DFG: State-of-the-art pharmaceutical warehouse relies on high automation and zero-defect strategy
Pharmaceutical wholesaler Distribuidora Farmacéutica de Gipuzkoa (DFG) supplies around 360 pharmacies and, with a market share of 87 percent, shoulders an important responsibility toward the people in the region. To ensure that medicine is reliably available error-free around the clock, DFG opted for a highly automated pharmaceutical logistics system by KNAPP. It is designed to easily accommodate extreme peak periods in the afternoon, reduce the error rate to a minimum and boost efficiency despite having less personnel – all while using space effectively.
Top quality, customer centricity and the best service are at the core of our business. For decades, we have been in good hands with KNAPP provid-ing our warehouse logistics.
Juan Piera
Director, DFG
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Automation for more satisfied customers
The distribution center in San Sebastián was deliberately designed with a very high degree of automation. This has positively affected the overall performance capacity of the warehouse while also reducing the error rate to a minimal 0.1 percent. These results directly affect the pharmacies who appreciate the high competence, reliability and significant support in their daily business. Uniting two warehouse locations in one distribution center is also profitable because land and floorspace, as in many regions in Europe, are expensive and a compact system helped to keep the overall investment costs reasonable.
Goods-in and storage
The items are delivered to the warehouse on pallets and in cartons. At eight repacking stations the items are scanned and their data is recorded in the inventory control system before they are stored across the 21,000 storage locations in the Evo Shuttle. Overstock and oversized goods, on the other hand, are stored at pallet locations.
Picking
Fast-moving medicines are fully automatically picked at two Central Belt Systems equipped with ejectors of the A-frame picking system. Replenishment is carried out using RF terminals. Other items are picked semi-automatically at the two highly ergonomic Pick-it-Easy goods-to-person work stations.
Shipping
In preparation for shipping, the shipping containers are lidded fully automatically, then given a delivery note and shipping label. Conveyors of the Streamline series convey the containers to the shipping area, where another shuttle system sorts the containers prior to shipping.
Sorting for shipping
The items are allocated automatically to one of the 480 ramps of the OSR Shuttle Sorter, which sorts and organizes up to 5,860 containers for efficient loading into the transport vehicles.
Our shared success story began in 1988, with the purchase of an A-frame picking system. Since then, we’ve grown together, alongside one another.
Juan Piera
Director, DFG
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Top order fulfillment
The scalable system architecture and complete integration in the KNAPP software landscape easily reconcile current and future requirements and provide efficient order fulfillment in every stage of expansion. The KiSoft software solution ensures processes in DFG’s highly automated warehouse run efficiently and without errors. Our KiSoft WCS interfaces with DFG’s inventory control system and controls all the logistical processes. This combination covers the entire flow of goods in real time, managing stock, all product master data, load units and load carriers, and more.
Feeling of satisfaction
We assist DFG’s daily operations in the distribution center with a number of services, giving our customer the peace of mind that they are well looked after. Our Service Desk offers a network of experts who are available around the clock and who can take immediate action in urgent cases. On site, our Resident Engineer Team provides rapid technical support, monitoring the systems continuously and detecting any potential for improvement, thereby ensuring that all mechanical and electrical components run smoothly at all times.
