Sinopharm Upgrades Supply Chain Systems With Manhattan Associates

Sinopharm Group's distribution centre (DC) in Hunan, China has successfully upgraded its supply chain technology platform with the latest version of Manhattan Associates' Warehouse Management system (WMS).

Sinopharm expects the system, renowned for enabling flawless order fulfilment and optimising warehouse processes, will play a vital supporting role in helping it achieve its target of RMB 10 billion in revenue in the next five years.

As its products directly relate to public health and safety, the pharmaceutical industry has some of the most exacting and complicated logistics requirements including strict lot control, regulatory mandates, requirements on storage temperature and rapid turnover of inventory. In recent years there has also been an increased focus on lowering distribution costs to reduce drug prices in order to solve accessibility and pricing issues for the general public. The result of these combined pressures is an industry that has become particularly demanding in terms of the type of warehouse and distribution management solutions it needs.

As China's largest pharmaceuticals distributor "the third largest globally" Sinopharm has business operations serving the whole of China, and has invested nearly RMB 200 million in its Hunan distribution centre, which opened in May this year.

Since implementing Manhattan Associates' WMS, Sinopharm is now able to categorise products and manage storage requirements to meet different manufacturers' needs, which is helping make order picking more efficient and optimising operating flow.

It also has the ability to analyse the performance of the warehouse and can identify areas where productivity and service level improvements can be made. Sinopharm estimates the enhanced capabilities offered by the new system will deliver productivity improvements of up to 30 percent.

The WMS upgrade will also enable the company to manage the increasing volume of stock it is handling, reduce overall distribution costs for manufacturing customers, and provide them with timely, accurate and high-quality distribution services.

In addition, Sinopharm is benefiting from the software's reliable tracking and traceability capabilities, enabling the distributor to assist the government departments it currently works with in regulating the pharmaceutical industry, and assuring safe drug use.

"One of our biggest challenges was ensuring our distribution infrastructure could keep up with the pace of growth of the business," said Yang Kaiwen, general manager of Sinopharm Group.

"We needed a system that could support rapid volume expansion at the same time as facilitating operational efficiency improvements and allowing us to keep upwith the industry's changing regulations. With the implementation of Manhattan's latest warehouse management system, we have been able to achieve our supply chain optimisation and industry compliance objectives whilst maintaining our position as market leader."

"China's pharmaceutical market is projected to become one of the world's largest. That means distributors' supply chains need to become increasingly sophisticated to cope with bigger volumes and be aligned with evolving international standards and local regulations," said Jeff Baum, senior vice president, International, at Manhattan Associates.

"Over the years we've invested heavily in our Warehouse Management system to ensure it meets the specific needs of China's pharmaceutical industry and we look forward to continuing to support Sinopharm in its quest for continued growth."