Cubular & Opti health Consulting GmbH partnered with Henry Schein, the world’s largest distributor of dental products, to develop a next-generation ordering and inventory platform tailored to dental clinics. What began as a localized prototype evolved into a scalable, international ERP solution now powering procurement workflows across multiple European markets. SmartOrder integrates seamlessly with Henry Schein’s internal systems, supports localized product data and pricing, and simplifies complex clinic purchasing workflows — all within a secure, medical-grade digital infrastructure.
The Challenge
Henry Schein, the world’s leading provider of dental supplies, approached us with a clear but ambitious goal:
To replace legacy ordering workflows in dental clinics with a modern, digital-first platform.
The solution needed to work across markets, be deeply integrated into internal systems, and meet the regulatory and operational needs of thousands of clinics in Europe.
Initial project scope covered only Germany — but early success quickly drove demand for a scalable, international rollout.
Our Approach
We started lean, but with scale in mind:
Discovery & Conception
Workshops with stakeholders from Henry Schein, local subsidiaries, and selected clinics to define core requirements, pain points, and workflowsIterative Product Design
UX/UI tailored to the real-world behavior of dental professionals, ensuring a balance of efficiency, clarity, and complianceBackend Architecture
Modular microservice-based system using GoLang, Kubernetes, and Docker on AWS — designed for high availability and multi-region scalingIntegration Layer
Robust interfaces with Henry Schein’s ERP, CRM, and product data infrastructure, including pricing engines and stock syncCompliance & Localization
Full consideration of medical procurement standards, legal requirements, and regional differences in product catalogues and order flows
The Result
From a focused MVP, SmartOrder has grown into a mission-critical platform used across European markets. Highlights:
📈 Piloting active clinics across DE, NL, BE, and more
🌍 Multi-country deployment with localized catalogs, languages, and pricing
🔌 Tightly integrated with Henry Schein’s IT infrastructure
⚖️ Audit-ready architecture that meets strict data and compliance standards
The platform is continuously evolving — now serving as the digital procurement backbone for Henry Schein’s European operations.
Why It Matters
SmartOrder is more than an e-commerce tool. It’s a proof point for Cubular’s capabilities in:
Developing complex, regulated platforms from scratch
Navigating corporate IT environments
Designing software that professionals actually want to use
SmartOrder’s enterprise-grade architecture powers procurement workflows for thousands of dental clinics across Europe, handling millions of transactions with medical-grade reliability:
Microservices Foundation
We built the core platform using Go-based microservices communicating via gRPC and Protocol Buffers, ensuring lightning-fast service-to-service data exchange. The Dapr runtime provides advanced service mesh capabilities including state management, pub/sub messaging, and distributed tracing. This event-driven architecture enables real-time synchronization across Henry Schein’s complex ecosystem — from order placement to inventory updates.
Infrastructure & Scaling
The platform runs on Kubernetes clusters with horizontal auto-scaling across multiple European regions, achieving 99.9% uptime through multi-zone deployments. Redis handles distributed caching and session management for thousands of concurrent users, while PostgreSQL and MariaDB with multi-master replication ensure data consistency across regions. This infrastructure automatically scales during peak ordering periods without manual intervention.
Enterprise Integration
SmartOrder seamlessly connects with Henry Schein’s existing IT landscape through a custom SAP integration layer that processes orders in real-time. Our legacy system connectors feature circuit breakers and intelligent retry mechanisms to handle the complexities of enterprise systems. A robust message queue architecture ensures reliable asynchronous processing, preventing data loss even during system maintenance windows.
Data & Analytics
A real-time data warehouse aggregates orders, inventory levels, and clinic metrics, processing millions of transactions through optimized ETL pipelines. Business intelligence dashboards provide Henry Schein with market insights and demand forecasting capabilities. The entire data architecture is GDPR-compliant with comprehensive audit trails, meeting the stringent requirements of medical procurement.
Frontend & Hardware Integration
The React-based web application delivers a responsive experience across devices, while a background desktop service enables seamless integration with medical hardware. We developed native drivers for specialized equipment including dental scanners, label printers, and hygiene monitoring devices. The offline-first architecture ensures clinics can continue operations during connectivity issues, with automatic synchronization when connections resume.
