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Abbott Laboratories was founded
in 1888 with a mission to improve lives by providing cost-effective
health care products and services. Headquartered in Abbott
Park, IL, Abbott is a worldwide manufacturer of innovative
health care solutions. Abbott is involved in five broad
business arenas: Nutritional, Pharmaceutical, Diagnostic,
Hospital, Chemical and Agricultural Products. Abbott employs
over 56,000 employees worldwide and has annual sales of
$12 billion. Abbott maintains its standing among the world’s
most-respected health care companies by developing innovative
products at the leading edge of medical technology.
Abbott’s Story
When Abbott began their search for a warehouse management
system to install in its Diagnostic warehouse in Dallas,
TX, they had four key goals in mind, to increase productivity,
inventory control, space utilization and inventory ownership.
On January 1, 1992, Abbott installed the Catalyst WMS
in its Dallas facility to achieve these goals. The system
runs on an IBM RS/6000 and Oracle database with direct
communication to LXE Radio Frequency (RF) terminals and
ASK MANMAN host software.
The Dallas Facility
The Dallas facility manufacturers cost-effective medical
devices, supplying both field service parts and finished
goods to the health care industry. Physically, the Dallas
facility covers approximately 100,000 square feet with
50 WMS users and 20 RF terminals – 16 truck mounted
and 4 hand-held. Products are stored on bulk racks, narrow
aisles, and on the floor. To make navigation easier, employees
maneuver throughout the warehouse on forklifts directed
by Catalyst WMS. This site has 15,000 locations and 12,000
SKU’s and has the capability of receiving a total
of 250 inbound orders per day. On the outbound side, a
total of 500 orders per day and 1,000 lines per day are
shipped.
Goals Met
All of Abbott’s goals were met by the Catalyst system
within ten months of the system’s go-live. Productivity
within the warehouse increased by 20%, while their headcount
decreased. In addition, they were able to reduce operations
from three shifts to two, and are currently running a
single shift operation.
Abbott’s inventory accuracy has also shown great
improvement. Accuracy levels are now at 99.6%, which is
nearly a 20% increase from their pre-Catalyst rate of
80%. Abbott’s accuracy level is so high that they
are able to eliminate all physical inventories in their
warehouse. Inventory accuracy is now measured on pick
performance. Additionally, with inventory control, high
accuracy rates and inventory ownership, the distribution
center was able to meet the necessary requirements for
ISO9000 certification. |
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at a Glance |
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Industry
World-leading health care manufacturer of cost-effective
health care medical devices.
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Dallas
Facility
Total Diagnostic sales is $3 billion. Operation
runs two shifts, supplying both field service parts and
finished goods. |
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Size
100,000 square feet, 20 concurrent RF users, 50
total WMS users. |
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Items
12,000 SKU’s, 15,000 locations, 250 inbound
orders/day, 500 outbound orders/day, 1,000 outbound lines/day,
averaging 2 lines per order. |
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Adobe
Acrobat Reader |
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Installer |
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To properly view the downloadable files
on this page, it is necessary to have a version of Adobe
Acrobat installed onto your computer. If you do not already
have this application, a free version is available for
download above. |
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