Automation and robotics. 1C:WMS and robots – how to automate a pharmaceutical company’s warehouse

Kompas LLC lives in a regime of constant control, because each step in the pharmaceutical field is closely connected with a human health. State requirements for the control of goods with mandatory labeling, compliance with the FEFO principles, taking into account the remaining shelf life, require raising the standards of business processes and attracting new technologies. The software solution “1C: WMS Logistics. Warehouse Management” (hereinafter referred to as “1C: WMS”), robot integration into a warehouse – we’ll talk about how to increase warehouse turnover by 4 times, reject of paper media and propel a pharmaceutical warehouse to a new level.

The Compass company (formerly Kompaspharm Ural LLC) was founded in Yekaterinburg in 2015: it is engaged in the purchase, storage, and supply of pharmaceutical products to its own chain of pharmacies. The company's actively developing pharmacy chain currently includes 700 pharmacy branches with an annual increase of about 100 new service booths. The network of pharmacies is branched out across 13 regions.

Volume and area growth

For the pharmaceutical industry, it is important to adhere to the FEFO principle – alpha and omega for the goods safety and success of the enterprise. Timely shipment according to the first expire, first out algorithm, compliance with the remaining shelf life of drugs meet the strict requirements of state quality standards, but at the same time create stress points in logistics business processes. Especially if the accounting of the goods movement is carried out the old-fashioned way, on paper, and the turnover grows exponentially.

In 2022, the Compass company decided to launch an innovative project due to the increase in goods turnover and the stable growth of the pharmacy chain – a new warehouse complex with an area of more than 5,000 sqm with a high degree of automation and robotic warehouse equipment GEEK+.

Find the pain and offer a “pill”

Warehouse management pain points are much easier to work with when they are identified from the inside. Therefore, preliminary, independent “homework” gives a clear understanding: what operation needs to be improved, what results the company can achieve by automating logistics processes, where the greatest delays occur in the process of movement or goods storage, violating the FEFO principle.

“Before the automation introduction, the process was complicated by the fact that the address system was stationary, not dynamic. We could not automate serial and batch accounting of products. It was not possible to automate the warehouse replenishment processes, both planned and on order. The accounting system did not reflect all goods movements,” says Alexander Permyakov, head of the warehouse complex.

The criteria list for choosing an automation system and implementing company was massive:

• Domestic software.
• Simple integration and maintenance of the implemented system.
• Possibility of modifying the system to meet the specific enterprise needs.
• Compatibility with the enterprise corporate system "1C: Trade Management".
• Availability of a comprehensive in-depth training system for company employees.
• The contractor is an official developer with experience in implementing projects for the automation of warehouse complexes at manufacturing and retail companies.
• Availability of certified specialists in Yekaterinburg.
  

Dynamic and productive co-working even at the negotiations stage with the SITEC company became the key to future cooperation: the readiness of the 1C:WMS company-developer to solve large-scale problems in a team with 1C specialists of the enterprise guaranteed the achievement of goals.

First of all, the SITEC project team conducted an audit of the “as is” processes at the enterprise and proposed to the customer a list of measures to increase the speed of acceptance and goods shipping from the warehouse in implementing “1C:WMS Logistics. Warehouse management." The requirements and wishes of system key users for its functionality were also collected.

The following tasks were assigned to the specialists of the SITEC company:

• organizing the process of shipping products from the warehouse according to the FEFO principle, taking into account the remaining shelf life ;

• compliance with state requirements for mandatory digital labeling of goods;

• automation of all main warehouse processes: goods receiving, placement, movement, picking, shipping, inventory;

• automatic replenishment and support of the established balances level in the goods picking area;

• automatic generation and documents exchange with the corporate information system “1C: Trade Management”;

• adaptation and preparation of a WMS system for the use of robots in a new warehouse and the ability to order-picking using robots directly from 1C:WMS.

Acceleration as a result

“A year later, we can summarize: the warehouse throughput after automation has increased 4 times. At the same time, the number of employees involved in goods processing has not increased, says Alexander Permyakov. – Before the implementation, there were difficulties with order planning; everything was calculated manually, in office programs, and the task was given to the warehouse employee on paper. After the implementation of 1C:WMS, this process was automated, and the presence of standards in the system made it possible to launch both planned replenishment and replenishment on order, without waiting for the moment when the employee reaches the bin storage and realizes that he does not have enough goods.”

The implementation stage of the standard system functionality passed without any difficulties in just 6 months, and then, together, customization was implemented for individual warehouse processes:

Dispatching:

All processes were digitized from the moment the application was received until it was transferred to the transport company, and tracking of all stages of the goods movement was implemented.

Integration with robotic equipment:

A unique project, this is the first successfully implemented attempt to build a warehouse with automated order picking using warehouse robots among domestic pharmaceutical companies.

“After the introduction of robotic equipment, the “Pick to light” function appeared – a paperless order picking system. The main component of the technology is light modules that indicate to the assembler the storage bin and the quantity of goods to be assembled, adds Alexander Permyakov. “We rate SITEC’s work in implementing the system as excellent grade and recommend them to our colleagues and partners.”

If you are considering the implementation of automation and robotic systems in a warehouse and are seeking to obtain detailed information on this topic, we invite you to a dialogue with our specialists. You can contact us in any way you prefer.

+7341 295 6808
inter@sitec-it.ru
wms.sitec-it.ru