Nadro S.A. de C.V.: Bringing health to all of Mexico with digital warehouse processes in SAP’s private cloud
Transforming pharmaceutical distribution with SAP
For pharmaceutical distributor Nadro S.A. de C.V., success starts in the warehouse, where employees pick products for 480,000 shipments per month. To satisfy fast-growing demand while controlling costs, the company deployed SAP Extended Warehouse Management and RISE with SAP, unlocking new efficiencies alongside the benefits of a managed cloud offering.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Wholesale Distribution | Mexico City, Mexico | 5,000 employees |
Improvement in picking performance
Reduction in onboarding and training time for employees
Increase in number of medicines distributed per day
Chief Innovation Officer, Nadro S.A. de C.V.
Coping with rising demand – and rising costs
Nadro stands out from its competitors in that it offers daily rather than weekly deliveries, distributing 51 million medical and personal care products per month to pharmacies across Mexico. The company has seen sales increase by 20% to 25% year-on-year, putting new pressure on its warehouse employees and processes to meet rising demand.
“While our sales were growing at a double-digit rate, so were our expenses,” explains Angel Eduardo Arenas Martinez, Deputy Director of Business Technology Operations at Nadro S.A. de C.V. “One of our challenges was that it took a long time to train up warehouse employees and there was high staff turnover. We were under pressure to reduce costs while speeding up the picking process.”
Deputy Director of Business Technology Operations, Nadro S.A. de C.V.
Teaming up with the experts
Nadro targeted a private-cloud-based solution that would enable improved logistics and picking performance. The company wanted to offer warehouse employees technology and processes that were easy to adopt and exciting to use.
To kick off its transformation, Nadro initiated a migration from on-premises SAP solutions to the private cloud with RISE with SAP. The company moved to SAP S4/HANA Cloud, private edition running in the Microsoft Azure cloud with SAP Enterprise Cloud Services, reducing the infrastructure administration and maintenance burden on its IT team. In parallel, Nadro also embraced SAP Extended Warehouse Management, along with TeamViewer Frontline, an augmented reality app, in the private cloud to digitalize its warehouse processes. Throughout the project, the company relied on teams from SAP Enterprise Cloud Services, SAP MaxAttention, and SAP Services and Support to help it achieve a successful migration from on-premises systems to the private cloud.
“Moving to the cloud and carrying out a digital transformation at the same time was a big, big challenge,” says Angel Eduardo Arenas Martinez. “There were many ups and downs, but we were able to overcome all obstacles with the support of the different SAP teams. They helped us with the planning, implementation, and post-migration stabilization periods. Working with SAP rather than a partner was a super value-add for the project that has paid dividends for us.”
Deputy Director of Business Technology Operations, Nadro S.A. de C.V.
Building the warehouse processes of the future
Today, the Nadro warehouse picking process is executed through SAP Extended Warehouse Management, which is integrated with TeamViewer Frontline. Warehouse employees wear augmented reality glasses that display real-time order and fulfillment information structured through intuitive digital workflows. Users are walked through fulfillment processes step-by-step, with data synced to SAP systems in real time.
When orders are canceled or an item on the shelf is broken, exception handling is built directly into the workflow, automatically triggering a damage notification for operators. Nadro analyzes performance continually, identifying opportunities for optimization. As a result, employees can now work more efficiently than ever, picking more items in less time.
“We put a lot of effort into change management, seeking buy-in from both HR and employee unions,” recalls Carlos Flores, Chief Innovation Officer at Nadro S.A. de C.V. “At first, we were skeptical about our longest-serving employees being receptive to the new technology. But when we talked to a veteran employee that has worked here for more than 30 years, we discovered he’s now excited to use the new solutions when he comes to work.”
Chief Innovation Officer, Nadro S.A. de C.V.
Happier employees, higher efficiency
By digitalizing its warehouse processes with SAP, Nadro has built a modern, future-proof foundation for its operations that can support growth for years to come. Alongside augmented reality glasses from TeamViewer Frontline, the SAP solutions have improved picking times by 30%. As a result, the company has more than doubled its daily distribution capacity – from 1 million medicines per day before the RISE with SAP migration, to 2.5 million today.
The company has also reduced training times for new employees by 93% and improved employee satisfaction dramatically, driving lower turnover of warehouse staff.
“We’re accelerating digital transformation across Nadro,” says Carlos Flores. “We’ve gained new visibility of processes, helping us become the data-driven company that we hoped, so we can bring good health to all of Mexico.”