Swisslog Taps Rival's Star to Lead Pharmacy Automation Strategy

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – December 19, 2025 – In a strategic move poised to reshape the competitive landscape of healthcare automation, Swisslog Healthcare has appointed Maria Garces, a seasoned executive from rival firm Omnicell, as its new Vice President of Product Management. The appointment signals an aggressive push by the KUKA Group subsidiary to accelerate innovation and capture greater market share in the rapidly expanding field of pharmacy and transport automation.

Garces will now helm the company’s product management initiatives, shaping the strategic roadmap for its portfolio of robotic and software solutions. Her arrival comes at a critical time for the industry, as hospitals and health systems worldwide grapple with labor shortages, rising costs, and an urgent need to improve patient safety through more efficient medication management.

"Maria's appointment reflects our commitment to developing solutions that directly address the evolving needs of healthcare providers," said Cory Kwarta, CEO of Swisslog Healthcare, in a statement announcing the hire. "Her expertise will help us create technology that enables hospitals to enhance patient care through more efficient medication management and delivery systems, ultimately improving outcomes across thecontinuum of care."

A Strategic Play in a Competitive Arena

The hiring of a director-level leader from a primary competitor like Omnicell is a significant development. Garces joins Swisslog Healthcare from her role as Product Management Director for Omnicell's EnlivenHealth Division, where she was credited with orchestrating a successful SaaS clinical product launch and increasing product margins by a notable 20%. This track record of delivering both innovative products and tangible business results makes her a formidable asset.

The pharmacy automation market is fiercely competitive and projected to swell to an estimated $16.65 billion by 2034. Swisslog Healthcare contends with industry giants such as BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), which significantly expanded its footprint with the $1.525 billion acquisition of Parata Systems, and Oracle Cerner, which integrates pharmacy automation deeply within its electronic health record ecosystem. By bringing Garces into its leadership ranks, Swisslog Healthcare is not only gaining her expertise in growth strategies and go-to-market models but also acquiring invaluable intelligence on a key rival's operations and product philosophy.

This move is the latest in a series of aggressive strategic initiatives. In late 2024, the company announced a co-marketing agreement with BD to integrate Swisslog’s robotics with the BD Pyxis™ Logistics medication management software, creating a more comprehensive end-to-end solution for health systems. More recently, it formed a pivotal alliance with Diligent Robotics to deploy autonomous mobile robots like Moxi for last-mile delivery tasks within hospitals, complementing its established portfolio of transport automation, such as pneumatic tube systems.

Tackling Pharmacy's Core Challenges

Behind these corporate maneuvers lies a mission to solve profound, systemic problems within healthcare. Hospital pharmacies are under immense pressure, with studies showing that up to 55% of staff time can be consumed by manual, repetitive tasks. This operational drag contributes to staff burnout, high labor costs, and, most critically, the risk of medication errors, which remain a leading cause of avoidable patient harm.

Automation is widely seen as the most effective antidote. By automating tasks like medication storage, retrieval, packaging, and transport, solutions like Swisslog’s award-winning BoxPicker automated pharmacy storage system free up pharmacists and technicians to focus on higher-value clinical work, such as patient consultation and medication therapy management. Garces's stated focus aligns directly with this industry imperative.

"Healthcare providers face real challenges in medication management that directly impact patient care," Garces noted. "Our job is to make sure our products solve those problems in practical ways. When we get pharmacy automation right, clinicians spend less time on logistics and more time with patients."

Her experience launching a SaaS product at Omnicell is particularly relevant as the industry shifts toward more integrated, cloud-based, and data-driven solutions. The future of pharmacy automation lies not just in robotic hardware but in the intelligent software that orchestrates workflows, provides predictive analytics for inventory management, and seamlessly integrates with a hospital's broader IT infrastructure.

A New Dual-Leadership Structure for Innovation and Influence

Garces's appointment is coupled with another key leadership change that reveals a sophisticated, two-pronged strategy. Michael Palone, the former Vice President of Product Management, is transitioning to the newly created role of Pharmacy Affairs Executive. This move positions him to serve as a high-level Subject Matter Expert and Ambassador for the company.

Palone, a practicing pharmacist and a Fellow of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (FHIMSS), brings deep clinical and operational credibility. With extensive experience in hospital informatics, automation at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and a key role in the integration of Talyst Systems following its acquisition, Palone is uniquely equipped to engage with customers, industry bodies like the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and academic partners. His new mandate is to represent Swisslog Healthcare at industry events and in key collaborations, ensuring the company's innovations are aligned with real-world clinical needs and that its voice is influential in shaping industry standards.

This dual-leadership structure creates a powerful synergy. Garces will drive the internal product engine—defining the vision, prioritizing development, and ensuring market fit. Simultaneously, Palone will operate as the external-facing clinical authority, building relationships, gathering market intelligence, and championing the company's solutions within the healthcare community. This approach allows Swisslog Healthcare to innovate at speed while maintaining deep connections to the practitioners its technology is designed to serve, effectively creating a robust feedback loop between product strategy and market reality.