Material Handling Information - Case Studies - KSK Pharmaceuticals
Case Studies - Medical Industry Application
KSK Pharmaceuticals
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Application
KSK Pharmaceutical Distribution Center -- Osaka, Japan.
Supplies 9,000 hospitals and 100,000 small clinics throughout Japan.
Processes 8,000 line items per day, with capacity to process up to 21,000 items daily.
Most orders shipped the same day they are received.
Key Customer Benefits
Reduced inventory levels while stocking 99.5% of products ordered.
Accuracy improved to less than 1 error per 10,000 picks.
Smaller space requirements.
Shorter order-picking cycle times.
Allows productive use of part-time labor.
Material Flow Requirements
Ship thousands of individual orders for medical supplies to customers quickly, safely, and accurately.
Reduce order-processing time while creating an operator-friendly work environment.
Reduce inventory levels while better managing stock of 10,300 products to accommodate varying demand.
Material Flow Hardware
Three-unit monorail system for automated replenishment of flow racks
Two horizontal carousels for freezer items
Pick-to-light system with 7,447 openings in three picking zones
Three-unit forklift terminal for paperless order picking
Shoe sorter with 11 delivery bays able to process 2,000 cases per hour.
Five-aisle mini load automated buffer with 9,900 storage locations
One-aisle unit load automated buffer with 282 storage locations
Material Flow Process
Input
Products assigned to zones according to picking activity.
Most active products — about 70% of total inventory — are stored in flow racks.
Medium- and low-frequency items are stored in two zones of lightweight storage racks with workers using picking carts to fill orders.
Mini load stores cases for automated replenishment of flow racks.
Unit load buffer stores pallet loads of reserve stock, which are transferred to the mini load as needed for replenishment.
Horizontal carousel units operating in temperature-controlled enclosures store product that must be kept refrigerated; carousels rotate to doors that allow easy access to products from outside the enclosures.
Larger, high-frequency items shipped in case quantities are stored in pallet-size rack.
Output
All three zones use a digital pick-to-light system for paperless order picking.
Mini load provides full-case picking of large orders and replenishes the three picking zones.
Monorail system automatically transports about 500 cases per day from the mini load to replenish the flow racks.
RF-directed forklift terminal allows paperless order picking of case quantities from pallet racks.
Orders are first picked from flow racks and placed in a collection tote.
A conveyor delivers the tote to the other two zones if items are to be picked from there. Totes are also delivered to the carousel picking stations as necessary.
Completed orders go to an automatic weight/quantity inspection device to ensure a high level of order accuracy — less than 1 error out of every 10,000 picks.
Conveyors deliver inspected orders to a shoe sorter, which diverts them to 11 delivery bays for loading onto trucks.
