The customer

Sinopharm Logistics is the logistics arm of Sinopharm, China’s largest pharmaceutical distributor. It is the first third-party professional pharmaceutical logistics company in China, covering warehousing services, drug sales, domestic road freight forwarding and other services.

The challenge

Sinopharm Logistics implements a single drug traceability system to ensure the accuracy of drug shipments, and has a strict multi-vendor, multi-channel and drug quality status management system, which has significantly increased the need for accurate small part picking while increasing overall productivity and lowering labor costs and worker intensity.

Our solution

• Geek+ picking system deployed in 1500sm warehouse, covering 10 workstations and 399 shelving units
• Solution customized for the pharmaceutical industry customized solution such as batch management, quality status management, drug storage compliance management, and expiration date management
• First time use of light selection technology applied to the workstations, so that the individual workstation picking efficiency can be increased to 80-120 lines/hour/person

The Geek+ impact

• Significant picking efficiency increased, from 30-40 lines/hour/person tp 80-120 lines/hour/person
• Manual picking efficiency increased by about 3 times
• Labor intensity greatly reduced
• Ultra-high picking accuracy

The customer

Jointown Pharmaceutical Group is the largest private pharmaceutical distribution company in China, distributing international and Chinese drugs and medical equipment. In 2018, the company reported revenues of over $20 billion USD (RMB87 billion yuan) and 1,287 retail points.

The challenge

Jointown Pharmaceutical Group has 127 pharmaceutical logistics centers with a storage capacity of 10 million pieces. Under new requirements the Company set an overall processing volume of 10,000 pieces/hour with 99.9% accuracy.

Our solution

• 100 picking robots deployed and integrated with existing automation, combining with the facility’s conveyor belts and forklifts to provide complete automation over multi-floor temporary storage, involving 1,736 storage space
• Picking robots transport goods directly to the platform for unmanned unloading
• User friendly interface providing multiple data gathering, reducing operation risks and increasing transportation safety

The Geek+ impact

• Saving space: smaller space needed for robot movement and storage capacity increased by 1/3 compared with conventional manual forklift operations
• Significant labor and equipment cost reduction
• ROI under two years
• An innovative model of temporary storage automation and unmanned operations, a blueprint for new pharmaceutical warehouses