Pharmaceutical logistics provider enhances throughput

To better facilitate customers beyond the East Coast, while also supporting steady annual growth, a third-party pharmaceutical logistics provider, which only has distribution facilities located on the East Coast, needed to expand its distribution capacity westward.

Deciding to create a new facility in Indiana, with convenient access to major interstates and shipping hubs, and access to 75% of the United States population (through two-day ground service), the company can now deliver products to customers faster. This, in turn, leads to an increase in customer satisfaction, as well as unique opportunities and greater specialization in direct-to-physician fulfillment.

To achieve further distribution and fulfillment capabilities, the third-party pharmaceutical logistics provider collaborated with a materials handling solutions supplier, resulting in the design and integration of materials handling technology that would meet the needs in the facility.

Beginning with an Exacta warehouse execution system (WES), inventory is managed in an OPEX Perfect Pick goods-to-person automation system. To increase productivity and improve order accuracy, the supplier integrated a light-directed picking and putting system, which assists operators at Perfect Pick workstations. Pick/put-to-light not only increases efficiency—it is also an affordable solution for many picking, putting or sorting processes, and it is easy for operators to learn.

Additionally, operators interact with an Exacta Touch user interface at the goods-to-person workstations. The touchscreen is located at each Perfect Pick workstation and displays the current order, as it indicates the quantity of items to be picked, while a pick-to-light system reveals where the items are located in the tote.

Cartons and totes of products are then moved through inclines/declines, goods-to-person workstation diverts, a recirculation loop (if needed) and pack/shipping workstations, leading to timely customer delivery by conveyor.

The entire system can be monitored from the human machine interface (HMI) to provide real-time, easy access to system status, shipping and sortation statistics, and live video monitoring.

By combining WES, goods-to-person automation and a custom HMI, the third-party pharmaceutical logistics provider has increased total picking throughput per hour, decreased time and labor costs, and augmented order accuracy (which is vital to the pharmaceutical industry). In addition, it has noticed an upturn in energy savings, a higher storage capacity, a reduced order cycle time and more security for high-end or federally controlled products.

Bastian Solutions
(317) 575-9992