Pharmacy, Grodno has increased the efficiency of warehouse management with Axelot WMS X5

2022: Warehouse Management Automation

On May 11, 2022, Axelot announced that the Axelot WMS X5 system introduced at the Grodno RUE Pharmacy warehouse made it possible to increase storage accuracy, move away from paper technology, contribute to the rapid adaptation of new warehouse employees at workplaces, and also ensured centralized administrative management, transparency of operations and accounting for employee productivity.

Photo: yandex.ru

Grodno RUE "Pharmacy" - founded the Belarusian state pharmacy chain more than 75 years ago. As of May 2022, the network includes a pharmacy warehouse, a control and analytical laboratory, 16 structural divisions (central district pharmacies) located in each district center of the region, 15 pharmacies of category 1-2 located in the city Grodno and the Grodno region and having a subordinate pharmacy network.

In connection with the launch of the automated warehouse complex, the company had a need to implement WMS. In addition to organizing address storage, the tasks of the automation project included increasing the efficiency of processing cargo traffic, ensuring the transparency of warehouse operations and avoiding paper document circulation. The Axelot WMS X5 system was chosen for implementation, which was implemented by Axelot Soft specialists.

The total area of ​ ​ the warehouse is 2500 square meters. m., Storage height up to 6 m, assortment - about 3500 nomenclature items.

Before the implementation of WMS, all warehouse work was based on the use of paper technology. The acceptance took place according to a paper application, on which the employee marked and searched for each received product, running through hundreds of lines with his eyes, comparing and putting down the name, quantity and batch.

Placement in pallet racks was arbitrary and conditionally divided by passages into zones of placement of certain drugs. That is, the employee could put the goods where he considered it necessary. In the shelf storage area, for example, when placing or replenishing piece goods, the employee put the drug in any free space, and only he subsequently knew where the goods were. In addition, due to the lack of an orderly storage system, new employees have long remembered in which passage which drug may be presumably located.

To fix the place of placement of goods in pallets, an entry was made in a special journal. The same log was also used when planning the selection and movement of pallets, and commands were issued to warehouse employees orally or in a note. Also in words had to give other instructions for performing certain actions (replenishment, placement, selection, movement, etc.). This made it difficult for the warehouse administration to monitor employee employment.

The packaging of orders also took place on paper. As part of this process, those responsible for paper lists reviewed thousands of lines per day, identifying drugs, making marks and comparing quantities and batches. All this, of course, led to inaccuracies, fatigue of employees and increased the likelihood of errors even on assembly control. In the finale, the number of the counterparty to whom it was intended was written on each packed box with a marker, and the employee had to remember the numbers when placing in the shipment area so as not to forget where which order was located.

During the implementation of WMS, Axelot Soft specialists had to solve an interesting problem. There is only a batch on the packaging of the article, there is no batch number, since batches of goods are taken into account only systemically, and several batches can belong to the same batch. You have determined how, in such a situation, you can use inventory to make the initial inventory entry and distribute the required quantity of goods in each batch in one batch. The solution was to create a receipt note on the customer's side with all items on the balances, and on the WMS side, two types of acceptance were used for placing the goods for storage - acceptance (recalculation) with the subsequent placement of the accepted pallet for storage in the front racks and acceptance with laying out for shelf racks - allowing you to receive the goods on shelves and racks. The use of acceptance tools made it possible to display full information on the goods from the receipt document on the shipping documentation, taking into account the batch, batch number and quantity of the goods that were listed on the CIS balances. When the employee performed one of the receipts and recalculated the composition of the pallet or shelf, he had to compare the batch on the goods, recalculate the quantity and pay attention to how much the goods should be confirmed taking into account the batch number indicated on the shipping documentation, confirm the quantity and, if necessary, continue recalculating this goods according to another batch number. Thus, goods were started for the balance of the open warehouse, taking into account the system batches of the CIS.

To organize the exchange of data between the implemented Axelot WMS X5 and the corporate accounting and management system of the pharmacy warehouse, the Datareon MQ message queuing service was used. Integration made it possible to implement end-to-end accounting of batches of the corporate system, as well as to ensure daily comparison of the remnants of the corporate system and WMS with details up to the level of batch data.

The batch number is assigned to the CIS for each goods receipt and is a mandatory system parameter for tracking. Control actions such as blocking, quarantine, selection, reservation should be carried out at the batch level, which should be mirrored in the warehouse management system. End-to-end accounting of the batch was made, among other things, with a reserve for the future, for example, taking into account the introduction of PPE.

The organization of the warehouse operation after automation was carried out on the basis of the use of barcoding of both the products themselves and their storage places in the warehouse (bin, shelf, pallet, tray, etc.). To read barcodes, data collection terminals are used, which allow you to instantly display information on the name of the product, as well as show the remnants on it in all areas of the warehouse.

Barcodes are also used in time acceptance. The barcode employee scans on the product and the data collection terminal screen displays the planned information on the name, batch and quantity to be accepted. The employee can only compare the data on the shipping documentation with the fact and confirm it, and, if necessary, also adjust it at the shipping documentation. All information after entering data on the shipping documentation and completing the acceptance is automatically filled in the WMS and transmitted to the corporate system.

When placing an article, the system itself determines the most optimal cell, analyzing the volume, compatibility of articles and restrictions on the number of articles in one cell. WMS plans the placement so that the entire warehouse area is used rationally, while preventing potential equipment re-runs and violations of storage conditions.

The possibility of making a decision by a person is saved - an employee with rights when placing goods on different types of storage places (for example, a pallet or a box) has the ability to control placement in different types of racks (for example, place a pallet on pallet racks, and send goods from the box to shelf racks and mezzanine).

No longer need to log records, WMS automatically schedules and registers storage addresses during the item barcode scan. Manual planning is also a thing of the past, the system itself plans all activities and creates tasks for employees, showing the location of the article and, for example, the location of the subsequent placement.

After packing, each box receives its own label with counterparty and order numbers, which is printed automatically. The employee scans this label and WMS shows which cell in the shipping area to place the order in.

The warehouse manager can now see the production of each individual employee over a period and evaluate its productivity.

As a result, as a result of the introduction of Axelot WMS X5, storage accuracy has been increased, the warehouse has moved away from paper technology, employee performance accounting has been introduced, and new personnel are adapting much faster. All this has increased the quality and speed of fulfillment of orders, and the ability to conduct an inventory without stopping the warehouse with reconciliation of balances in WMS and CIS helps management to obtain up-to-date information on the state of goods. stocks