Moving pallets at Aurobindo

Aurobindo
East Windsor, N.J.

• Size:550,000 square feet—usable space 350,000 square feet
• Throughput: 15 million units per month
• Products Handled: Generic pharmaceuticals
• SKUs: 700
• Shifts: 2 shifts per day; 5 days per week, plus weekends as needed

The automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) at Aurobindo’s primary distribution center is the heart of its operations, enabling cost effective pallet storage and order fulfillment.

Read the full feature article on the systems in use at the Aurobindo distribution center.

Receiving

New product arrives at the facility floor loaded in shipping containers. The cartons are manually unloaded onto pallets that are then stretchwrapped, labeled and entered into the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. They are now ready for storage.

Putaway

Pallets are delivered by lift truck to an induction conveyor that feeds the automated storage and retrieval system, which manages the putaway into a storage location. Pallets are managed by the software on a first in/first out basis and stored by velocity, with the fastest moving items closest to the picking station. The pallets are now available to promise for orders.

In the near future, the receiving and putaway processes will be automated, with cartons unloaded onto telescoping conveyor that will be delivered to a robotic palletizer, and then the completed pallets will be stretchwrapped and conveyed to the AS/RS.

Picking

The order fulfillment process is initiated when a sales and purchase order are entered into the ERP system. Information about the order goes first to the transportation management system, which will begin scheduling delivery of the order. The order is then released to the warehouse management system (WMS). About 65% of the product goes out the door as a full pallet with the remaining 35% as partial pallets. Those are built at eight pick stations,

To build a partial pallet, donor pallets are retrieved from the AS/RS and delivered to one of the pick stations where an associate builds the pallet. A mixed pallet can have product for up to four purchase orders. The facility also ships some parcel shipments. Once the pallet is built, it is delivered to a stretchwrap station and then staged at shipping.

Shipping

Once all of the pallets for a shipment have been staged, they are loaded onto an outbound trailer for delivery.