Product sector: Pharmaceutical
Place: Rijeka - Croatia
J.G.L. d.d. is the first completely private pharmaceutical joint stock company in Croatia; the company also operates internationally with 160 brands and 460 products, especially sterile products such as eye drops, solutions, drops and nose sprays. Faced with remarkable production growth, in terms of both volume and product types, and driven by the desire to penetrate new markets, the company decided to expand its structure by adding new quality control labs, new research and development areas, and increasing the space for the storage of finished products.
After the first automatic storage system built in 2015 and designed for the production department, the collaboration between J.G.L. d.d. and the Wipro Ferretto continued with the construction of the new system for raw materials and finished products ready for shipment. Equipped with two satellite stacker cranes, the self-supporting automatic storage system guarantees a controlled temperature of +15° to +25 and a relative humidity that can be set between 40% and 60%. With a height of 22.5 meters, the system has a footprint of 3,000 square meters and a storage capacity of 15,500 pallets.
The new storage system is located 3 km from the production facility. The transport of unit loads is managed with the pharmaceutical company's semi-trailers, which are equipped with roller conveyors for the automatic unloading of the pallets from the truck directly into the structure, with no need for further operations.
After checking weight, size and barcodes, a Fast Ring shuttle circuit transfers the pallets inside the storage system and managesthe outbound unit loads to be loaded on the trucks for shipping.
The preparation of multi-SKU pallets is carried out on a specific manual picking station.
These are certainly critical prerequisites for storage systems intended to be used in the pharmaceutical sector. During the design phase, the Wipro Ferretto technical department sized the shelving in order to incorporate the air conditioning system and ensure the proper control of temperature as well as to accommodate the sprinkler fire-prevention system. Particular attention was also paid to safety, adapting the system to local regulations; for this purpose, ad hoc solutions were developed to guarantee additional emergency exits. The 4 entrance and exit gates were also equipped with roller shutters and EI-120 fire doors.
The new logistics system has fully met the needs of the customer: in fact, it has increased the space for the storage of finished products and raw materials in view of the expected growth. The new storage system guarantees the maximum automation of all flows and activities within the structure, increasing safety for both operators and products. The automatic management of order preparation and shipping has also significantly reduced errors, ensuring real-time inventory control and optimizing energy consumption. Environmentally friendly photovoltaic panels allow autonomous operation, with zero CO2 emissions.