03 February 2010

WMS to support existing distribution infrastructure plan to become a 3PL to China’s pharmaceuticals industry

Lerentang Group, a distributor and retailer of pharmaceutical products based in Shijiazhuang in the Hebei Province of China, has chosen Manhattan Associate’s Warehouse Management solution (WMS) as the technology backbone to support its distribution operations serving upstream and downstream customers across China. Lerentang Group also sees the technology investment as critical to its business expansion strategy that will see it offer a specialised third party logistics service to China’s pharmaceuticals industry.

Following China’s unveiling earlier this year of a blueprint for healthcare over the next decade, kicking off a reform plan to fix the Country’s ailing healthcare system and to ensure fair and affordable health services for its 1.3 billion citizens, Lerentang wanted to capitalise on this opportunity by providing world-class, industry-compliant, distributor and third party logistics services to pharmaceutical manufacturers as well as hospitals, medical centres and pharmacies across China.

Manhattan’s warehouse management system (WMS) will be installed at Lerentang’s 20,000 m2 regional distribution centre (RDC) in Zhengding, near Shijiazhuang City and will be integrated with and direct Lerentang’s automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), including conveyors and a pick-to-light system. It will also integrate with Lerentang’s host ERP system. The WMS will enable Lerentang to improve the efficiency of its supply chain operations, reduce overall distribution costs and provide upstream suppliers and downstream pharmacies, hospitals and medical centres with a timely, accurate and high-quality distribution service.