teva
THE WORLD‘S LEADING GENERIC
PHARMACEUTICAL DISTRIBUTION CENTRE
Case Study
Teva UK Limited, Castleford
United Kingdom
CASE STUDY Teva UK Limited
Operating in the UK for 75 years, Teva UK Limited is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world, and undoubtedly the largest in generic products. The
company aims to have the widest product portfolio in the UK pharmaceutical industry
and to offer the advantages of speed, choice, quality and cost to a very broad nationwide customer base.
 Full case pick conveyor system
 Consolidation of sorted order cartons by destination
 Pallet conveyor feed to ASRS
 Order dispatch sort lane
 Order item checking and packing
Teva UK LIMITED
Project profile
As a manufacturer and distributor Teva UK Limited
supplies medicines to pharmacies and hospitals,
from painkillers to antibiotics, and cholesterol reducers to lifesaving medicines to fight cancer. Their
specialities are generic medicines – which are usually medicines whose patents have expired – and respiratory medicines, especially inhalers to relieve the
symptoms of asthma. They offer generic products in
almost all major therapeutic areas in a variety of dosage forms, from tablets and capsules to ointments,
creams, liquids and injectables.
Teva UK Limited supplies more packs of medicine to
the UK’s National Health Service than any other supplier and the company is part of Teva Pharmaceutical
Industries Ltd (NASDAQ: TEVA) which has 40,000
employees based around the world.
Teva‘s objectives were to increase storage capacity,
improve pick accuracy, efficiency and customer service and to reduce the labour overhead within the
distribution operation.
The design and build of a new distribution centre and
the introduction of automation to the process were
seen as being key to achieving these objectives as
well as providing the capacity to accommodate future business growth.
 Pallet racking
Schaefer pallet crane 
SSI SchAEfer solution
Teva UK Limited despatches over 4 million items
per day and to achieve this three different modes
of picking are employed. These include full pallets
selected from the Pallet Racking, full cartons from
the ASRS and single items from the Pick by Light
system. Ergonomically designed pick stations equipped with hydraulic pallet lifting devices have been
installed to help operators. Despatch method is
dependent upon order size and is determined by the
warehouse management system, which also executes volumetric calculations to determine carton
numbers and sizes per order. The picking system
also allows its operators to record product batch
changes and shipping cartons undergo automatic
weight checks and in-line shipping label application
before being sorted to shipping destination lanes
prior to despatch.
As the UK‘s leading generics manufacturer they are
constantly striving to improve their service and product offer and, in order to maintain this momentum,
the introduction of the automated materials handling
and storage systems installed by SSI Schaefer has
been regarded as vital to the company’s continued
success.
Three different Modes of Picking
Single item Picking area – Pick by Light
Full Cartons picking from the ASRS
The replenishment for the Pick by Light-equipped
Flow Racks either comes from the ASRS or the Pallet
Racking area. Pick by Light supports picking of fast
and medium moving products. The display-controlled
system guides pickers with exact position indication
and quantity to the relevant storage location. Due to
a special function it is possible to request product
replenishment in advance directly from the Pick by
Light workstation by the push of a button – via the
warehouse. The SSI Schaefer Pick by Light system allowed Teva UK Limited to optimise its picking
process and thereby strongly increased its picking
efficiency and accuracy. The order cartons are then
directed to the Handling systems area.
Automatic Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) are
an important part of a cost effective logistic chain
and allows optimised warehousing with quick transport of material and short access times. The ASRS
implemented in the Teva UK Limited facility consists
of 3 single mast units and transfers goods coming
from the pallet racking zone to the handling systems
area. This highly dynamic pallet storing system allows the storage of pallets single- or double-deep.
Fast moving full cartons are stored palletised in the
ASRS for quick access and retrieval.
Full Pallets Picking from the Pallet Racking
All other products are stored in the Pallet Racking
zone. Fully picked pallets go straight from the pallet
racking area to the Shipping department.
CUSTOMER
STATEMENT
SSI Schaefer were able
to visualise our needs
from the outset focussing
on our ultimate goal –
to improve upon on our
customer service levels
and product offering.
Our new fully automated
storage and distribution
facility has enabled us to
easily reduce our labour
overheads by moving
from a three-shift operation to two shifts. Perhaps
most importantly, the increased storage capacity
has allowed us to handle
immediate needs but will
also accommodate future
growth in the business.
CASE STUDY Teva UK Limited
Facts and Figures
System key figures
Warehouse Size in m2
13,000
Picking system Size in m2
9,000
Products (SKU’s)
840
Totes/day
8,500 Carton/day
Degree of Automation (%)
55%
Working Hours/Day
16 hours
Number of Shifts/Day
2
Scope of supply and services
Conveying system
Pallet Conveyor
Roller, chain and turntables and shuttle car
Tote Convenyor
Belt, roller, 78 sort lanes
Waste Conveyor
Picking systems
Pick by Light
Carton live storage
Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS)
13 pick stations
910 locations
Number of cranes
3
Number of locations
3,500 (single deep)
Load units of Pallets
1200 x 1000 mm
Goods-to-man carton picking system
with hydraulic pallet lifts
System components
Print and apply labelling system workstations
Pallet Racking
Footprint 125 x 53 metres
Height
12 metres
Storage locations 21,000
Software solution
Warehouse Control System (WCS)
SSI Schaefer Convey
Nr. 251010uk. © SSI Schaefer Graz
Printed in Austria. We assume no responsibility for printing errors.
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