BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
FACILITY PLANNING AND DESIGN
strategicinsight
UTi Pharma knew its web of DCs could not keep up with
business. Careful planning and construction of a new facility
led to a healthy boost in productivity and left room for growth.
Care in planning yields
healthy gains
ANY TIME A RESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA CALLS ON A LOCAL PHARMACY
for a prescription medication, chances are the drug in question passed through a new
32,000-square-meter (344,445-square-foot) distribution center near Johannesburg
operated by UTi Pharma, the company that distributes 55 percent of the pharmaceuticals in that country.
The story of how that facility came to be, consolidating several other operations, is
a lesson in careful planning and execution. The process was not without hiccups—
nothing that large could be—but the initiative has proved a remarkable success for
the company.
UTi Pharma is the largest distributor of pharmaceuticals in the nation, managing
shipments to 10,000 pharmacies, 400 private hospitals, 2,600 laboratories, 6,800
retailers, 400 wholesalers, 1,900 state-operated facilities, and 840 exporters. In other
words, a vast customer base. It handles products on behalf of 41 local and multinational manufacturers of both brand name and generic products, including medical
devices and products for human and animal health. That large customer base, along
with rapid growth and the strict requirements for handling pharmaceuticals, were
proving a challenge for UTi Pharma’s existing DC network, leading the company to
begin considering significant changes in 2009. The end result was the new DC.
The Meadowview facility, as it is called, is located in Gauteng province near
Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city. The DC represents a major step forward
for UTi Pharma’s operations. The new building replaces eight of the nine DCs the
company previously operated in the region. But its importance reaches far beyond
consolidating operations. It brings together modern material handling and management techniques that allow compliance with the stringent requirements demanded
of pharmaceutical distribution. It provides the company with space to grow over the
next 10 years or so. It provides substantially faster throughput rates than the facilities it replaced while reducing manual processes and overall staffing. And it provides
greater security than the company could guarantee in its formerly scattered operations, thus reducing shrinkage. Morne van Rensburg, general manager of projects and
engineering, expects the remaining facility in the region, a cold-room operation, will
be brought under the roof of the new DC by 2017.
