2. The Perfect Prescription
Benefits achieved
When you think about hospitals, the emergency ward is the mission critical point. • The McKesson facility ships
But when you think about being a pharmaceutical company the distribution center is orders at rapid speed.
the most critical point. McKesson, the world’s largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, was • The facility is super energy
efficient.
concerned about the growing population being served out of their facility in Florida.
The perfect prescription was the design of the new Lakeland facility. The need to ship • ROI was obtained in less than
12 months.
rapidly, accurately and economically may be a conflict but the goal was accomplished
and the facility is exceeding expectations.
Florida’s population is growing at a critical rate and many of the residents are senior
citizens who take an average of seven medications per day. McKesson ships prescription
medicines, over-the-counter drugs and health and beauty aids for hospitals, drug stores
and retail chains throughout all of Florida. The system needed to be designed with
maximum throughput but yet with flexibility of growth for the growing population.
The facility design is unique and not just a run of the mill design. Besides having the
normal full case, piece picking and full pallet requirements, this McKesson facility also
had drugs that needed to be refrigerated, security drugs that needed to be in a locked
cage and secure items required by the FDA to be in a vault. When order picking is
complete all the pieces of an order in all the different pick areas need to come together.
This was accomplished with an Intelligrated® conveyor system. The orders are then
combined at the shipping dock where the labels are scanned and merged. IntelliSort®
The McKesson facility is operating six days a week because most of their customers
do not store much inventory and use this new Lakeland facility as their warehouse Industry
storage system. With over 45,000 stock keeping units stored in this 225,000 square foot Pharmacuticals
distribution center, McKesson is operating with a lean staff. “It was important that the
design flowed in a way to get maximum throughput but still give the employees great
productivity enhancements,” said Craig Stewart, of FCP Integrated Systems, the system
integrator for McKesson and an Intelligrated® partner.
ROI Achieved Faster Than Expected!
McKesson installed Intelligrated’s ® new MDR conveyor. Because this is smart conveyor
and only runs when needed instead of continuously, the added benefit is a reduction
of power. This reduction of power, along with other benefits already expected, allowed
McKesson to receive a six month return on investment.
MDR Belted Incline
The system is designed to activate individual conveyor zones only when a product is
present. At other times, the rollers shut off, which substantially reduces electrical needs
and decreases noise levels.
www.intelligrated.com 2
3. picked. McKesson uses a pick and pass order picking
“The sorter is so methodology with conveyor transporting totes from
quiet that I can zone to zone.
stand next to
it and still have There are verification stations that digitally record the
a cell phone contents of each outgoing carton and then they are
conversation.” put on a sliding shoe sorter which has been designed
to conserve energy and lower noise levels within a
Doug Pace distribution center. The orders are then sorted to one
General Manager of ten shipping docks. The replenishment of the carton
McKesson, flow rack was designed by FCP to include a conveyor so
Lakeland that the product is delivered to the stocker reducing
walk time and touch times. The stocker has a specially
designed step ladder that arches over the conveyor to
reach the top of the rack to replenish.
2004 Modern Materials
Handling Productivity This system is using MDR conveyor which saved
Award Winner – McKesson the cost of 147 drive motors. The MDR
Warehousing conveyor is easy to repair in addition to being the most
energy efficient conveyor in the industry. The decrease
in AC units is estimated between 30-70% depending
on volumes. When the facility is at full capacity and
speed, this is a huge savings for McKesson.
Components Of The System Partners In Success
When an order is received in the new McKesson Intelligrated’s distributor, FCP Integrated Systems
state-of-the-art facility the message is sent to the order (www.fcpis.com), worked with McKesson to design a
picker via a wireless terminal. Picking occurs at several system that would enhance their throughput and give
different places in the warehouse. Messages are sent them flexibility and the ability to respond quickly.
to the order pickers in a two level pick module where
over-the-counter and health and beauty aids are “The McKesson team was very concerned about
customer satisfaction, speed, accuracy and throughput,
which were all must requirements. Intelligrated®
worked with us to help design a solution that will
serve McKesson well into the future,” said Craig
Stewart, President, FCP.
Intelligrated ® Motor Driven Roller
www.intelligrated.com 3
