October 15, 2013

To whom it may concern:

TOHO HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
Norio Hamada, President and Representative Director(Tokyo Stock Exchange Securities Code: 8129)
Contact: Katsuya Kato
Director and General Manager ofCorporate Communications Officeand Corporate Planning Office(TEL: 03-5259－9520)

Notice regarding the Start of Operations at the New Distribution Center TBC Sapporo andSapporo Call Center
TOHO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. (headquartered in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo; Hiroyuki Kono, President
and Representative Director; hereinafter, “TOHO PHARMACEUTICAL”), a wholly-owned subsidiary ofTOHO HOLDINGS CO., LTD., hereby announces that “TBC Sapporo” constructed in Sapporo-shi,
Hokkaido, as a new distribution center for prescription pharmaceuticals, etc., together with the “Sapporo
Call Center,” built on the premises of the distribution center, both started operation on October 15, 2013 asdetailed below.
１．Purpose of the construction
As top priority measures to achieve the goals of the Medium-term Management Plan, “TotalCommitment to Good Health 14-16,” the Company aims to proactively advance “integrated reform insales and distribution” including a review of distribution center supply systems, centralization ofindirect operations at call centers, overall staff optimization, etc., thereby restructuring order receipt,
distribution, and delivery operations across the board.
２．Outline of TBC Sapporo（including the Sapporo Call Center）
(1)

Name：

TBC Sapporo(2)

Place：

4-2-2-1, Yonesato, Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido
TEL. +81-11-876-2700
FAX. +81-11-876-2740(3)

Site area：

11,570.28 ㎡(4)

Building space：

5,360.39 ㎡(5)

Total floor space：

15,659.79 ㎡(6)Structure ：RCSS structure, Three-story building(7)

Number of product About 17,000 items
lines：(8)

Product lines：

Pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals, medical
equipment, medical materials, reagents and others.

(9)

Coverage area：(Product supply) Hokkaido (whole area)

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(Call center reception) Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Koshinetu(10)

Maximum shipping 7 billion yen / monthly
capacity：(11)

Operator’s seats：

200 seats

３．Characteristics of TBC Sapporo(1) Reverse sequence picking by delivery route
TBC Sapporo recovers used foldable containers following the delivery route in reverse in order toimprove delivery efficiency.
(2) Further improvement of highly accurate shipping
TBC Sapporo aims to achieve a shipping accuracy of “Seven 9s” by improving on the “Six 9s”(namely, 99.99994%), which has been achieved so far at the existing distribution centers.
(3) Complete traceability
With the introduction of the Warehouse Management System* that incorporates the know-how
developed at the distribution centers of TOHO PHARMACEUTICAL, traceability to customers will
be secured through the management of the lot numbers of pharmaceuticals and their expiry dates,
aiming to provide customers with product safety and assurance of supply.
* Warehouse Management System
This refers to a management system that centrally controls a series of distribution tasks within the warehouse toimprove efficiency in the management operations.

(4) Comprehensive measures against natural disasters and to ensure security
With the duplexing of the host computer and the Warehouse Management System, the installationof an emergency-power-generating equipment and periodical practice of disaster exercises, etc., theCompany has established a system that will ensure a stable supply of pharmaceuticals if a naturaldisaster occurs.
４．Characteristics of Sapporo call center(1) Improved reception quality through the use of automatic speech recognition and CTI (ComputerTelephony Integration) systems(2) Reduced call charges through the use of IP centrex(3) Transfer of work conventionally conducted by office workers at sales branches to the call center
through a new workflow system(4) Three centers in Sapporo, Tokyo, and West Japan work together to implement the BCP (BusinessContinuity Plan)

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