Located in beautiful County Clara, medical packaging experts Nelipak is widely regarded as the market leader when it comes to the design, development, and manufacturing of custom packaging for medical device and pharma industries. Nelipak’s customer list includes some of the largest and most reputable medical/pharma companies in the world.
WATCH NOW: Nelipak Healthcare Packaging Case Study
Background
Due to the nature of the business, Nelipak operate a very strict clean and climate-controlled environment in their manufacturing facilities. Employees and visitors alike are required to adhere to GMP (good manufacturing practice) wearing appropriate PPE (Personal and Protective Equipment, such as gloves, gowns and shoe covers etc.) before they’re permitted entrance to the manufacturing areas of the facility. As the business sought to expand their product range and increase output, Nelipak explored a number of options, before turning to Industore – the space and storage experts. Industore had previously successfully implemented two Lean-Lifts at Nelipak Campsie Industrial Estate Derry, Northern Ireland.
Trevor Elliot, Industore’s Account Manager for Nelipak Healthcare and Ireland Sales Director:
The existing site had been exhausted of any spare horizontal storage space, and unfortunately, the site didn’t have an enormous vertical head space to work with either. The truth is, the Nelipak team had already made the most of their existing space, in almost every conceivable way, and yet they still needed more room to work and expand into. One option was to make use of footprint located outside the main building – a 15m2 piece of land adjacent to one of the small corridors.”
“Our day-to-day operations were at peak performance, but we recognised the need to expand on our inventory, which meant we had to grow our facility in order to meet our new goals. The prospect of restructuring was an uncomfortable one, given the expensive and disruptive nature of it, so we knew that we had to explore every other avenue before opting for that – and Industore provided us with that avenue. The addition of the external Lean-Lift has made an enormous difference to our operations – not only has it provided us with the extra space we desperately needed, but it has also allowed us to improve our security, inventory control and has sped up our processes along the way. Industore has achieved what no one else could and has helped futureproof our business for years to come.”
Michael Smyth, Technical Manager, Nelipak Healthcare Packaging.
Project Description
Industore worked closely with the Nelipak team, an architect and structural engineer, to design and build a cladded extension to house a 9m tall Lean-Lift. The job required a careful “knock-through” to an existing corridor wall at the County Offaly Clara site, in order to access the Lean-Lift waist-height delivery window, and ensure that the full walkway space was preserved, as not to interfere with the passage from one side of the facility to the other.
Due to the value of the dyes that were being stored in the new Lean-Lift, Nelipak were keen to ensure an enhanced layer of security to control and monitor access/stock. To achieve this, Industore added the access code management facility to the MPN12 controller. Staff are now allocated a security pass, which gives certain members of staff access, or limited access to various shelves in the Lean-Lift. The passes ensure that only staff with the relevant permissions (as defined by Nelipak administrators) can gain access to the controlled parts, and moreover, the software can provide a thorough audit log at the press of a button (given adequate clearance) of, “who took what, when”. Galvanised trays inside the Lean-Lift ensure that a
sterile work surface – meeting the clean environment needs of the products and safeguarding sensitive goods within.
Post Installation
Despite the complex nature of this project, from site-audit through to planning, construction and Lean-Lift installation, the project took just 4 weeks to complete. Fifty-five galvanized storage trays, holding over 1,000 dyes, are now accessible through the Lean-Lifts ergonomically designed access window, in a waterproof, cladded unit attached to the side of the original building. Regular optimisation runs ensure that frequently used trays to move closer to the access point (for the fastest possible retrieval and storing of items), while the rationalization runs of the built-in software ensures that the space within the Lean-Lift is always being optimized. Moreover, the integration of barcode scanners and Pick-o-Light technology has improved pick speeds and accuracy, improving efficiency and the bottom line.
