Storage/Staging: Value Drug Mart adds horizontal carousels to meet demand

The Value Drug Mart distribution center in Edmonton, Alberta, inventories more than 18,000 pharmacy and front store items (from bedding and soap to pantyhose and Chapstick). Orders for front store items were increasing rapidly. “We couldn’t hire fast enough to keep up with the growing demand,” said Dwayne Bilawchuk, operations manager.

To meet increased demand, Value Drug Mart replaced two zones of static shelving with six horizontal carousels integrated with pick-to-light technology. The horizontal carousels were stacked and arranged in two zones of three carousels, each zone with an eight-position batch. Bilawchuk has since added two additional picking positions, which would allow for 10 orders to be picked at a time, further increasing pick productivity and order throughput.

All 10,000 SKUs were moved from the two shelving zones into the two horizontal carousel zones. The lower carousel zone manages 3,100 front store SKUs with an average pick rate of 350 lines per hour. The upper carousel zone manages 7,100 pharmacy SKUs and boasts a pick rate of 575 lines per hour. With a previous pick rate of 50 lines per hour from shelving, these two zones are averaging a 90% faster pick rate.

Not only are orders picked faster, but labor has been reduced by 72%. The shelving zones required three people for six hours per day to manage each zone. Now, each horizontal carousel zone is managed by one person working a five-hour shift—reducing the total number of man-hours for both zones from 36 hours per day to 10 hours per day of picking.

A scanner is mounted at each end of the batch station. Before each item is placed in the order tote, it is scanned for accuracy verification. “Our order accuracy has always been high, these measures help us maintain near perfect pick accuracy,” says Bilawchuk.

Using pick-to-light technology, the operator is directed to the exact cell to pick from within the horizontal carousel. The operator picks the quantity required and turns to distribute them among the orders on the batch station. Completed orders are sent from each horizontal carousel zone by conveyor to the consolidation area where they are held until the rest of the SKUs required for the order arrive from other zones. Once all SKUs required for an order arrive at consolidation, they are matched and forwarded to shipping.

In the fall, Value Drug Mart manages a back-to-school program allowing schools to pre-order supplies for children. Value Drug Mart provides the school one order per child with the supplies requested by the school. “This is a growing seasonal program that we would not have been able expand without the addition of the horizontal carousels,” said Bilawchuk.

Kardex Remstar
800-839-5805
kardexremstar.com