SP Creating World's First in 7 Months

1. Creating a World’s First in 7 Months
Facts About Bottle Dispensing System (BDS)
•First of its kind in the world, the BDS is part of KKH's Outpatient Pharmacy Automation System (OPAS), a
MOH-funded collaboration with Integrated Health Information Systems, Getech Automation, Singapore
Polytechnic, NCS and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
•The BDS is a fully automated system that is compact in size and yet capable of storing more than 4,000
pharmaceutical bottles of 80 different shapes and dimensions.

2. Creating a World’s First in 7 Months
Overcoming Challenges
So, what made the team take up the project against all odds? "We were all from the industry and would like to
remain relevant to the industry in terms of our skills set. We believe that this is a good opportunity to train and
value-add our students." Mr Steven Tan shared. "We also have combined more than 50 years of experience in
design and we were confident that we can complete the project on time."
The team at MDC (left to right): Mr Soon Yew Boon, Mr Pan Seng Kie, Mr Steven Tan, Mr Alan Chan, Mr Kang Hai Thiam

3. Creating a World’s First in 7 Months
However, it was not all smooth sailing from the
start. After the team confirmed the project, more
specifications were added and as a result, the
schedule could not go according to plan. Mr Soon
Yew Boon recalled, "The most challenging part
was the design phase. As some of the technical
information were only disclosed after the
confirmation, a lot of time was spent on refining
the design.“
Looking back at the late nights and weekends
burnt for the project, Mr Pan Seng Kie joked,
"One of the most memorable experience was
finding out what's showing on TV at 3 am!"
However, the team's hard work has paid off as
the BDS now runs in full operation 24/7 and is
expected to save a total of 8,760 hours annually
for pharmacy staff who had to manually pick,
pack, assemble and label bottles!

4. Creating a World’s First in 7 Months
The OPAS at KKH was also recently awarded the
Outstanding ICT Innovation Award at the HIMSS-
Elsevier Digital Healthcare Awards 2015, for the
most innovative and "out-of-the box" information
and communications technology (ICT) solutions
used to improve patient care and safety.
Since its setup in 1999, MDC's role has slowly
evolved from being a teaching factory to focusing
more on innovative and impactful projects.
Another world's first innovation by MDC was
iCollect, an automated passport dispensing
machine for the Immigration and Custom
Authority. We look forward to more of such
impactful contributions by the MDC!
This project is one of the winners of the SP EETC
R&D Excellence Award. The award seeks to
recognise staff for their achievements and
contributions to applied R&D and aims to
motivate researchers towards excellence in their
R&D endeavours.
The BDS has been in operation at KKH since
March 2015.

5. Watch the video by KKH to find out more about OPAS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6iUTGZTkm8&feature=youtu.be

6. www.sp.edu.sg
Singapore Polytechnic
500 Dover Road
Singapore 139651
tel. (65) 6775 1133
fax. (65) 6870 6189

7. www.sp.edu.sg
Singapore Polytechnic
500 Dover Road
Singapore 139651
tel. (65) 6775 1133
fax. (65) 6870 6189