1. Cost of Poor Quality Assessment
One of this highest risk of failure at Generic’s Pharmacy Department is having an
incorrect phone number on file for a patient. This is hard to detect because they never verify if
they have the right number on file. It takes on average about 40 seconds for a pharmacy to call
someone and let them know the prescription is ready. Thirty seconds is the average time before
the voicemail picks up the call and another ten seconds for the pharmacy to say the medicine is
ready. If a pharmacy does 500 prescriptions a day and 3% of the numbers are wrong that mean
15 calls are to the wrong number daily. An average pharmacist makes about $55.16 an hour that
mean 61 cents is wasted on each wrong call (payscale.com). In a day $9.19 is spent on calling
the wrong number, in an entire week $64.35 is spent, and $3,346.37 yearly. Unless the pharmacy
hears a voicemail stating a different name or someone answers the phone and inform them they
have the wrong number they wouldn’t even notice.
This also means a $58.99 prescription is in the holding bag longer than necessary (Prime
Therapeutics, 2014). If that customer forgets and never come for the medicine it will take
between 10 to 14 days before the pharmacist can discard the medicine. If 1 person a day (6%)
forget to pick up their prescription in ten days $412.93 weekly is lost in sales. Within a year
$21,472.36 will be lost in sales. For the whole year the entire process produces $24,818,73 of
muda.
To correct this problem whenever a prescription is taken the pharmacist should verify the
number on file is the correct one and ask if the number is a mobile or landline. If the number is a
mobile line, ask them if they would like to receive a text message notifying them their
prescription is ready. This process takes less than twenty seconds. Once the prescription is ready
the pharmacist will be able to log into the person account and allow the computer to send the

2. customer an automated text message to pick up their prescription allowing the pharmacist more
time to work on other orders in the process. If half of customers opted into the mobile program
that would be $76.61 of value created each day. I also predict that only 1% of the medicine
would be forgotten about using the new process which will add $18,251.51 in sales. In a year
$45,917.95 worth of value would be added to process that costed the company $24,818.73 in
waste.

3. Muda Produced
Pay=55.16 /60/60=.01532 a second Cost
.01532*40 sec= 0.61
.61*15 wrong call= $9.19 a day
9.19*7= $64.35 weekly
64.35*52= $3,346.37 yearly
Medicine on whole $58.99
Medicine on whole for 15 people $884.85
6% don’t pick up their pick up their medicine = $412.93 a week
412.93*52= $21,472.36 yearly
Total Muda produced in a year $24,818.73
Value
.01532*20 sec= .30
.30*250 people a day= $76.61 a day
96.61*7= $536.27 weekly
526.27*52= $27,666.44 yearly
1% forget to get medicine -$ 61.94 a week
61.94*52= -3,220.85 a year
Total value added to medicine being picked up (21,472.36-3,220.85) $18251.51
Total value added for the year $45,917.95

4. Reference:
Payscale.com Retrieved from http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Pharmacist/Salary
Prime Therapeutics (2014) Report on Prescription Drug Costs. Retrieved from
https://www.primetherapeutics.com/content/dam/corporate/Documents/Newsroom/Prime
Insights/2014/2014-report-on-rx-costs.pdf