Cardinal Health, a distributor of healthcare products, began construction on a 350,000-square-foot logistics center in central Ohio, according to a press release. Located in Columbus, the center will focus on replenishing the company’s over-the-counter consumer business, according to the release.
The facility is set to be operational by summer 2025, and will be the company’s fourth distribution facility in the area.
The distribution center will be equipped with logistics technology from Honeywell Intelligrated, and feature automation and operator workflows to increase inventory efficiency and outbound product flow. The software-enabled automation will also support demand and labor fluctuations.
The center aims to "improve Cardinal Health’s agility and speed to optimize product needs across the network, replenish and balance inventory more frequently, and provide unparalleled supply chain responsiveness for our customers," Jamie Barker, SVP of pharmaceutical supply chain, said in the release.
Honeywell has been looking to capitalize on a predicted increase in warehouse automation sales this year, after a two year slowdown. Kevin Graebel, chief product and marketing officer at the intelligrated unit, mentioned ongoing labor shortages as a likely boon to the business. The company recently announced a partnership with startup Hai Robotics to beef up its technology offerings.
“A really high percentage of warehouse operators are struggling to find enough people to do their work, and so there will continue to be this need for automation to help them,” Graebel told CFO Dive in February.
Other businesses have been testing technology and weighing heavy investments to improve productivity, speed and efficiency in their warehouses. Amazon, for example, opened a 3.8 million square-foot robotic fulfillment center, while Maersk tested new warehouse automation to pick and sort items.
