European pharmaceuticals company AAH has installed a state-of-the-art multi-tier pallet racking and carton live storage solution supplied by Bito Storage Systems UK at its Morley, Leeds distribution centre. The £250,000 installation has improved order picking rates and accuracy for AAH, which distributes off-the-shelf and prescription drugs to hundreds of national retailers and pharmacies nationwide.
The Bito solution has improved stock rotation at the centre and more than 80% of goods in are now only handled once before reaching the pick location. Steve Smith, Britvic’s project leader for the AAH installation, says that the centre is ready to meet steadily increasing business and is “far better equipped to handle seasonal peaks which previously strained our storage and order picking systems”.
The centre supplies hospitals, pharmacies and national retailers in the greater Leeds and Sheffield area, and is required to make a morning and an afternoon delivery.
Smith says: “This requires a high degree of accuracy and swift order processing. Using the same footprint, Bito has created an infrastructure of flowbeds with three tiers of pallet racking above, which has far greater utility than our previous storage arrangement. Significantly, the Bito flowshelves are as deep as 5m, whereas previously we only had 2.5m shelves. This has increased our stock at pick location capacity to 80%, minimising double handling from goods in and reducing the risk of damage.”
Bito supplied more than 1,000m of running flow shelf to AAH – creating more than 200 pick faces – as well as 200-plus pick faces, and three tiers of racking to a height of 5m.
