It was an exciting time for Ace Pharmaceuticals from Zeewolde. In a period of one and a half years, they significantly expanded their company premises, workforce and branded products. “Since January 1, 2020, everything and everyone has been operational and we can respond even better to the specific needs of pharmacists and patients”, says purchase & warehouse manager Eric Morel.
Ace Pharmaceuticals has grown by producing smaller volumes of registered and unregistered medicines. In this way, the pharmaceutical company meets the necessary medical needs of a small group of patients. On the other hand, they meet the specific demand of over 750 (and growing) pharmacies with their delivered preparations.
Unique: everything in-house
“That is our strength,” says Eric. “We produce volumes that are not interesting for the large pharmaceutical companies. But that do respond very directly and specifically to the needs of a small patient group or pharmacy. We do everything ourselves: from research, development, registration, production to analysis and sales. This makes us unique in the Netherlands.”
Eric tells how Ace Pharmaceuticals recently made a big leap. “Our factory has grown 2.5 times in size and our workforce has expanded from 70 to 150 employees. With this significant growth, we developed more than three hundred new products and yes … they all had to be provided with labels, folding boxes and leaflets. Fortunately, there was De Budelse: our main supplier. They immediately offered their help.”
Strong appearance
Packaging with leaflet? “We came up with a system for that with De Budelse,” Eric answers. “We work with a format that we provided with artwork and texts. In a short time and under great pressure, we achieved a lot. Partly thanks to the flexibility at De Budelse. Everything was available before 1 January.”
Eric acknowledges that De Budelse contributes to the strength of Ace Pharmaceuticals. “Their advice on the materials to be used, the finishing and the layout have resulted in a sound packaging with a strong, businesslike and also beautiful appearance. They think along with us and thanks to that empathy they translate our wishes into a concrete packaging.”
Ace Pharmaceuticals is GMP-certified, just like De Budelse.
This means, for example, that the pharmaceutical company always supplies new files for the packaging and leaflets. De Budelse in turn takes care of the incoming inspection: after the leaflets have been printed and folded, one from each edition is checked in detail by a special scanner. So that everything is 100% guaranteed to match the original file.
And now?
Is Ace Pharmaceuticals also using De Budelse's showpiece with regard to reducing stocks? Eric laughs. “That is a next phase. In the future, we will look at how we can possibly organize our order and stock management more efficiently. For now, we are first letting the dust settle after all the hustle and bustle, the renovation and all the changes. It was an exciting period.”