Automated AS/RS + 4-Way Shuttle Racking Solution for Pharmaceutical Warehousing

Helping a fast-growing leading global pharmaceutical manufacturer maximize storage capacity, improve inventory accuracy, meet strict pharmaceutical regulatory compliance standards, and prepare for future production expansion—without increasing the original warehouse building footprint.

Global pharmaceutical production demand keeps expanding year by year, bringing stricter operational requirements for pharmaceutical logistics warehouses. Manufacturers are confronted with dual pressures: boosting storage bearing capacity and complying with rigorous industry regulatory standards. Continuous expansion of product SKUs, mandatory full batch traceability rules, and accelerating inventory turnover rates have rendered traditional manual warehouse operation modes inefficient and risky in compliance control.

Our customer, a well-known global pharmaceutical manufacturer, maintained rapid business scale expansion. The original warehouse hit its maximum storage load limit, and manual forklift handling became a core operational bottleneck. Meanwhile, the factory had no extra land available to build new warehouse areas. The client urgently required a tailor-made intelligent warehousing system that could sharply lift storage density, realize precise inventory whole-process control, satisfy pharmaceutical zoning and anti-cross-contamination compliance rules, and reserve scalable space to match long-term production growth—all based on the existing warehouse building without expanding its floor area.

1.Severe warehouse capacity shortage

The client’s business volume grew rapidly, and the original warehouse storage and goods in/out throughput capacity could not keep pace with production demands, requiring a large-capacity system with scalable potential for future growth.

2.Rigorous pharmaceutical industry regulatory compliance standards

Pharmaceutical warehousing enforces strict rules on batch independent management, product zone segregation, cross-contamination prevention and full life-cycle inventory traceability. Conventional manual warehouses faced prominent compliance risks including inventory confusion, human operation errors and mixed storage of different batches, calling for standardized zoning and automated batch management functions.

3.Zero room for warehouse facility expansion

Land and building reconstruction were strictly restricted; the core goal was to fully tap the vertical space of the existing plant, avoid new construction investment, and shorten the project delivery cycle.

4.Low efficiency and poor accuracy of manual operation

Traditional forklift manual handling could not meet the pharmaceutical industry’s high standards for goods access speed, picking accuracy and on-site operation safety. The client expected full automation to cut human intervention and stabilize inbound & outbound operational efficiency.

All pain points were interrelated: the enterprise needed to store more goods, manage inventory accurately, speed up storage and retrieval, and ensure safe compliant operation, while controlling land and construction costs at the same time. Only professional integrated engineering design capabilities could satisfy all composite demands simultaneously.

Why Everunion Recommended a Hybrid AS/RS + 4-Way Shuttle Solution

Everunion’s professional engineering team carried out in-depth research on the client’s building conditions, production workflows and regulatory constraints, and finally designed a hybrid high-density storage system combining AS/RS Crane System and 4-Way Shuttle Racking.

This integrated solution organically combines the vertical space utilization advantage of high-rise AS/RS cranes and the multi-directional flexible horizontal access capability of four-way shuttles, realizing ultra-high-density storage, free multi-directional movement of equipment inside racks, modular scalable architecture, independent zoning of different inventory categories, and comprehensive improvement of overall warehouse operation efficiency. It perfectly solves the multiple bottlenecks of space shortage, compliance management and low manual efficiency faced by pharmaceutical enterprises.

Complete Engineering Implementation Solution

Step 1: Warehouse Survey & Workflow & Constraint Analysis

At the initial stage of the project, Everunion dispatched a professional team to conduct comprehensive on-site survey work, covering building structure, available clear height, floor load-bearing capacity, fire protection safety specifications, pharmaceutical classified storage and zoning requirements, and existing inbound/outbound operation workflows.

The team sorted out all restrictive conditions of the warehouse, confirmed the maximum usable vertical height, fire compartment layout and product storage zoning standards, and laid an accurate data foundation for the subsequent customized system design.

Step 2: Intelligent System Design & Engineering Planning

Based on all survey data and the client’s production & compliance demands, the design team took the 21-meter high-rise AS/RS crane system as the main structural framework, matched with 7.3-meter deep four-way shuttle racking as the core storage unit.

The team completed precise position planning for all 11,630 pallet storage locations, realized independent partition management of different product categories and batches in accordance with pharmaceutical regulatory requirements, and reserved modular expansion interfaces in the overall layout to support the client’s medium and long-term business capacity growth. Meanwhile, the overall linkage logic of WMS warehouse management system and automated equipment control system was preset in the design scheme.

Step 3: Precision Manufacturing & Full System Integration

After the design drawing was finalized, Everunion launched standardized precision manufacturing of core equipment including stacker cranes, four-way shuttles and rack structural components. All production links adopted strict quality control standards to guarantee structural stability, operation precision and intrinsic safety of equipment.

In parallel with equipment production, the team completed the docking and joint debugging of the WMS system and the equipment control system in advance, realizing seamless coordination of storage location management, intelligent task scheduling and automatic equipment execution, laying the groundwork for efficient on-site construction.

Step 4: On-site Installation, Full Commissioning & Project Acceptance

After all equipment was delivered to the project site, Everunion’s construction team finished rack assembly, crane and shuttle installation, and whole-set control system debugging in accordance with the agreed construction schedule.

No-load and full-load simulated operation tests were carried out repeatedly to verify all core performance indicators such as goods access accuracy, equipment operation speed and safety interlock protection functions, ensuring all parameters fully meet the design standards before formal system launch. The team accompanied the client to complete all acceptance procedures and handed over complete operation and maintenance documents.

Project Measurable Results

•Storage density increased by 65%

The combination of high-rise vertical three-dimensional storage and deep-lane four-way shuttle storage greatly lifted the pallet storage quantity per unit floor area, successfully relieved the client’s storage pressure without expanding the warehouse building area.

•Greatly accelerated warehouse inbound & outbound operation efficiency

Automated storage and retrieval equipment replaced the whole-process manual forklift operation, eliminated waiting and transit time caused by manual scheduling, and significantly improved the response speed of raw material warehousing and finished product delivery.

•Higher inventory accuracy & complete traceability

The linkage of automated equipment and WMS system realizes one-to-one binding of pallets, batches and storage locations, eliminates human counting errors, and supports full-process batch tracking required by pharmaceutical supervision.

•Enhanced operation safety & stable system reliability

Integrated intelligent control system and standardized rack structure reduce human error and equipment failure risks, avoid safety accidents in high-altitude manual operation, and fully meet the high safety standards of pharmaceutical production warehouses.

•Reduced long-term comprehensive operating costs

Maximized space utilization eliminates the need for new plant construction, saves massive land investment and construction costs; automation cuts long-term labor input, bringing continuous cost optimization over the whole equipment life cycle.

•Built-in scalability for future warehouse expansion

Modular system design reserves equipment expansion and storage area expansion interfaces, providing reliable technical support for the client’s sustained production capacity growth in the next few years.

Comprehensive Business Value Delivered

✔ Dramatically increased storage capacity without new factory construction or warehouse expansion

✔ Remarkably improved overall warehouse goods throughput and order processing speed

✔ Realized full-process batch traceability and standardized zoning to meet pharmaceutical regulatory compliance requirements

✔ Greatly reduced reliance on manual operators and cut long-term labor costs

✔ Eliminated high-altitude manual operation risks and lifted overall warehouse intrinsic safety level

✔ Lower full life cycle ownership cost of the warehouse logistics system

✔ Reserved scalable space and technical interfaces to match future production capacity expansion

Whether you are planning a brand-new automated intelligent warehouse or upgrading an existing traditional storage facility, Everunion delivers full-turnkey warehouse automation solutions covering customized scheme design, professional engineering, precision equipment manufacturing, on-site installation, whole-process commissioning and long-term after-sales support.

If your enterprise is also faced with insufficient storage space, low manual efficiency or strict industry compliance management demands, contact our professional engineering team to obtain a fully customized high-density automated warehouse solution tailored to your production and logistics scenarios.