New facility is the largest at-Home Solutions
has built to date, set to accommodate continued business and home
healthcare industry growth
DUBLIN,
Ohio, June 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardinal
Health (NYSE: CAH) announced today its plans to build a new
distribution center in the Greenville,
South Carolina, area, to support its at-Home Solutions
business, a market-leading home healthcare medical supplies
provider serving people with chronic and serious health conditions
in the United States.
At approximately 350,000 square feet, the new building will
provide at-Home Solutions with the space and automation it needs to
serve its existing customers and patients while allowing for
business expansion.
"I am thrilled about this new space, which is the second
building we've built from the ground up inside of two years – and
the largest building at-Home Solutions has ever opened to date,"
said Rob Schlissberg, president,
at-Home Solutions. "This announcement is a testament to the growth
that we're seeing as a business and across the industry. Over a
little more than a decade, we've grown from serving about 1 million
customers annually to more than 4 million – and with that growth,
we need more space to meet customer demands efficiently and
quickly."
The new facility is at-Home Solutions 11th
distribution center nationwide, estimated to bring up to 200 job
opportunities to the Greenville
region over the next two years.
While the distribution center has the capability to support all
50 states, its primary focus will be customers located in the
Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri and Louisiana. Once operational, it will ship
approximately 8,000 packages per day directly to patient homes. The
business currently ships approximately 55,000 packages per day from
its 10 sites.
Advanced automation and robotics enhance new
facility
Advanced automation technology and robotics within
the facility, including outbound conveyor automation and
state-of-the-art warehouse management systems, will further
increase inventory capacity and improve service levels for the
business so the right products can be at the right place at the
right time.
This will be the second Cardinal Health distribution center to
feature AutoStore empowered by Swisslog, the fastest order
fulfillment system per square foot in the market. The AutoStore
solution, optimized by Swisslog's SynQ software, employs autonomous
robots that move on top of an aluminum cubic grid to continuously
pick up, rearrange and deliver storage bins from the grid directly
to connected workstations for order picking and replenishment. The
solution combines robotics with artificial intelligence to optimize
inventory storage space and accuracy, increase employee
productivity and drive efficiencies within daily movement of
product. Specific to the new Greenville distribution center, it will
provide more than 290,000 cubic feet of storage for over 13,000
SKUs with 76 robots, eight picking stations and three replenishment
stations supporting nearly 70,000 bin storage locations.
Additionally, the facility will feature two of the world's first
fully automated erected box systems, called the Packsize
X5®. Each system produces 600 ready-to-pack, right-sized
erected boxes per hour, bringing more speed to order
fulfillment.
"These technologies provide us with better inventory accuracy,
improve the quality in which we pick, pack and ship orders, and
enhance employee safety and experience within the warehouse. They
also attract a uniquely skilled workforce that will augment our
operations, which is absolutely critical to our success as a
business," said Mike DeSimpelaere,
vice president of network operations, at-Home Solutions.
Construction on the new facility will begin this summer; it's
estimated to be fully operational within 18 to 24 months. Stay
updated on career opportunities at the site at
cardinalhealth.com/careers.
About Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health is a
distributor of pharmaceuticals, a global manufacturer and
distributor of medical and laboratory products, and a provider of
performance and data solutions for health care facilities. With 50
years in business, operations in more than 30 countries and
approximately 46,500 employees globally, Cardinal Health is
essential to care. Information about Cardinal Health is available
at cardinalhealth.com.
Contacts
Media: Cari
Wildasinn, cari.wildasinn@cardinalhealth.com and
614.757.8287
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SOURCE Cardinal Health