- Logistics company for pharmaceuticals and healthcare expects high increase in demand for narcotics, especially from medical cannabis
- The warehouse resembles a 13-meter-high bank vault:
Wall thicknesses of up to half a meter, vibration sensors, motion detectors, alarm circuits - Temperature control at 2 to 8 and 15 to 25 degrees Celsius
- Solar-powered operation: 2,878 solar panels on the roof are expected to provide 1.2 million kilowatts of electricity annually
(Neunkirchen) With an investment of several million euros, Movianto, a logistics service provider specializing in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, has tripled its capacity for the storage and handling of narcotics in Neunkirchen, Saarland, and at the same time built a solar power production facility. In the future, 2,878 installed solar modules on the roof of the logistics centre will produce as much electricity as 400 2-person households consume on average per year. “For us, both projects are needs-based investments in the future that will increase our competitiveness,” says Dennis Spamer, Managing Director of Movianto Germany. The electricity demand of logistics centres will continue to grow, he said, because more and more goods have to be stored at controlled temperatures and the warehouses have to be cooled or heated accordingly. “By investing in one of the largest rooftop photovoltaic systems in Saarland, we can cover about a quarter of our electricity needs at the site ourselves in an environmentally friendly way and have a stable calculation figure for this part of our production costs for years to come.” Because Movianto’s logistics centres store all goods in temperature-controlled conditions, they have the greatest demand for electricity on hot summer days, when the goods must remain continuously cool despite the heat outside. “That’s why photovoltaics is ideal for us: it provides the most electricity when we have the highest demand.”
Commenting on the expansion of the narcotics warehouse, Spamer said: “The absolute volumes of this market don’t look huge at first glance, but its importance and volume is growing strongly, mainly because of medical cannabis products.” In addition, he said, it is a market with high demands. “BTMs require a high level of expertise, accuracy and security, not to mention extreme structural requirements. Our expansion is more reminiscent of a bank vault than a warehouse.”
Thus, during the current expansion of the narcotics warehouse, reinforced concrete walls up to 26.5 centimeters thick were installed in addition to the existing walls. In some cases, wall thicknesses of around half a meter were created. Vibration sensors were installed in the walls. The sensors trigger an alarm, for example, if someone tried to drill through the walls outside operating hours. Because it is a silent alarm – just like the motion detectors in the warehouse itself – burglars do not notice that the alarm has been triggered and automatically forwarded to the police long ago.
The two entrances to the warehouse are secured with thick steel vault door. Even the anteroom of the narcotics space, which is separated from the rest of the warehouse by a high iron grille, can only be accessed by employees with special access authorizations. This picking area was doubled as part of the expansion. “Due to the larger picking area and because we now have two access points instead of one to the narcotics area as before, we can optimize processes and increase throughput,” says Spamer. Only storage now takes place via one vault door, and retrieval via the other. “This gives us a clear flow of goods, which speeds up the processes and makes them more secure.”
More storage space thanks to mobile racks
The original area of the narcotics storage was 270 square meters and provided space for around 500 pallets. During the expansion, the area was doubled to 540 square meters. At the same time, the extension has a height of 13 meters – four meters more than the existing warehouse. In addition, the installation of a mobile racking system increased the proportion of storage space to the total area. The effect of all this is that three times as many pallets can be stored in the doubled area, i.e. a total of around 1,500. The entire warehouse is kept in the temperature range between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius by its own ventilation and air conditioning system. Special refrigerators are available for cold chain storage of certain products at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.
The 2,878 solar panels have a module area of 5,700 square meters and a peak output of around 1,200 kilowatts. This puts their expected annual electricity output at 1.2 million kilowatt hours (1,200 MWh). In addition to supplying the logistics centre, Movianto also plans to use the solar power for its own fleet of vehicles and for customers traveling by e-car. To this end, 13 charging columns have already been installed on the site.
About Movianto
Since 2020 Movianto is part of the Walden Group. With its one-stop-shop service for the distribution of healthcare products, Walden is now Europe’s market leader for logistics and transport in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. Movianto aims to be the preferred European logistics partner for this industry and to offer the best service for pharmaceutical as well as biotechnical products, for medical technology as well as for diagnostics. Along the logistics chain of such products, Movianto as an outsourcing partner offers, for example, warehouse logistics and transport (also temperature-controlled), but also complete solutions such as order to cash or purchasing and procurement services. Movianto’s international clients benefit from a pan-European network, a wide range of pharmaceutical logistics, unique industry know-how and standardised processes in accordance with quality standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 13485. Movianto employs more than 3,700 people, and has warehouse capacity of more than 500,000 square meters in its network of 23 company-owned logistics centres in eleven European countries and operates throughout Europe. www.movianto.com
Movianto, a specialist in pharmaceutical warehouse logistics, has now completed the installation of one of the largest rooftop photovoltaic systems in the Saarland on its logistics centre in Neunkirchen.
Thick doors, like those of a safe: numerous security measures protect Movianto’s expanded narcotics warehouse in Neunkirchen against thieves and fraudsters.
À propos de Walden
Founded in 1951 in France, the Walden Group is a family-owned company whose ambition is to become a global player in supply chain and logistics. Its activities are grouped around two poles of expertise: on logistics and transport of health products (with Movianto for logistics, Eurotranspharma for temperature-controlled last mile transport and Transpharma International for first mile transport) and on express transport (with Ciblex, DPXS, Eco course Optic and Relais Colis). To support these activities, the subsidiary Pharma Pilot develops IT and digital solutions tailored to the specific needs of the group’s customers. The Walden Group is present in 15 countries (France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Morocco, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, India and Romania), employs more than 6 000 people on 180 sites and nearly 800,000 m² of warehouses. In 2022 the group had a turnover of €2.3 billion.
Contact :
Dennis Spamer Ludwig-Michael Cremer
Movianto Deutschland GmbH external press office Movianto
Tel +49 6134 5678 105 Tel +49 7071 640 315
press@movianto.com team@log-pr.de
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About The Author
Laure Murat