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From Pioneer to Key Player

04.02.2011

More than ten years ago KNAPP designed and installed, in Droguería Nena, the first automated system in Venezuela to handle a product as fragile as a medicine

This important and decisive step differentiated them from other pharmaceutical companies in the country. Today almost 1 in every 5 medicines dispatched in Venezuela are distributed by Droguería Nena.

Droguería Nena C.A. is one of the leading pharmaceutical distributors in Venezuela, characterized with a main focus on high availability and the operational excellence of systems that will translate in client satisfaction. An objective to receive and classify all products in the minimum amount of time, as well as getting orders to the hands of the clients accurately and efficiently, guarantees continuous client loyalty.

In the year 2000, a 9.000 m² automated warehouse was opened in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. In 2004, after great success and drive for business expansion, another automated warehouse was opened in Guarenas, Venezuela. Between these two warehouses Droguería Nena is able to serve clients within the whole country.

KNAPP created a specific combination of solutions from manual to completely automate in order to satisfy Droguería Nena’s vision, taking into account the dimensions of the warehouse and needs of the Venezuelan market.

Highspeed from goods-in to dispatch

In the warehouses, stackable totes that come back from the pharmacies are stacked in the conveyor system. Using the Destacker BVE-2000 the stack of totes is tilted horizontally, and then the first tote is extracted and conveyed out of the machine onto the belt.

The destacked totes go through an MPS; this picking is used for fast to slow-moving medicines which may only be picked manually but are not too fragile. The MPS is suitable for most types of medicines with different shapes and sizes. In Barquisimeto Droguería Nena carries one MPS with more than 4400 SKUs, and another similar MPS in Guarenas. In combination with the MPS are workers using RF terminals.

The RF terminals offer great advantage in the picking of medicines with irregular shapes and sizes. The lightweight design is effortlessly worn by workers on the lower arm, also leaving both hands free to move and retrieve products. In Droguería Nena the MPS and the RF terminal both work together in the replenishment of orders in accordance with urgency prioritization, depending on the fill level of the channel or shelf.

The totes then go to KNAPP’s fast mover autopicker SDA-2000. This is ideal for medicines with a high or very high turnover rate. In Barquisimeto there is an SDA with 1200 channels holding almost 1000 SKUs and in Guarenas there are two SDA with more than 2600 channels for which 360 channels are new installations.

Backup loop for bundles

Totes in need of high amounts of the same medicines proceed to a recently installed backup loop for bundles. Eight new loops were added in each warehouse. In these stations products are picked manually with the help of RF terminals. It is specifically made for when high quantities of the same products are needed. In case that for any reason the automatic SDA channel for a specific medicine is empty, the tote will also go to this backup station for replenishment.

Another manual station for totes is used as the last step for the picking of slow moving and fragile medicines or medicines kept in refrigeration. In total there are 8 manual loops in Barquisimeto, and 8 in Guarenas.

When the completed order arrives to the packaging station totes are automatically closed and a shipping label is applied. Also Droguería Nena has a newly installed cross-strapper, automatically strapping the shipping box horizontally and then vertically for double security and protection of products.

The conveyor system transports strapped containers to the goods-out area where they are diverted to ramps for dispatch preparation. Containers go on to one of the exit ramps where a satellite tracked vehicle, assigned to the specific transport route, awaits for the containers. Droguería Nena counts with 16 exit ramps in Barquisimeto. In Guarenas 6 exit ramps are used only for high volume dispatches and one error ramp used when there is a reading error and the order diverts to this last ramp to be checked. In the Guarenas warehouse there are additionally 168 dispatch sorting racks with an error ramp at the end as well.

Fifty times more in just 9 years

KNAPP Solutions has been able to meet all requirements from its customer. Improvements in accuracy and efficiency have drastically changed the amount of totes dispatched. In 2000 Droguería Nena had a total of 6.328.848 dispatched totes; in 2009 Droguería Nena had a total of 304.081.849 dispatched totes.

KNAPP was able to satisfy Droguería Nena’s pharmaceutical needs, delivering efficiency and unification of all warehouse solutions under one roof. Droguería Nena works closely with KNAPP, constantly searching new solutions to keep guaranteeing order accuracy and client satisfaction in any corner of the country.

www.dronena.com
 



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