PHOENIX Healthcare Distribution Brings AI-Driven Precision to Pharmaceutical Operations with RELEX

Leading British healthcare provider to optimise forecasting and replenishment for over 7,100 pharmacies  

PHOENIX Healthcare Distribution Limited, (PHOENIX) one of the UK’s leading healthcare providers, has selected RELEX Solutions to improve their wholesale and distribution operations through forecasting and replenishment. The RELEX AI-driven platform will enable PHOENIX to increase service levels and introduce AI-optimised forecasts across the business to improve the planning accuracy and management of its customers.  

It will also help them operate with optimal inventory across 12 national distribution centres, which serve more than 7,100 pharmacies, dispensing practices, and outpatient sites. RELEX partner Wysupp, with strong expertise in pharmaceutical projects, will support with implementation services.  

PHOENIX is part of the international PHOENIX Group. They deliver healthcare services to over 20 million patients annually through brands such as Rowlands Pharmacy, PHOENIX Healthcare Distribution, PSUK, Numark, Nupharm, and NuCare. Their wholesale network supplies medicines and healthcare products to pharmacies across the UK, ensuring vital products are readily available.  

PHOENIX selected RELEX to replace its legacy in-house systems with a scalable AI-based platform capable of managing the complexity of pharmaceutical wholesale. This builds on the success of RELEX implementations across other PHOENIX Group companies: Tamro Finland, Tamro Baltics and Nomeco. 

“RELEX’s proven ability to handle the complex balancing act between maintaining the high availability levels required for us to best serve our customers, while managing our inventory efficiently is exactly what we need,” said Richard Tunnicliffe, UK Chief Operating Officer, PHOENIX Medical Supplies Ltd. “Their success with other PHOENIX Group companies demonstrated that they understand our specific challenges around pharmaceutical assortment management and regulatory requirements”. 

With forecasting and replenishment, PHOENIX will be able to optimise inventory levels by automatically assessing demand data and service level targets to determine optimal stock for different product types. The dynamic, rule-based replenishment capabilities will provide the flexibility to manage complex pharmaceutical substitutions and respond quickly to fluctuating demand patterns across their diverse customer base. By improving supplier collaboration and visibility, PHOENIX will proactively address supply chain constraints before they impact service levels, particularly during peak demand periods.  

“The pharmaceutical industry represents one of the most technically demanding supply chain environments with tight margins, strict regulation, short shelf lives, and unpredictable substitution cycles,” said Sandra Oliveira, CEO, Wysupp. “We are eager to bring our domain-expertise and proven implementation track record to this deployment, ensuring RELEX’s advanced algorithms are configured to meet the real-world complexity of UK pharmaceutical distribution.” 

“PHOENIX Medical Supplies operates in a complex manner and our work with the wider PHOENIX Group companies has given us insight into these challenges,” said Jason Berry, Senior Vice President, EMEA, RELEX Solutions. “PHOENIX will benefit from our advanced capabilities in managing complex substitutions through dynamic replenishment, improving supplier collaboration to increase visibility before constraints arise, and optimising inventory across their network while meeting stringent service level requirements.”