Case Study: Aster Pharmacy achieves 3,000+ order lines per hour with AutoStore

Aster Pharmacy Installs the Largest Ever AutoStore Solution in the UAE

Aster Pharmacy, part of Aster DM Healthcare, faced significant capacity constraints and fulfillment inefficiencies in its Dubai distribution center due to huge growth and expansion into e-commerce. Their manually-operated facility was overwhelmed, processing 50 million units annually, which led to high labor demands and threatened service levels. To support their growth strategy and overcome these space constraints, they sought a scalable automation solution and partnered with AutoStore.

The solution implemented by AutoStore was a high-density, cube-based storage Grid with 33 R5 Robots and 17,250 Bins, constructed over an existing mezzanine. The system delivers bins to 12 workstations where operators use pick-to-light technology for rapid order fulfillment. This AutoStore system allows the pharmacy to process over 3,000 order lines per hour, with 70% of all orders now picked through automation. This has resulted in dramatically faster fulfillment, near-perfect accuracy, and a massive increase in storage density within the same footprint, eliminating the need for a costly facility expansion.

Aster Pharmacy

Alisha Moopen

Managing Director & Group CEO