Itch Pet Finds the Prescription for Time Savings, Peace of Mind and Regulatory Compliance
Itch Pet, an innovative UK company offering subscription-based, personalized pet care solutions, faced challenges in accurately monitoring warehouse temperatures for regulatory compliance and to prevent spoilage of its vet-strength flea, tick and worm treatments.
Zebra Success Story: Itch Pet
Overview: Retail Challenge
With the Veterinary Medicines Directorate overseeing the storage of sensitive ingredients, Itch Pet turned to TemperatureGenie and Zebra Technologies to collect accurate temperature data from the warehouse floor to the top of 4-meter-high racks. This solution streamlined operations, eliminated manual checks, ensured compliance and helped effectively manage an inventory flow of over 1 million products a year.
Benefits / Outcomes
- 5,000+ hours per year saved by freeing forklifts from temperature monitor placement tasks
- Reduced potential for spoilage through alerts to temperature changes
- Accurate temperature audit trail at the touch of a button, eradicating concerns about incomplete or inaccurate data
- Optimized placement of products in the warehouse based on their temperature sensitivity
About Itch Pet
Over 13.5 million dogs and 12.5 million cats1 live in UK homes, and the market for pet medicines is estimated to be £8.2 billion per year2. The manufacturing, marketing and distribution of medicines is overseen by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD). The VMD defines how medicines with sensitive ingredients should be stored and handled. For example, certain flea treatments have active chemicals which need to be kept at the correct temperature and, in compliance with wholesale license conditions, suppliers must be able to provide an audit trail of temperature checks over months or years, depending on the product.
Accurately recording the data can be time-consuming, as Itch Pet discovered. This innovative business, which has disrupted the UK pet medicines industry with its subscription-based, and preventive, personalized pet care model, looked for a new and better way to follow temperature monitoring requirements.
Recognizing the answer lies in smart technology to drive better visibility over its inventory, Itch Pet turned to TemperatureGenie and Zebra Technologies. Using Zebra’s ZS300 Electronic Sensors, integrated with TemperatureGenie’s cloud-based software, the project team created an automated, simple and stress-free way to collect and monitor temperature data.
The solution provides assured real-time insight into temperature conditions to help Itch Pet comply with legislation, reduce spoilage, enhance efficiencies and ultimately support smarter business decisions.
The Challenge
With its AI-based personalized treatment recommendations, underpinned by a subscription-based model (so owners don’t forget), Itch Pet is reshaping the UK market for science-backed medicines which tackle fleas, ticks, lice and common intestinal worms. Itch Pet, as with all companies licensed to be wholesale distributors of pet medicines, must appoint a Wholly Qualified Person (WQP) who is charged with overseeing a sustainable temperature management system to ensure active ingredients maintain their efficacy.
To manage this process, thermometers were placed throughout its warehouse, including at ground level and on the tops of racks, to monitor the temperature variance higher within the facility. These thermometers were read manually, twice daily. This elevated the risk of missed or inaccurate readings. And, during busy times, when upwards of 6,000 items are shipped daily, getting each thermometer up and down would tie up the forklift for at least 25 minutes, diverting senior managers (who drive the forklifts) from more valuable tasks.
At any time, the VMD could conduct a spot check; and could remove their wholesale license if there were concerns about recording key operational data. This “nagging worry,” as described by Tom Bonner, Itch Pet’s Supply Chain Manager, along with the goal of enhancing workflow efficiency, led Itch Pet to look for an automated approach to temperature monitoring.
We used to check the thermometers once a week; now we receive two logs every hour and are alerted to any changes. It’s saved us a considerable amount of time-more than 5,000 hours per year-and eliminated the anxiety that something could be missed.
The Solution
Itch Pet already worked with BarcodeGenie, a Zebra Registered Reseller and ISV Partner, in the supply, optimization and maintenance of its label printing solution. Built around Zebra Technologies’ ZT400 Series Industrial Printers and ZD400 Series Desktop Printers, and BarcodeGenie’s software, personalized labels are printed for each of the million or so pet treatments shipped by Itch Pet each year.
It was during a discussion about printing that BarcodeGenie’s Adan Corcoran mentioned the ready-to-go TemperatureGenie solution, a cloud-based, remote temperature monitoring system. This pairs Zebra’s compact ZS300 Electronic Sensor, located at key points in the warehouse, with TemperatureGenie’s cloud software to collect real-time temperature data. The data is streamed from the device via Bluetooth™ to a single Zebra ZB200 Bridge, which securely sends it to the cloud. As well as continually recording temperatures, alerts can be raised if ranges move toward undesirable environmental conditions. The Itch Pet team can also, always, view data on the TemperatureGenie portal.
To set the system up, TemperatureGenie simply staged each ZS300, adding them as a connected device to its cloud-based admin portal. The portal allows Itch Pet to set temperature and alert parameters, and access real-time and historical temperature readings. There were no technical requirements for Itch Pet; it only had to install the sensors to have the system ready for operation, and temperature data is delivered to both desktop and mobile apps. Users can also export data to file formats like Excel and PDF.
The Zebra Difference: Outcome and Benefits
The sensors continuously record temperature data and can cache up to 16,000 readings. Itch Pet can customize how often it retrieves data – whether every minute, hour, week or month – according to its needs. This ensures consistency and provides peace of mind, knowing data is logged continuously and nothing is overlooked.
The system’s alert feature, with set temperature thresholds to trigger alerts and ability to specify time periods for these alerts, eliminated the need for Itch Pet to actively monitor temperature, saving valuable time.
Since Itch Pet’s warehouse environment requires constant monitoring, those continuous alerts are essential. The system also issues early alerts as the temperature approaches a designated range, allowing Itch Pet to take preventive action to avert spoilage. Additionally, alerts can be configured to avoid activation during temporary drops in temperature, such as when a door is opened. Furthermore, once a member of the team responds to an alert, an audit trail is created to assist with compliance requirements.
Perhaps most importantly, TemperatureGenie addresses concerns around compliance with the VMD’s wholesale licensing requirements by producing temperature data time- and date-stamped for up to seven years. Also, the ambient temperature can be monitored across the site to ensure health and safety regulations regarding working temperatures are adhered to for team comfort.
According to Bonner, “TemperatureGenie was a breeze to install, and it resolved a big headache overnight. We used to check the thermometers once a week; now we receive two logs every hour and are alerted to any changes. It’s saved us a considerable amount of time--more than 5,000 hours per year--and eliminated the anxiety that something could be missed. Thankfully, compliance concerns are a thing of the past and it’s great to extend our partnership with BarcodeGenie; nothing is too much trouble for them.”
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