There is no room for compromises when it comes to supplying medicines quickly and safely: this is a core value of GEHE Pharma Handel GmbH, which delivers to more than 6,500 pharmacies - up to four times a day - throughout Germany from a total of 18 branches. GEHE is continually investing in new services and essential process reliability measures at its locations to ensure there is no gap between demands and reality. Such was recently the case in Nuremberg, where the entire warehouse logistics system was refitted with state-of-the-art technology. To ensure pharmaceutical products are cooled at the perfect storage temperature, GEHE invested in two, new Viessmann cold room complexes based on TectoCell Standard Plus 80 cold rooms with a wall thickness of 80 mm.
Ergonomics and Efficiency
Both cold room complexes are integrated into the workflow layout in such a way that GEHE's order picking team can pack the various pharmaceutical packages into order boxes with just a few simple steps. "We modified the front of one cold room line to feature a 130 cm high and 50 cm deep cut-out so the conveyor belt moving order boxes can pass directly beneath the collection windows. This overhanging structure ensures that fast-selling items from the assortment can be placed in boxes very quickly.
Thomas Merkle, Logistics Project Manager at GEHE Pharma Handel GmbH
GEHE's refrigeration technology specialist, Schwerte-based Schrezenmaier Kältetechnik GmbH, also does not make any compromises when it comes to its orders. Therefore, once again, Viessmann was chosen as a project partner to meet the special structural requirements for the overhanging cold rooms. "We successfully implemented the Landshut project together with Viessmann, and that's why we’re certain that it would also work in Nuremberg," says Dominik Schrezenmaier, Project Manager and Engineer.
The cold rooms were fully assembled at Viessmann so that the Schrezenmaier Kältetechnik team could integrate the pre-assembled cold rooms into the refrigeration circuit.
The high-end TectoCell Standard Plus cold rooms by Viessmann are ideally suited for use in the pharmaceuticals sector as they are thermally insulated particularly well and therefore highly energy efficient. The antimicrobial powder coating, SmartProtec, prevents hygiene risks as does the step-less, underlapped stainless steel floor. A particularly heavy-duty version with a load up to 4,000 Newton and R11-class slip resistance was chosen for the GEHE cold rooms in Nuremberg.
A concept with room to grow. Thanks to the two new Viessmann cold rooms measuring 11 x 4.6 metres, GEHE managed to expand its capacity for refrigerated pharmaceuticals drastically.
Norbert Monger, the regional sales manager Viessmann Kühlsysteme GmbH
Dominik Schrezenmaier
The pharmaceuticals wholesale company GEHE Pharma Handel GmbH is a subsidiary of McKesson Europe. GEHE supplies pharmacies across Germany with medicinal products from its eighteen branches on a daily basis, helping to ensure a reliable supply of medicinal products in the country. The Stuttgart-based pharmaceuticals wholesaler assists its customers with pharmacy management and marketing via the gesund leben pharmacy cooperative, which is Germany's largest pharmacy cooperative with 2,100 members and around 60 industrial partners.
Viessmann is one of the leading European manufacturers of commercial refrigeration and clean room solutions, renowned for their energy efficiency and sustainability together with ease of use and maintenance. Viessmann's refrigeration product and service portfolio includes remote and plug-in refrigeration cabinets, refrigeration systems and cold and clean room solutions as well as accessories and related services. The refrigeration products are manufactured at Viessmann factories in Germany and Finland and are represented by local sales offices in 18 countries throughout Europe, backed up by an extensive network of partner companies.
