Implementation of a Digital Inventory Management System for a Pharmaceutical Company in Abuja

Pharmaceutical companies in Abuja face challenges of stock expiry, overstocking, and supply chain inefficiency arising from inadequate inventory tracking tools. This study presents the implementation of a digital inventory management system for a mid-sized pharmaceutical distribution company in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory. The system was developed using Python (Django) with a PostgreSQL database and supports supplier management, product catalogue maintenance, FIFO-based stock rotation, batch expiry tracking, reorder point alerts, and integration with the company's POS system via REST API. Development used the Scrum methodology with seven two-week sprints involving the company's warehouse manager and IT officer as product owners. Functional testing covered 95 test scenarios, with 93 passing on initial test run. Performance testing under 25 concurrent users yielded average response times of 1.6 seconds. A three-month live deployment processed 4,200 inventory transactions. Post-deployment analysis showed a 41 percent reduction in expired stock write-offs compared to the same period in the previous year. Stock-out incidents decreased by 33 percent. Warehouse staff reported that average time to locate and retrieve a product decreased from 8 minutes to under 2 minutes. The study concludes that digital inventory systems provide measurable operational and financial benefits for Nigerian pharmaceutical distributors and recommends extension of the system to the company's satellite warehouses in Kaduna and Kano.

Keywords: inventory management, pharmaceutical company, Abuja, stock tracking, supply chain