Value Drug Mart 利用水平回轉式倉儲系統為供應鏈增值

Value Drug Mart Adds Value to the Supply Chain with Horizontal Carousels

在1978年,三家藥店的所有者集中他們的采購和配送能力與大型供應鏈進行競爭,雖然當時仍然保持著獨立的所有權并且開始依賴鄰近地區的社會群體。 今天, Value Drug Mart旗下已經有32家成員股東店,也即是11家 Apple Drugs 商店, 8家 Rxellence 專業藥店以及約300家附屬店, 這些都由艾伯塔省埃德蒙特的中央配送中心服務提供服務。

In 1978, thirteen pharmacy owners centralized their purchasing and distribution power to compete with the big chains, while still maintaining the spirit of independent ownership and community focus that neighborhoods had come to depend on. Today, there are 32 member shareholder stores under the Value Drug Mart banner, as well as 11 Apple Drugs stores, 8 Rxellence Professional Dispensaries, and approximately 300 affiliated stores—all served by a central distribution center in Edmonton, Alberta.

Value Drug Mart 配送中心配送店面倉儲貨物(從床上用品和肥皂到連襪褲和唇膏等所有物品)以及藥品; 在艾伯塔和大不列顛哥倫比亞地區保持著當地社區服務意識活躍和良好的傳統。

The Value Drug Mart distribution center distributes front store items (everything from bedding and soap to pantyhose and chapstick) and pharmacy items; keeping the tradition of locally-owned, community-minded service alive and well throughout Alberta and British Columbia.

隨著股東商店對其店面供應的擴大以保持競爭力, 也需要在他們的配送中心作出改變以更好地管理倉儲空間。店面儲存貨物的訂單快速地增長并且在幾個店面存在對新增長的挑戰。85000平方英尺的配送設施擁有60000平方英尺的倉庫管理著分布在多個分揀區域的18000個庫存單位，包括托盤貨架，流動式貨架，標準貨架和大型貨物區域。“我們的雇傭無法適應不斷增長的需求，” 營運經理 Dwayne Bilawchuk 講道。

With shareholder stores needing to expand their front store offerings to remain competitive, changes would also be required in their distribution center to better manage the cube.  Orders for front store items were increasing rapidly and new growth presented challenges on several fronts. The 85,000 square foot distribution facility has a 60,000 square foot warehouse that manages 18,000 SKUs spread over multiple pick zones that included pallet rack, flow rack, standard shelving and bulk areas. “We couldn’t hire fast enough to keep up with the growing demand,” said Dwayne Bilawchuk, Operations Manager.

一個自動化解決方案

An Automated Solution

為了適應增長需求，Value Drug Mart 將兩個靜止貨架替換成6臺整合了按燈揀選技術的卡迪斯水平回轉式倉儲系統。水平回轉式倉儲系統被堆疊且排列成兩個回轉區域，每個區域帶有8個位置進行成批作業。Bilawchuk已經額外增加了2個分揀位置，能夠允許10個訂單同時分揀，進一步增強了分揀生產率和訂單吞吐量。

To meet increased demand, Value Drug Mart replaced two zones of static shelving with 6 horizontal carousels integrated with pick to light technology from Kardex Remstar. The horizontal carousels were stacked and arranged in two zones of 3 carousels, each zone with an 8 position batch. Bilawchuk has since added two additional picking positions, which would allow for 10 orders to be picked at atime, further increasing pick productivity and order through-put.    

更快速的分揀…一切都加快了

Faster Picking… Much Faster

之前的貨架包括有兩個夾層，店面貨物倉儲在頂層，而藥品在底層。這是一個無紙化分揀的環境。工作人員在揀貨口分揀并使用遙控掃描器，在通道爬上爬下以執行訂單分揀。軟件用于提供分揀的邏輯順序。“我們分揀得與員工一樣快，貨架與技術允許的情況下，仍然無法達到足夠快的速度，”Bilawchuk講道。

The previous shelving consisted of 2 levels of mezzanine, with front store items stored on the top level and pharmacy items on the bottom level. It was a paperless picking environment. Workers wore pickaprons and used remote scanners, traveling up and down aisles to fulfill orders. Software was in place to provide logical picking sequences. “We were picking as fast as staff, shelving and technology would permit, but it wasn’t fast enough,” said Bilawchuk.

所有位于兩個貨架區域的10000個庫存單位向2個水平回轉式倉儲系統區域轉移。底層的回轉區域以350個訂單線每小時的分揀速度管理著3100個店面庫存單位。上層的回轉區域以575個訂單線每小時的速度管理者7100個藥品庫存單位。與之前以50個訂單線每小時的貨架速度相比，這兩個區域將分揀速度平均加快了90%。

All 10,000 SKUs were moved from the 2 shelving zones into the 2 horizontal carousel zones. The lower carousel zone manages 3,100 front store SKUs with an average pick rate of 350 lines per hour.The upper carousel zone manages 7,100 pharmacy SKUs and boasts a pick rate of 575 lines per hour. With a previous pick rate of 50 lines per hour from shelving, these two zones are averaging a 90% faster pick rate!

減少勞工  Less Labor

這樣的改變不僅使訂單分揀加快，而且對勞工的需求也減少了70%。貨架區域需要3名員工每天六小時管理每個區域。每個水平回轉式倉儲系統區域由一名員工輪流工作五小時。減少的兩個區域人員小時總數從每天36小時到每天10小時用于分揀。

Not only are orders picked faster, but the labor required has been reduced by 72%. The shelving zones required 3 people for 6 hours per day to manage each zone. Each horizontal carousel zone is managed by 1 person working a 5 hour shift. Reducing the total number of man hours for both zones from 36 hours per day to 10 hours per day of picking.

空間  Space

之前的貨架區域每層占用3900平方英尺。所有庫存單位從夾層貨架遷移進6臺水平回轉式倉儲系統中，堆疊成2個區域。每個回轉區域現在在每層占用1625平方英尺，節省2275平方英尺的地面空間—節省了58%的空間！重新空出的地面空間現在用于大型貨物的倉儲，大多數是之前被倉儲在廠區外的位置。

The previous shelving zones occupied 3,900 square feet on each level. All SKUs were moved from the mezzanine shelving into the 6 horizontal carousels, stacked to create 2 zones. Each carousel zone now occupies 1,625 square feet on each level, saving 2,275 square feet of floor space- a 58% space savings!  There covered floor space is now used for bulk goods storage, much of which was previously stored in an off site location.

精確掃描  Scanning For Accuracy

掃描器，類似于零售檢查掃描器，被安裝在每個成批作業工作站的末端。在每件貨物被放進訂單包裹之前都會被精確驗證。在合并區域檢查訂單的精確性。“我們的訂單精確度總是非常高，這項措施有助于我們維持接近完美的分揀精確度，”Bilawchuk講道。

A scanner, similar to a retail check out scanner, is mounted at each end of the batch station. Before each item is placed in the order tote it is scanned for accuracy verification. The consolidation area spot checks orders for accuracy. “Our order accuracy has always been high, these measures help us maintain near perfect pick accuracy,”says Bilawchuk.

設備流程   Facility Flow

股東商店在一天內有多個訂單。每家商店的訂單在他們被送進倉庫進行分配之前被合并為一個訂單。這樣使得配送中心按照商店進行訂單分揀，但清單是根據多個訂單進行安排。

Shareholder stores place several orders throughout the day. Orders for each store are consolidated into one order before they are sent through to the warehouse for fulfillment. This allows the distribution center to pick one order per store, but invoice it as the multiple orders that were placed.

配送中心被劃分為28個區域（9個流動貨架區域，5個大型貨物分揀區域，12個貨架區域和2個水平回轉式倉儲系統區域）。使用平行分揀策略，每個訂單被劃分進基于庫存單位的訂單指令。每個區域以該區域的庫存單位進行訂單執行并且將部分訂單送至合并。

The distribution center is divided into 28 zones (9 flow rack zones, 5 bulk picking zones, 12 shelving zones and 2 horizontal carousel zones). Using a parallel picking strategy, each order is divided up among the zones based on the SKUs the order requires. Each zone fulfills the order with the SKUs from that zone and sends the partial order to consolidation.

在9個流動貨架中的6個中的所有庫存單位使用分揀和通道式策略進行分配。訂單從一個分揀貨架中進行分揀并通往下一個流動貨架直至所有需要的庫存單位揀選完畢。其他3個流動貨架區域獨立操作。如同其他區域，流動貨架的庫存單位被送至合并處與剩余的所需庫存單位會合使訂單得以完成。

All SKUs required from 6 of the 9 flow rack zones are filled using a pick and pass strategy. Orders are picked from one flow rack zone and passed to the next flow rack zone until all of the SKUs required are collected. The other three flow rack zones are processed independently. Like all other zones, the flow rack SKUs are then sent to consolidation to meet up with the rest of the required SKUs that will complete the order.

水平回轉式倉儲系統區域的訂單所需庫存單位的命令是從公司電腦主機界面進入的的Nova庫存管理軟件發出，其管理兩個回轉區域。水平回轉式倉儲系統的操作人員首先將裝配包裹分配到批次作業工作站的位置上，每一個包裹代表一個訂單。操作人員能夠同時執行10個訂單。按下按鈕，3臺回轉系統旋轉并檢索至首個及其隨后需要分揀的庫存單位。

Orders requiring SKUs from the horizontal carousel zones are sent through an interface from the company host computer to the Nova inventory management software that manages both carousel zones. The horizontal carousel operator first assigns a shipping tote to a location on the batch station, each tote represents an order. The operator can fill up to 10 orders at one time. With the push of a button the 3 carousels spin to retrieve the first and subsequent SKU’s to be picked.

使用按燈揀選技術，操作人員被指示到水平回轉式倉儲系統中的精確單位進行分揀。燈光信號顯示了需要分揀的數量。操作人員分揀其所需數量并將它們在位于成批作業工作臺中的訂單進行分配。

Using pick to light technology, the operator isdirected to the exact cell to pick from within the horizontal carousel. The light tower displays the quantity to pick. The operator picks the quantity required and turns to distribute them among the orders on the batch station.

在成批作業工作站中的每個位置也安裝著固定的指示燈。這顯示了放置到每個訂單包裹的貨物數量。在庫存單位放置進包裹之前，操作人員使用安裝在每個成批作業工作站末端的掃描器進行庫存單位的精確掃描。當庫存單位在訂單中已分配完之后，操作人員按下確認按鈕。

Each position on the batch station is also fitted with a put light. This displays the quantity to put into each order tote. Before placing the SKU into the tote, the operator scans the SKU for accuracy using the scanner mounted at each end of the batch station. When the SKUs have been distributed among the orders, the operator pushes a confirmation button.

當操作人員在訂單中分配庫存單位時，下一臺水平回轉式倉儲系統已經自動定位至下一次分揀位，這樣幾乎消除了操作人員的等待時間。操作人員僅轉身至三臺水平回轉式倉儲系統并由按燈分揀技術指示進行下一次分揀。操作人員繼續從回轉系統中分揀并將訂單中的庫存單位進行分配直至每個訂單中需要的所有庫存單位都已被分揀完畢。

While the operator is distributing the SKUs among the orders, the next horizontal carousel has positioned itself for the next pick, virtually eliminating operator wait time. The operator simply turns back to the 3 horizontal carousels and the pick to light technology directs them to the next pick. The operator continues to pick from the carousels and distributethe SKUs among the orders until all SKUs for each order have been picked.

在每個水平回轉式倉儲系統區域完成的訂單由傳送器送至合并區，將其保留直至所有訂單需要剩余的庫存單位從其他區域送達合并處。一旦所有訂單需要的的庫存單位到達合并處，它們將被匹配并由傳送器送至裝運。

Completed orders are sent from each horizontal carousel zone via conveyor to the consolidation area where they are held until the rest of the SKUs required for the order arrive from other zones.Once all SKUs required for an order arrive at consolidation they are matched and forwarded via conveyor to shipping.

管理季節性增長

Managing Seasonal Growth

在秋季，Value Drug Mart 管理返校項目，給予學校預定兒童用品。Value Drug Mart為學校提供由學校供應的每個兒童訂單。“在沒有增加水平回轉式倉儲系統的條件下，我們無法擴展這項增長的季節性項目，” Bilawchuk講道。

In the fall, Value Drug Mart manages a back to school program allowing schools to preorder supplies for children. Value Drug Mart provides the school one order per child with the supplies requested by the school. “This is a growing seasonal program that we would not have been able expand without the addition of the horizontal carousels,” said Bilawchuk.