PHOENIX benefits from automated pick-to-prescription logistics

KNAPP has partnered with PHOENIX Healthcare Distribution to fulfil patients’ repeat prescription orders from PHOENIX’s facility in Runcorn.

PHOENIX is utilising KNAPP’s ‘Pack2Patient’ service to automate its Runcorn facility.

The solution which features five Pack2Patient lines, which was initially instantiated in the Runcorn distribution centre in 2019, had been successful, which led to the installation of an additional line at the site.

The Runcorn facility is one of the UK’s largest automated pharmacies and provides PHOENIX with a ‘hub and spoke’ solution for the purpose of repeat prescriptions, with an average of 1.7 million items a month being processed for pharmacies across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The Pack2Patient technology is designed to meet various regulatory requirements, including the Falsified Medicines Directive.

“Our KiSoft Vision image-recognition technology enables items to be scanned with comprehensive data capture for lot and serial number tracking”, said Phil Houghton, Business Development Director for KNAPP UK.

Products at the distribution centre are picked automatically by KNAPP’s Central Belt System (A-frame automatic picking machine) and are conveyed to a workstation where an operator removes them from the tote, placing them on a conveyor belt.

Next, a verification step occurs, were labels on the products are checked, with any non-verified products diverted to be manually quality checked.

The medications are then automatically sorted into patient orders by the system through diversion into one of a series of conveyor lanes.

KNAPP has also installed ‘pick-to-light’ walls in a semi-automated ‘Sort & Pack’ area, where orders for items not suitable for handling by the Pack2Patient automation are consolidated. These goods are scanned on one side of the wall and placed in the illuminated location before being picked by the worker on the other side of the wall.