The Challenge
Finding a Solution to Adapt To and Support Future Growth
API’s NSW distribution warehouse was 18 years old, and the technology was making it
difficult to keep up with customer demands. API wanted to develop a World’s Best Practice
facility and felt that going wireless would allow them to achieve their supply chain
objectives: fulfilling service obligations, supply chain cost reductions and ROI.
API decided the best solution was to build a new facility, and use it as a model for the
rest of their DCs. They believed that a highly automated DC would provide the best
results for accuracy, speed and cost-per-item, as well as provide them with the capacity
to support business growth over 20 years.
The pharmacy market is extremely time sensitive. Urgent orders have to be delivered
within a couple of hours of API receiving the order, so API ships orders via couriers and a
number of owner drivers. API delivers pharmaceuticals to more than 90% of Australian retail
pharmacies. The timely delivery of medicines is critical to ensuring that the community
can access life-saving or health stabilizing treatment from their local pharmacy.