Pharmacy

The pharmaceutical warehouse challenges

Firstly, strict storage conditions are required for pharmaceuticals. Different types of drugs vary greatly in their sensitivity to environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and light. For example, vaccines and biological products need to be stored in a refrigerated environment, and some drugs should be kept away from light. Therefore, warehousing facilities must be equipped with accurate and stable temperature and humidity control and monitoring systems. Once the environment gets out of control, the quality and efficacy of drugs will be seriously affected.

Secondly, inventory management is highly complex. There is a wide variety of pharmaceutical products, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, etc., each with different specifications, dosage forms and expiration dates. It is necessary to accurately track information such as inventory quantity, batch numbers and expiration dates to prevent expired drugs from entering the market and avoid stockouts that could impact medical supplies. The tasks of inventory planning and stocktaking are arduous.

Thirdly, regulatory supervision is strict. Pharmaceutical warehousing must comply with a large number of regulatory standards such as the Good Supply Practice for Pharmaceutical Products (GSP). There are detailed regulations covering the whole process from the site selection and construction of warehouses, the configuration of facilities and equipment to the acceptance, storage, maintenance and outbound distribution of drugs. Any violation in any link may lead to serious legal consequences and damage to the enterprise's reputation.

In addition, high timeliness is required for order processing and distribution. Medical institutions and patients have urgent demands for drugs. Warehousing needs to process orders quickly, pick and pack accurately and deliver in a timely manner. Especially in response to public health emergencies, an efficient warehousing and distribution system is even more crucial, which poses a great test to the operational efficiency of warehousing and the logistics and distribution capabilities.

In recent years, with the continuous development and improvement of logistics and warehousing technologies, many pharmaceutical and chemical production and distribution enterprises have gradually shifted from manual management to information-based, automated and intelligent management. By building a complete set of pharmaceutical logistics ERP and WMS systems and using automated warehousing and logistics equipment such as RF handheld terminal devices, stackers, conveyor lines, shuttle cars and sorters, various problems in the industry have been effectively solved and refined management of logistics and warehousing has been achieved.

Moreover, in pharmaceutical logistics, sorting equipment should not only be fast and efficient, but also safe, accurate and stable. 

What does an fully automated warehouse can benefit pharmacy industry?

1. Efficient space utilization: Automated high-bay racks can significantly increase storage height, with a storage capacity per unit area that can be 2-3 times higher than traditional flat warehouses, saving land costs. 

2. Accurate and fast homework: Intelligent handling equipment such as AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) and stacker crane accurately locate, greatly reducing the time for goods to enter and exit the warehouse, reducing the order processing cycle. Midea's intelligent warehouse AGV efficiently shuttles, achieving minute level order response.

3. Inventory management optimization: With the help of IoT sensors to monitor inventory in real time, accurately grasp the quantity, location, and status of each type of pharmacy products, avoid backlog or shortage, dynamically replenish based on sales data.

• Previous
  Hardware & Building Materials
• Next
  Apparel & Shoes