Safety and hygiene are paramount in any type of organization. But even when you take all the necessary precautions, accidents still happen. For over 25 years, Pharmacar has been manufacturing first-aid kits to offer quick and effective solutions when things do go wrong. However, every company has its own specific first-aid needs. While industrial kitchens deal with cuts and burns, a car manufacturer might deal with entirely different injuries.

The solution? Customizable first-aid kits. Pharmacar’s daughter enterprise assembled the kits under the newly conceived ModulAid brand, while our team built a supporting distribution platform. Not only facilitating the client’s need, but going that extra mile by simultaneously making things easier for customers and distributors.

The short story

1. Creating a web & mobile platform intended for both distributors and customers
2. Distributors using the platform to assemble custom kits, with adaptable prices
3. Customers being able to request and approve quotes on the platform. Adding a clear overview of their inventory with the possibility to use filters
4. Approved quotes being processed into orders, which generates labels with a unique QR code. Orders are automatically forwarded to Modulaid’s logistical partner, who then receives a clear overview of quotes and orders
5. Once the first-aid kids arrive, customers are able to log or reorder used and expired modules, straight from their smartphone

The technicalities

On a technological level, the application was rather straightforward. The basic mechanisms needed for the ModulAid platform can be found in a multitude of applications developed for businesses. 

To facilitate a client and server with authentication/authorization and a way to do background order processing, we use the Google Cloud Platform. The following setup did the trick:

• Client: Firebase Hosting
• Server: Cloud Run
• Database: Cloud SQL
• Background order processing: Cloud Tasks
• QR label storing: Google Cloud Storage (GCP)
• Authentication and authorization: Auth0

Having all services managed by either the Google Cloud Platform or Auth0 offered two significant benefits. Firstly, it allowed us to really focus on the business logic of the application. Secondly, it facilitated a cost-efficient means of deploying the application because you only pay for the resources you use. On top of that, you still allow for automatic horizontal scaling of the application according to the current load experienced by the server (in this case, Cloud Run).

The results

By creating Pharmacar’s ModulAid supporting distribution platform, we created a smart tool that benefits the producer, the distributor and the customer. Implementing the right technologies in the right framework, our team was able to integrate servitization in their current roadmap and help them position as a true service provider.