Automated Cold Storage Distribution Centre for a Leading Pharmaceutical Company

Automated Cold Storage for a Leading Pharmaceutical Company

At its Ahmedabad facility, a leading pharmaceutical and life sciences company partnered with Addverb to design and deliver high-density storage and retrieval inside a cold storage environment, with reliable, accurate pallet handling for a broad pharmaceutical SKU portfolio. Addverb deployed a Four-Way Pallet Shuttle Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) for temperature-sensitive, finished goods.

Objective

The company needed an automated cold storage system that could maximize warehouse capacity without compromising the safe handling of temperature-sensitive finished goods. That meant optimizing vertical space utilization, increasing storage density, and improving throughput while also reducing pilferage and strengthening inventory traceability.

Manual handling was the core constraint. Every human touchpoint in a cold chain environment carries cross-contamination risk, so the solution needed to cut manual intervention wherever possible while still hitting dispatch timelines with accurate, timely pallet retrieval. The company also set a firm throughput target 50 pallets per day within an 8-hour operating window and needed the system to support a wide and varying pharmaceutical SKU portfolio without losing storage density.

Solutions

Addverb implemented an Automated Storage and Retrieval System built to operate inside a 2–8°C controlled cold storage environment. The available footprint was limited to 16 (L) x 14 (W) x 13 (H) m, so Addverb proposed a Four-Way Pallet Shuttle system specifically to maximize pallet positions within that constrained space. The automated cold storage system holds 816 pallet positions across multiple levels, with Four-Way Pallet Shuttles handling intelligent storage and retrieval based on real-time dispatch requirements. The Warehouse Execution System (WES) orchestrates the movement and execution of these tasks across the system.

The ASRS is designed to accommodate two distinct automated pallet storage configurations, which gives the facility the flexibility to handle varying product loads without sacrificing storage density. By automating pallet movement end to end, the solution removes most of the manual handling that would otherwise be required in a temperature-controlled environment – cutting cross-contamination risk while keeping cold chain operations consistent and repeatable.

Improvement in Key Results (KPIs)

The extensive solution, incorporating a diverse range of robots to automate warehouse tasks, boasts unparalleled and impressive:

Provided 800+ pallet positions in 224 sq. m area.

Achieved a throughput of 20 pallets per hour, with efficient storage and handling of 200–250 pharmaceutical SKUs.

Maximized vertical warehouse utilization across 8 storage levels.

Reduced manual handling and human touchpoints, minimizing the risk of cross-contamination.

Products

Our extensive product portfolio helps us design customised solutions for varying industry requirements.

Cruiser 360

4 Way Pallet Shuttle

Concinity

Warehouse Execution

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