Material Handling & Automation for Retail & Pharmacy Distribution

Volume, Line Count & a Fixed Departure

Retail and pharmacy distribution moves enormous numbers of small items to stores on a schedule that does not move. Line counts are high, individual items are small, and the day is built backwards from when trucks have to leave.

These are the facilities most likely to run several automated systems at once: automated storage, dispensing modules, cart loading, long conveyor runs and sortation, all sequenced together by controls rather than by people.

Accuracy & the Shipping Window

The two constraints pull against each other. A pick error reaches a store shelf and, in pharmacy, has consequences beyond a credit note. Slowing down protects accuracy and threatens the departure.

Because everything is timed to that departure, a fault does not stay local. A stopped subsystem pushes work into the next wave, and the recovery window is whatever gap exists before that wave starts, which is usually less than the repair needs.

Highly Automated Buildings Fail Differently

A manual operation degrades. An automated one stops.

When picking is automated there is no crew to absorb a machine going down, and the buffer that exists between operations is measured in minutes because storing work in progress costs floor space nobody has. That is what makes controls, sensors and the handshakes between systems the highest-consequence maintenance items in this kind of building.

Automated Storage & Picking

Steel Square can service, integrate, repair, retrofit and support large ASRS environments and can provide certain smaller automated-storage systems where the application fits. Carousel and small-load storage environments can also connect into controls, pneumatic work, maintenance and modernization needs.

Pallet & Material Flow

Pallet inverters, load-transfer systems, stretch wrapping, carriage systems, conveyors and controls all play a role in how product moves through a distribution center. Steel Square can work on the individual system while also considering the equipment around it.

Lifecycle Support

Repair, preventive maintenance, parts, controls modernization, obsolete equipment support and after-hours breakdown work can keep existing systems productive without forcing unnecessary replacement.

Project Experience

Walgreens Anderson is the primary V1 project example for retail and pharmacy distribution. The Anderson scope spans receiving, storage, picking, shipping, controls and equipment protection.