The Mecalux warehouse management system at warehouse Zaloker & Zaloker’s

About Zaloker & Zaloker

Founded in Slovenia in 1993, Zaloker & Zaloker is a medical supplies company serving hospitals, pharmacies and primary care centres.

The company also represents major medical and in-patient product brands. In fact, it introduced the first glucometers (instruments used to measure the concentration of glucose in the blood) manufactured by Bayer into the Slovenian market.

Efficient management of medical products

Storing and distributing medical supplies is not as simple as it seems. In order for medical professionals to have the materials they need to get the job done, it is essential to provision hospitals on time. To do so, supplier companies must plan all their processes and ship the goods as quickly as possible.

As a result, Zaloker & Zaloker had to deploy a Warehouse Management System (WMS) at its logistics site to help meet the demanding industry standards.

Zaloker & Zaloker has a distribution centre comprising two warehouses and a point of sale. One of the warehouses is devoted to order preparation and the other to reserve products. Altogether, there are around 340 SKUs including glucometers, insulin pumps, wound care material or neurostimulators.

The company needed a WMS to streamline merchandise flows and control stock. It was clear to the company that it wanted to use the same tool to run both warehouses and its point of sale.

Špica and Mecalux: a successful collaboration

Present in many Central and East European countries, Špica is a technology company specialising in supply-chain management solutions. Since 1989, it has offered IT solutions to companies in all sorts of industry sectors, from manufacturing, warehousing, transport, to retail.

After analysing the needs of Zaloker & Zaloker, Špica proposed installing Easy WMS, the WMS developed by Mecalux. “The Špica team reassured us that this is one of the best WMS on the market and it would be a perfect fit for the specifics of our business,” says Matija Zaloker, chief accountant at the pharmaceutical distributor.

Among all its advantages, Easy WMS excels at very precise stock control, which means that Zaloker & Zaloker can keep tabs on its inventory status in real-time (where products come from and where they are stored). To do so, it identifies products from the moment they arrive at the warehouse.

The WMS is a tool that optimises all the distribution centre’s operations:

• Receipt of goods. Upon receipt of the goods, the operators identify each box with the help of radiofrequency handsets. Once logged into the system, Easy WMS assigns them an in-house storage location. “The WMS tracks SKUs, lots, serial numbers and expiration dates very reliably,” explains Matija Zaloker.
• Storage. The operators move the boxes to the locations specified by Easy WMS. The system generates a route for operators to travel with the minimum distances possible (both in storage tasks and in preparing orders).
• Order preparation. Around 50 orders are prepared and Easy WMS gives operators instructions on how to do exactly that. It shows them the location to go to, which products to collect and in what quantity, thus helping to avoid possible mistakes.
• Ship or shop. Easy WMS organises the prepared orders. These can either be grouped in the shipping zone according to their destination, or they can be sent to the shop.

State-of-the-art logistics

Traceability and good practice are essential in the health care sector. A company distributing medical supplies, like Zaloker & Zaloker does, must have an agile, efficient supply chain.

Thanks to Easy WMS, this company has given its logistical processes a new lease of life and increased productivity by 10 %. Its deployment has led to an improvement in the service quality, guaranteeing timely, error-free deliveries to customers.

Matija Zaloker - Chief Accountant at Zaloker & Zaloker
“We are satisfied with Easy WMS from Mecalux because it is very user-friendly. Gradually, we're automating all processes and we're going to start leveraging more of the benefits of this WMS.”

Advantages for Zaloker & Zaloker

• High precision: Easy WMS manages all warehouse operations, which prevents errors when it comes to storing products and locating SKUs for each order.
• Health care material management: the WMS is designed to distribute hospital products as quickly as possible and meet customer orders.