leading providers of generics and biopharmaceuticals.
It reflects the company's core mission: to improve patients’ lives by giving them simple, cost-effective access to medication. A critical component of that mission is seamless distribution through wholesalers and pharmacies. While ratiopharm’s German headquarters has relied on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for over 20 years, it was only last year – thanks to EDITEL’s support – that EDI operations were launched in Austria.
Thomas Vieira Miranda, Head of Customer Service and project lead at ratiopharm, sums up the transformation succinctly: "What used to require four employees at our Vienna office – working plenty of overtime – can now be handled by just one person. The team can finally devote their time to other important tasks." That single employee now processes some 20 to 30 often hefty orders from wholesalers each day – completely automated. Mr. Miranda adds that EDI hasn’t just freed up staff resources; it’s also driven order volume: “We’re receiving noticeably more orders than before, likely because eliminating manual entry has made the process much easier for our partners.”
Hassle-free support
With the upcoming SAP migration scheduled for August, Thomas Vieira Miranda expects EDI to get even simpler: "We’ll be able to automate 'remitter' transactions –where the manufacturer instructs a wholesaler to deliver agreed goods to a pharmacy – over EDI as well." To date, four wholesalers are already connected; a fifth is on the way. ratiopharm has nothing but praise for EDITEL’s partnership: "Everything runs flawlessly, and they always accommodate our special requests –there’s simply no complaining! For us, the takeaway is clear: good recovery needs great EDI!
