Unique solution for warehouse location marking shoots up productivity at Solvent by 16%

ABOUT THE CUSTOMER

The Solvent Group of Companies is a purely Czech company, which operates as a wholesale drugstore and also operates two retail drugstore chains under the brands TETA drogerie and TOP drogerie, a chain of pharmacies TETA lékárna and online pharmacies SLEKY.cz and Apotek.cz. As a wholesaler and distributor of drugstore goods from key manufacturers, it supplies 5,500 retail units.

The history of the company dates back to 1992 and since then it has risen to the position of the largest distributor and retailer of drugstore goods in the Czech Republic with a turnover of over CZK 8 billion and more than 3,000 employees. The headquarters and logistics centre of Solvent ČR, s. r. o. is located in Šestajovice in Central Bohemia.

SITUATION BEFORE THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

Due to the changeover to the new managed warehouse system, the warehouse in Šestajovice had to be completely relabelled with new barcodes. Due to the high level of flexibility and many years of experience in this sector, Solvent turned to our sister company KODYS, spol. s r.o.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Comprehensive marking of the warehouse, warehouse positions (durable marking of floors, racks - window, pallet, floor zones, pallets, racks, etc.
• Proper functionality of the WMS system with barcodes
• Instant overview of the warehouse (streamlining the process, measuring warehousemen's performance) in conjunction with the WMS
• Acceleration of the logistics process (labels + terminals + warehousemen's work)
• Avoiding errors and increasing warehousemen's productivity
• Corporate cost savings associated with reduced administration, simplification, clarification and transparency

SOLUTION

We used the most durable labels that are successfully used especially in the field of pallet, packaging, shelf and floor marking. For floors, we use three-layer robust 250 micron polycarbonate labels that are extremely durable due to the printing on the reverse side of the material, which protects the entire top polycarbonate layer. A very strong adhesive ensures adhesion to the concrete floor. The labels are designed to simplify and speed up the work of warehouse staff by the appropriate graphic placement of the text together with the barcode.

Czech KODYS has also designed a unique solution for marking warehouse locations with special pre-printed multi-level labels for pallet racks and rack bridges. The entire rack column is identified by a single multilevel label placed on the first rack beam at a convenient height for barcode scanning (usually at the warehouseman's eye level).

There are several barcodes on the label and each barcode identifies one tier of the rack. All floors are also marked with the appropriate colour corresponding to this multi-coloured label. Digitally printed polypropylene films with a matt polypropylene lamination combined with a thicker adhesive were used for both the shelves and the racks.

PVC boards were used to mark the zones on the poles and dispatch gates for loading and unloading trucks, with a durable A4 yellow polypropylene label to enhance its visibility.

In addition to consumables, the warehousemen were also equipped with durable hardware - mobile terminals, barcode scanners, label printers and also suitable peripherals - wireless network to ensure efficient functioning of the managed warehouse.

THE RESULT IN THE EYES OF THE CUSTOMER

"Thanks to the high quality durable signage and the supplied HW from KODYS, our overall productivity has increased by 16% between January 2018 and July 2019. A total of 1,345 floor labels and 60,000 shelf and rack locations were delivered. The project lasted 4 months. With the onset of the warehouse modernization, the new employees are able to work up to our desired efficiency in about a week, which significantly impacts the company's economic indicators. We can recommend cooperation with KODYS to everyone."

Petr Filek
LC Operations Director