Tool development for estimating logistics capacities in the pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

Nowadays the estimation of future pallet space needs (long-range) in the pharmaceutical industry is not yet done at researching pharmaceutical companies according to an interview series previously conducted. Until now, site capacity planning is done ad-hoc and there is no centralized indicator whether the warehouse capacity is sufficient. Therefore, limitations occurred several times in the past. This bachelor project is twofold. The model for estimating future pallet spaces developed within the overall research project serves as a basis. First, the long range planning tool is validated and further capabilities are added. Different data sources (SAP, manual data, 3rd party systems,…) are considered for this holistic approach. A sensitivity analysis is important within this strategic context and meaningful scenarios need to be developed. Second, a visualization of the results is generated to enable an efficient and sustainable usage in the case-study company for non-experienced users (e.g. by macro-enabled Excel). All important parameters should be possible to change within this user-interface and without changing the code of the model. With this information the pharmaceutical company is able to decide the suitability of amplifying the plants’ storage.