Owens & Minor bids for pharma 3PL business

Owens & Minor (Richmond, VA), a leading distributor of acute-care and hospital-supply products, is making a bid to capture other healthcare logistics services, specifically pharmaceutical distribution, with a new facility in Louisville, KY. The 200,000 sq.-ft. center was formally unveiled at an open house in early May, and, as business grows, another 200,000 sq. ft can come online. “We are investing heavily and we are committed to this market,” says Craig Smith, O&M CEO. Besides the new, cGMP-compliant building, the business, OM Healthcare Logistics, has deployed IT systems including Red Prairie for warehouse management, JDA Software for logistics management, CDC Software for process management, and RfXcel for product tracking.

Denise Odenkirk, VP of the unit, says that the company is able to offer a range of services right off the bat:

-warehousing

-cold chain management

-reverse logistics

-repackaging

-sample management

-kitting

-order management.

A big part of the unit’s service will come from consolidating package shipments into less-than-truckload (LTL) or truckload (TL) shipments; the proximity to major logistics centers of both UPS and FedEx will be a plus. Interestingly, although the O&M parent has a network of more than 50 DCs across the country, those facilities will not be used except for minor specialty services; the new business unit is being set up to stand on its own.