2005 Circle of Excellence Award presented to CVS/pharmacy

On Wednesday, June 8, 2005, CVS/pharmacy was presented the esteemed Circle of Excellence Award for excellence in reverse logistics in the retail pharmacy industry.

The Circle of Excellence Award was presented to Mr. Kevin Smith, Senior Vice President, Logistics/Supply Chain, at a ceremony held at the Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland.

The Circle of Excellence Award is presented by the Distribution, Business Management Association (DBM) to leading companies in various industries.  It is awarded to one company each year that represents excellence and a strong commitment to the environment in their particular industry. The award recipient is chosen from an international panel of judges from the top universities and associations.

The recipients represent the highest standards of quality and technology, providing a model and goal for all businesses. The Circle of Excellence Award recognizes the important attributes and characteristics of Consistency, Integrity, Responsibility, Commitment, Leadership, and Excellence, which the people in the organization exhibit and uphold. CVS/pharmacy was chosen to receive the 2005 award due to their commitment to the environment and process optimization.

The first CVS store opened in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1963, under the name "Consumer Value Store." They have become more popularly known as CVS, but their focus on providing value to our customers has remained their hallmark.
  
CVS has gone through many mergers and acquisitions, beginning in 1990 with the merger of CVS and Peoples Drug. Their merger with Soma.com in May 1999 made them the first company in the nation to launch an Internet pharmacy site. The decision to acquire Soma.com made CVS the only major drugstore chain with the ability to provide a complete online pharmacy and front store offering.

At CVS, the number one goal is to provide outstanding service and value to their customers while meeting their healthcare needs and making their overall shopping experience as easy as possible.  CVS aims to be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use, with a vision of helping people live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

In 2003 CVS / pharmacy became the first retailer to achieve ISO 9000 certification for a distribution center (Bessemer, Alabama). Over the next 18 months, two additional DC’s were certified ISO 9000 and several more are currently in various stages of certification.

The CVS / pharmacy distribution network uses a team approach and Six Sigma best practices to pursue excellence in process optimization.  They employ best in class Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment processes to procure nearly 50% of its total volume. CVS / pharmacy has adopted best practices for reverse logistics in order to optimize flow of goods and mitigate costs through the use of focused third party providers for both front store and pharmaceutical products. This includes the highest standards of environmental and regulatory adherence as it applies to the disposal of outdated Rx products.

CVS is especially attuned to matters regarding their customer’s privacy and protecting confidential information. For example, trash and discarded Rx vials are collected at stores and removed in special blue plastic bags that are returned to DC locations and carefully disposed of under strict supervision.

Every CVS / pharmacy DC administers a comprehensive recycling program for cardboard and plastics that are a byproduct of product shipment and packaging. This is especially evident in the DeXma DC model that is designed with de-trashing as an integral step in the distribution process. The DeXma model is unique in the following ways:

Ø       World Class Service – Customized Store Orders;

Ø       Our Customer – Easy for our stores (CVS Easy);

Ø       Logistics - More Productive and more Flexible;

Ø       Industry – Strategic Competitive Advantage.

One of the ways in which DeXma makes a positive environmental impact is by utilizing L.E.E.D.’s (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System, which is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

Finally, CVS / pharmacy, ever mindful of the needs of their surrounding neighborhoods, donates a considerable amount of good, useable food and other products to The Second Harvest every year to assist the needy in the communities that they service. In 2004, CVS donated over $20 million dollars worth of product to The Second Harvest.

Their environmental efforts, use of technology and charitable gifts prove CVS/pharmacy a worthy recipient of the Circle of Excellence Award.  Congratulations to everyone at CVS/pharmacy on a job well done!