Nomeco A/S - Denmark's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler - has improved efficiency and quality at its warehouse in Odense. By using picking trolleys with integrated truck terminal and a Put-To-Light quality system from Tecsys, it is possible to pick several orders at the same time.
Daily life has become easier at Nomeco’s warehouse in Odense after the new picking trolley rolled in the door. Now all the work of picking orders is done fully electronically. Where previously it was only possible to handle one order at a time with paper picking lists and a pencil was the most effective means of control, warehouse operators now use a solution from Tecsys.
“By switching to a more modern solution from Tecsys, we have achieved a great improvement at the warehouse in Odense. Every day we pick around 7,500 order lines in Odense, and we have measured a 15% improvement in efficiency while quality has improved significantly,” explains Nomeco’s project manager Thomas de Krak.
Nomeco’s picking trucks are equipped with six boxes that can handle one or more orders simultaneously, and using the truck terminal and the Put-To-Light lamp/button control, the goods are placed in the right customer box. The solution – and the Intermec CV30 truck terminals – is supplied by Tecsys and is fully integrated with Nomeco’s Astra ordering system on AS/400.
Reduces errors and stress
The picking list is automatically transferred to the Intermec truck terminal when a warehouse operator needs to pick goods from the warehouse – and terminals display one picking line at a time in the order that provides the shortest route. Once an item is found, it is scanned to make sure it is the right item. A light then goes on next to the box in which the order is to be placed – and once that’s done, the warehouse clerk finishes by pressing a button next to the box. The lamp goes out and the terminal shows the next pick line.
The improvement in quality has been significant, and Nomeco has gone from around 4 per mille errors in picking to around 1.3 per mille before the double check:
“The picking trolley with Put-To-Light is an efficient and safe picking method. It is of course much more difficult to make mistakes with this system. And for us it means a lot that customers get a good service. At the same time, it is less stressful for our employees, who also do not face the same risk of making minor mistakes during busy periods. All in all, we are very happy with the solution,” Thomas de Krak explains.
Tecsys solution for the rest of Nomeco
Nomeco’s warehouse in Odense is the company’s smallest – there are two other larger warehouses in Aarhus and Aalborg which have also implemented the solution, and a similar solution with terminals is now to be implemented at the company’s warehouse in Copenhagen. And Thomas de Krak expects the good results in efficiency and quality to hold the same standard at larger warehouses.
Thomas de Krak also explains that when Nomeco chose Tecsys as a supplier, it was crucial to be able to get state-of-the-art technology at a competitive price.
“At Tecsys, we are obviously very pleased that Nomeco chose to work with us on this solution. We have shown that we could rise to the task and deliver a solution that was otherwise not on the market. At the same time, we see great potential for expanding this type of solution with additional functionality, such as voice picking,” says CEO Klaus Juhl, Tecsys.