Walgreens is expanding the number of its retail stores served by its micro-fulfillment centers as it works to turn itself around and prepares to go private. Those centers use robots to fill thousands of prescriptions for patients who take medications to manage or treat diabetes, high blood pressure or other conditions. Relying on those centers frees up time for pharmacy staff, reducing their routine tasks, eliminating inventory waste and allowing them to interact directly with patients and perform more clinical services such as vaccinations and testing. The centers offer Walgreens a competitive edge, as independent pharmacies and some rivals don’t provide centralized support for their stores. Walgreens aims to free up time for pharmacy staff, reducing their routine tasks and eliminating inventory waste. Walgreens hopes to have its 11 micro-fulfillment centers serve more than 5,000 stores by the end of the year, up from 4,800 in February and 4,300 in October 2023. As of February, the centers handled 40% of the prescription volume on average at supported pharmacies, according to Walgreens. That translates to around 16 million prescriptions filled each month across the different sites. To date, micro-fulfillment centers have generated approximately $500 million in savings by cutting excess inventory and boosting efficiency, said Kayla Heffington, Walgreens’ pharmacy operating model vice president. Heffington added that stores using the facilities are administering 40% more vaccines than those that aren’t.