Page 29 - Case Study Annual 2015

LAA 2016 Gold

Alpha Pharm SA / KNAPP SA

Automation packs it all in

The margins for pharmaceutical wholesalers are specified every year by the SA
Department of Health. Costs are rising and the number of SKUs that must be
processed in the same amount of space is increasing. Operating in this highly

competitive environment and with constant demand from clients for good service
delivery, encouraged Alpha Pharm to convert the Pretoria branch from an all-
manual order processing centre to a modern automated solution.

Alpha Pharm is a South African pharmaceutical The challenge
wholesaler and health specialist that has been
offering its customers a comprehensive array Prevailing market conditions encouraged Alpha Pharm
of medications and services for generations. to convert from an all-manual order processing centre
Alpha Pharm has distribution centres in Bloemfontein, in two of the company’s DCs (Pretoria and Durban) to a
Cape Town, Durban, East London, Newcastle, modern automated solution. Before and after the DC in
Oudtshoorn, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria. In addition to Durban, KNAPP SA was tasked with bringing the Pretoria
the distribution of high-quality pharmaceutical products, warehouse up to state-of-the-art between 2007 and
Alpha Pharm also supports over 850 pharmacies and 2011. A special challenge in the process was to realise
numerous AlphaClinic health centres. the project without negatively influencing on-going
operations in the warehouse. The modernisation and
optimisation led to a clear rise in throughput and a
reduction in costs due to a reduction in errors and
improved productivity.

Why the decision for KNAPP partnership? The solution

Due to the pharmaceutical wholesale industry being Alpha Pharm and KNAPP have a successful, long-term
put under constant strain by means of changing labour partnership. In 2007 the existing warehouse in Pretoria
laws and the advent of Single Exit Pricing for medicines was equipped with KNAPP automation technology and
being introduced into South Africa, together with the the distribution centre in Pretoria became one of the
constant demand for good service delivery and having most highly developed pharmaceutical warehouses in
experienced a period of exceptional growth, the logical SA. About 80% of all products are automatically or
step was to automate the bigger distribution centres to semi-automatically processed. Only 20% are manually
facilitate efficiencies and further growth capacity. After picked. The big premier followed in 2011: The first
in-depth research and onsite visits to various automated OSR Shuttle on the African continent was successfully
pharmaceutical warehouses in Europe and America, the put into operation at Alpha Pharm and the warehouse
choice was for the proven and total solutions offered by process in the Pretoria distribution centre includes a
KNAPP. number of key technologies.

The solution

Order start station and order consolidation
Each customer can submit as many orders as desired
in one day. The HOST system generates picking orders
from the customer orders and transmits them to the
warehouse control system. To make order processing
in the warehouse as efficient as possible, orders for one
customer are consolidated by the WCS and placed in a
single transport order.
Destacking and order start
One container size is used in the warehouse: The

the logistics news case study annual 2015 27