The logistics needs of the pharmaceutical industry are, without a doubt, among the most complex. The particularities of the merchandise handled, stored and distributed require highly specialized centers from a technological point of view, but also from a human point of view, especially when it comes to carrying out correct picking.
The pharmaceutical industry is very clear about this. You need highly specialized storage systems tailored to your specific needs. Otherwise it would be impossible to handle thousands of references a day, mainly small-sized products such as medicines. Of course, an important part of them under controlled temperature.
In this dilemma, manufacturers of pharmaceutical products have had to resolve an important dilemma. When it comes to picking, what is the best solution, human or automated manipulation? We discussed this and other issues with five firms in the sector.
More automation
"The pharmaceutical sector has always been highly innovative in logistics automation techniques," says Carlos Martín, Managing Director for Spain and Portugal at AutoStore. From this perspective, he assures that the very special needs of the pharmaceutical supply chain (short delivery times, storage conditions...), "make the automation of systems necessary". The ASRS ('Automatic Storage and Retrieval Systems') are the most in demand, and among the most preponderant technologies on the market would be the Autostore, multishuttle or miniload systems, points out Martín.
They share an opinion from Element Logic Spain, an AutoStore partner and whose director, Albert Vidal, describes what is currently happening with pharmaceutical picking, “companies, driven by the ecommerce boom and the need to prepare small orders and record time, they are increasingly investing in automated systems, such as product-to-person picking systems”.
“This type of solution allows them to optimize and minimize errors in order preparation and, therefore, increase their productivity. The operators go from constantly walking the aisles of the warehouse in search of the articles to being located in the order preparation positions, and the robots are the ones that bring the products closer", they assure from this Norwegian firm that landed in Spain last year and that it will expand its offices, located in Barcelona, this month of January.
Vidal explains how AutoStore stores stock in the "minimum space possible, saving up to 80% compared to a warehouse with conventional pallet racking and multiplies picking productivity by 10, reaching productivity of up to 600 lines per hour per station of work".
Space saving is also the outstanding feature of its products Horst Matzer, Vice President Healthcare Solutions at KNAPP AG. In his case, he also advocates automation and ensures that "our standard systems have proven their effectiveness in the pharmaceutical sector." For example, I find the KNAPP central conveyor systems very useful for high-performance order picking, as well as the shuttle systems for central storage.”
In both cases, whose final choice lies with the customer, Matzer states that they are ideal systems, “combined with ergonomic workstations for the goods. If, in addition, it is combined with our warehouse management and control software, the client will achieve efficient warehouse management with the minimum of errors”.
At Polypal Storage Systems, in the words of its CEO, José Ramón Palacio, they propose several solutions to carry out picking with fewer errors. On the one hand, using shelving with manual loading trays, "a very versatile system because it allows multiple possibilities in its configuration and has a wide range of accessories that are easily adapted to the volume and weight needs of the stored product".
On the other hand, he mentions the dynamic system by gravity of roller live racks, used mainly in warehouse areas with a high volume of picking and in those places where high turnover medicines are stored, "these are two excellent solutions, But there is more, such as the miniload, automatic warehouse for boxes, which optimizes space to the maximum, without forgetting the pallet racking, for large loads or the pallet racking + picking systems; Mixed systems are also chosen where the upper levels of the racks are used for storing pallets and the lower levels for manual storage for picking.”
Automation yes, but less. At least that is how Juan Luis Ciges, VRC Sales Manager, perceives it. From his point of view, manual picking continues to be present in the pharmaceutical industry "because, although part of the automation for this sector focuses on products with a standard geometry, such as medicines, they do not contemplate other types of products than for its dimensions or volume do not fit this type of system”.
In the event that it is not possible to "adjust" an automatic system, VRC has several solutions focused on picking capable of minimizing errors as much as possible, while maintaining a good level of productivity, "such as high-speed vertical rotary systems, with PTL systems for carrying out several orders at the same time, which allows the storage of all kinds of products. We also have solutions of the miniload type focused on the direct handling of cardboard boxes, which avoid us having to fill plastic buckets, thus reducing replenishment and picking times, and therefore costs", adds Ciges.
Trends
Everything indicates that automation in pharmaceutical picking is gaining followers. “We have detected that our clients need optimization of storage and order preparation. Pharmaceutical products require special storage conditions. In other words, more compact systems to reduce the footprint and consequently the associated costs”, assures Carlos Martín.
Regarding automated picking, the market is focused on solutions in line with industry 4.0. We would talk about solutions, first of all, merchandise to man, preparation tables where the operator reduces his movements to a minimum and always in an ergonomic way, "to this system we should add the latest trends in robotics and artificial intelligence such as anthropomorphic arms ”, they point out from AutoStore.
Automation is imposed, as Albert Vidal affirms, “throughout 2021 the need to accelerate the delivery of orders in less time, both to pharmacies and to the end user, was perceived, which is why distribution centers tend to to be located near urban centers. This has made it necessary to be very efficient in the use of warehouse space due to the scarcity of logistics land and its increase in cost”.
In addition, they point out from Element Logic Spain, that last year has shown the vulnerability of logistics centers due to their strong dependence on their workers, "the pandemic has caused many difficulties to complete some work shifts in warehouses. In fact, this is one of the reasons why some companies are automating their warehouses with the aim of guaranteeing productivity in scenarios such as those experienced during 2020 and 2021”.
For his part, Horst Matzer (KNAPP) also speaks of important changes during the past financial year, "the trend towards zero-error warehouses has been noted, which combines the quality and reliability of the process with the maximum efficiency. For this, all the systems that support people in the picking work and that make a strategy of 0 errors in the warehouse possible are important”.
Automation has gained followers. “We have noticed an increase in demand for ASRS automation systems, both focused on the management of plastic buckets, as well as cardboard boxes of various sizes, or a mix of both. Even for the unit, supplying PTL picking stations with these systems”, highlights Juan Luis Ciges (VRC).
Robotization
Although automation is commonly used by pharmaceutical warehouses, the level of robotization is still far from being used on a regular basis, "there is a long way to go," says Carlos Martín, "in developed countries current robotization could be 30-40%. Of course, the growth forecasts are good, there are estimates that forecast that by the end of this decade we could reach 70-80% of automated warehouses”.
Albert Vidal agrees that the use of robots is relatively low in Spain if we compare it with other European countries, "but it is also true that more and more companies are automating their order preparation, packaging and and later shipment”, he exposes.
Convinced that the figures for robotization in Spain will continue to grow, so is Horst Matzer, “they are still very low, but it will be an upward trend and it is clear that little by little their use will increase ”.
Juan Luis Ciges offers another point of view. He assures that the level of robotization in the logistics industry is high, “it is not new, if we take into account that for years the big pharmaceutical companies have automated a large part of their distribution centers. Obviously, the use of robots will increase, since smaller companies have begun to allocate more and more resources to automating their processes, due to the reduced investment recovery times”.
The future
“The market is positive”, assures Carlos Martín, “it is appreciated how companies, manufacturers and distributors of medicines are considering new investments to improve their warehouse systems. This puts us at a good time, immersed in several confidential projects that we hope will come to fruition during this year”.
His opinion on the evolution of electronic commerce is equally positive, “at Autostore we think that electronic commerce has advanced its volumes by about two years, that is, right now it is operating with the magnitudes forecast for 2024. Over the next times we will continue with more modest growth compared to 2020 but still very robust, in any case in double digits”, says Martín.
For Albert Vidal the future will be marked by the activation of many projects and by an interesting change in trend, “I think that in 2022 and the years to come, automation and robotics in pharmaceutical warehouses will leave from being exclusive to large pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors and will become the norm for smaller companies”.
The director of Element Logic Spain also points to electronic commerce, "the latest data from the CNMC confirm the strength of pharmaceutical e-commerce and, although some stabilization is foreseeable, everything points to the fact that the purchase of pharmaceutical products over the internet has arrived to stay".
“The pharmaceutical wholesale landscape in Europe is changing a lot right now,” says Horst Matzer. “We are in a very good order situation and have actually executed large automation projects, such as Voigt in Switzerland, as well as winning e-commerce projects, such as Apoteket in Sweden.”
With regard to the increase in online sales, the Vice President Healthcare Solutions of KNAPP AG, after pointing out that in Europe the conditions for the business of electronic commerce with pharmaceutical products vary greatly, indicates that "what is safe is that the availability of medicines online will complement the business of pharmacies in the future. So we think there will be a mix of business models. The pandemic has accelerated this evolution. So we are also moving more in the direction of omnichannel distribution in the pharmaceutical sector.”
Several and different are the projects that Polypal Storage Systems will carry out during 2022, although they cannot provide more details. However, its general director explains that "the forecasts are to continue as last year in which we have carried out two interesting projects with Cofares and Fedefarma".
Regarding electronic commerce, José Ramón Palacio is also clear about it, “online commerce is here to stay. We anticipate that investment in logistics land will continue to grow and the online channel will continue to develop. Companies that have not yet adapted to this new channel will have to equip their warehouses according to these new needs”.
Despite the Covid-19, at VRC, as confirmed by Juan Luis Ciges, they have managed to maintain a good level of activity, "it is clear that the pandemic brought about a significant halt in activity, but in our case we have been able to close interesting projects in the picking area that we are developing. Projects, where our systems are capable of vertically storing plastic buckets and/or cardboard boxes of different sizes, classifying them and dispatching consolidated orders for the different destination routes, all 100% automatically”.
“The increase in online commerce will help us get new projects. For proper electronic management, automated systems are essential. Key element, to be able to meet a fast delivery time and gain the trust and loyalty of customers. Our automatic systems are capable of placing orders in real time, minimizing preparation times in manual operations”, he assures.
The industry “forced” to overcome the pandemic
Almost two years have passed since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Albert Vidal, far from referring to the difficulties they went through, mentions a positive fact that has helped a company with the characteristics of Element Logic, "the pandemic exponentially increased the online sale of pharmaceutical products, this scenario, for Therefore, it has accelerated the digitization of this sector and that is good because it opens up possibilities to carry out interesting projects”.
From KNAPP, and after acknowledging that Covid-19 "had a great impact on the supply chain, not only because the vaccines had to be transported under controlled conditions", Horst Matzer assures that "thanks to the solidity of our systems our customers did a very good job securing supplies during the pandemic. In addition, the particular stress suffered by warehouse employees also speaks in favor of greater automation, something that is very positive for our company."
For his part, José Ramón Palacio also highlights the direct influence that the pandemic has had on e-commerce, its strong increase, which in turn has increased storage needs. “Covid-19 drove the evolution of shopping habits, the increase in online sales and the acceleration of digital channels, which has generated an increase in the demand for warehouses and logistics investment by the last year. companies, which have already begun to transform their businesses to adapt to the online channel ”, they expose from Polypal.
The opinion of Juan Luis Ciges (VRC) is very similar to that of his competitors, because although the pandemic has caused serious problems for the world economy, “it has had a positive consequence for the logistics sector. It is obvious to think that the automation process of many companies has accelerated, especially those with a high staffing, which due to the Covid-19 measures, and the ravages of it on the staff, have seen their tasks diminished. manuals and have taken urgent measures to automate these processes”.
Finally, for Carlos Martín, (Autostore) the impact of Covid-19 has been significant in logistics and even more so in the pharmaceutical sector, "we have realized that more resilient and reactive supply chains are needed to problems we have had in recent times. Although, in general, the performance of the sector has been satisfactory, we must continue on the path of excellence and investment in capital goods that improve productivity and add value to the chain”.
Report published in number 271 of Professional Logistics, pages 40 to 45. Read full report.