centaur932.jpg“After automation, we soon added 25% to our throughput with 40% less staff.” So says Morley Snook, Head of Operations at leading veterinary products wholesaler Centaur Services, which is operating a new automated order picking solution supplied by KNAPP. Established in 1964 in Castle Cary in Somerset, where the firm is still based, Centaur Services began as a buying group for six local vets, purchasing drugs through their local pharmacist. From its turnover then of just £100,000, the company has grown to sales of some £140 million per annum.

Growth forces automation
The firm’s success brought its own problems, however, as Centaur struggled to meet increasing demand and to fit any more expansion onto its Castle Cary premises. “We had no option but to automate,” explains Morley Snook. “Prior to automation, we could not grow the business any further on this site. We had reached a limit on the volumes that we could throughput. Putting on more staff gave negative results as they were literally falling over each other.” The solution was to achieve optimum efficiency from the space and resources of the existing site by harnessing the power of automation.

Traceability is paramount
Today’s veterinary practices demand rapid supply of a diverse range of products – including vaccines, medicines, pet foods and consumable goods ranging from hypodermic needles to paper towels – with which they treat both large animals (farm stock) and small animals (household pets). With vets needing to replenish their stocks daily, the veterinary wholesale business is very similar to the pharmaceutical supply operations that service human patients. Product traceability is imperative and automating its processes has helped to ensure this objective is met. Adds Morley Snook, “As many of our products enter the human food chain, product traceability is a non-negotiable element of our business and automation has helped us to achieve the required goals.”

Varied handling needs
The SKUs handled by Centaur vary in size from a bone screw to a pallet load of pet food. To automate the order picking of such varied types, sizes and weights of products needed several different, but compatible, solutions. Centaur Services chose KNAPP as its automated equipment supplier, as the firm was able to offer the wide range of hardware and software solutions necessary. KNAPP was contracted to supply not only the system hardware but also the Warehouse Management System (WMS) to ensure full system compatibility.

Intelligent software
Centaur carries some 8,500 stock lines, with as many lines again available on special order. The daily average is some 20,000 order lines, equating to approximately 50,000 individual items. Orders from vets are received during the day by telephone, bespoke electronic ordering systems or via web-based ordering. Picking of the orders does not start until 6pm so that all orders can be consolidated and picked in one run. This allows veterinary practice managers to order at any time during the day, making Centaur an extension to their own stockrooms. In fact, veterinary surgeons can also call Centaur direct – say, by mobile ‘phone from a remote farm – and add an urgent requirement to the practice’s order, without involving surgery staff. Incoming orders are collected, amalgamated and processed by an SAP software system that communicates directly to KNAPP’s KiSoft WMS, which manages the warehouse processes. The software splits all orders into small items that can be picked automatically or semi-automatically and those items that are normally shipped on a pallet or similar unit load. The software also calculates how many unit loads will be needed to contain the whole order. All smaller items are picked into lidded plastic totes of a single size. Over 90% of orders are delivered by Centaur’s own road vehicles and, for these, red totes are used. For items that will be delivered by third party distribution, snug-fit cardboard cartons are placed into grey totes to enable the orders to be picked using the intelligent conveyor system – this inner cardboard carton will later form the delivery unit for the third party distribution.

Automatic picking
Fast-moving, smaller product lines – mainly items such as medicines in small boxes, bottles and cartons – are automatically picked onto a stepped belt system which is in two distinct parts. At the beginning of the belt, fast-moving items not suitable for fully automatic picking are picked from adjacent live storage systems and fed to KNAPP’s MPS semi-automatic picking system. The picking is controlled by the use of terminals strapped to each picker’s lower arm, with a laser bar code scanner fitted to the index finger. All product locations are bar coded and each picking function is controlled and verified by the arm-worn terminal. At the MPS, picked items are fed by hand into bins, as specified by light signals. The bins have drop bottoms which discharge onto the central belt. When the part of the order that is housed in the MPS is complete, all the bins containing that order discharge in sequence onto the stepped belt. This belt – with its ordered goods – then passes under a KNAPP automatic ‘A’ frame order picking machine. Small items – mainly in regular shaped cartons that are suitable for fully automatic picking – are ejected by the ‘A’ frame onto the same part of the belt as the MPS discharged its items onto, thus consolidating the picked items from the ‘A’ frame and the MPS. The stepped belt then discharges all these picked items into a plastic tote, which passes onto an intelligent conveyor system that transports the tote only to those other picking stations that hold the rest of the order.

The conveyor pushes the totes onto sidings at the required pick stations. Here, fast-moving stock is held in gravity-fed locations above the conveyor system, whilst slower-moving lines are picked from adjacent static shelving. The picking is again controlled by arm-worn terminals with finger-mounted scanners. This equipment essentially leaves the picker with the dexterity of two free hands for picking. Along the path of the intelligent conveyor are dedicated stations that hold controlled drugs, which have pertinent security and control systems allied to the product being picked. Once a full order has been picked, the red totes receive relevant paper advice notes detailing product, quantity and batch details when relevant; their lids are closed and the totes are strapped ready for shipping. The grey totes are fed to sidings where the inner carton is removed and taped, ready for third party shipping.

Cold storage products, mainly animal vaccines, are stored in a separate temperature-controlled store and are picked using the same technology of RF arm-worn terminals. After picking these orders, they are placed into a holding area within the cold store for later loading onto the delivery vehicles. Each vehicle is equipped with its own temperature-controlled storage system to maintain the product environment throughout the delivery chain.

Voice-directed picking
Larger items in the warehouse are stored on pallets in pallet racking, with staff using forklifts and trolleys to pick them onto shipping pallets using KNAPP’s pick-by-voice system. This ensures total accuracy and leaves both the hands of the picker free to handle heavier items such as bags of pet foods.

Problem-solving approach
Centaur developed a good relationship with KNAPP during the project, with the two companies working together to solve the inevitable teething issues. “The installation of the system was not without its problems,” states Barry Moorhouse, Project Manager for Centaur. “But if we had to do all this again, we would certainly use KNAPP. There were issues not all in KNAPP’s control but, as main contractor, they stayed with us all the way. It never came to looking at the fine print of the contract – KNAPP remained as a problem solver that we could work with.”

Knapp UK Ltd
Tel: 01844 202 149
Email: david.james@knapp.com
www.knapp.com

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