Burjeel Holdings is one of the leading healthcare providers in the Middle East, operating an extensive network of hospitals, medical centres, pharmacies, and specialized healthcare facilities across the UAE and the wider GCC region. To support its healthcare network, Burjeel manages a centralized supply chain responsible for the procurement, storage, and distribution of pharmaceutical products, medical consumables, surgical supplies, diagnostic materials, medical devices, and other healthcare inventory.
As part of its long-term growth strategy, Burjeel sought to develop a future-ready distribution centre capable of supporting increasing business volumes while improving operational efficiency, inventory control, and service performance.
Burjeel operates a centralized Distribution Centre (DC) that procures inventory from multiple suppliers and distributes it across approximately 45 hospitals and healthcare facilities, along with a network of retail pharmacies. The facility handles pharmaceutical products including pharma as well as non-pharma (medical and healthcare supplies).
With business volumes growing rapidly, Burjeel planned its transition to a larger facility and engaged Coign to evaluate, and design streamlined processes, storage and automation solutions capable of supporting future growth. The objective was to design a scalable, technology-enabled distribution centre that could improve operational efficiency, reduce manual dependency, enhance inventory management, and support both existing B2B operations and future B2C fulfilment requirements.
The facility handled two distinct inventory streams with significantly different storage and fulfilment requirements. Pharmaceutical inventory required high throughput, strict inventory control, and rapid order fulfilment, while non-pharmaceutical inventory consisted of a mix of bulk storage, loose picking requirements, and irregularly sized products. The challenge was to design a storage strategy that optimized capacity, accessibility, and operational efficiency across both inventory categories.
A key project objective was to identify the most suitable automation solution for pharmaceutical operations. As order volumes continued to grow, the existing manual operating model was becoming increasingly dependent on manpower, making it difficult to sustainably improve productivity, maintain fulfilment accuracy, and consistently meet delivery service levels. Reducing human dependency and minimizing operational errors while improving throughput and responsiveness became a critical business requirement.
The future distribution model needed to support both hospital and pharmacy replenishment operations as well as future direct-to-consumer fulfilment. Designing a solution capable of efficiently handling varying order sizes, service requirements, and throughput demands while maintaining high levels of accuracy was a critical challenge.
The warehouse required seamless integration between automated pharmaceutical operations and conventional non-pharmaceutical storage areas. Establishing an efficient replenishment, picking, consolidation, and dispatch model across both environments was essential to ensure smooth operational flow and maximum productivity.
The solution needed to accommodate significant future business growth without requiring major operational redesigns. Scalability, operational resilience, inventory visibility, system integration, and workforce efficiency were therefore key design considerations throughout the project.
Coign conducted a detailed fit-for-purpose assessment of the new facility before occupancy to determine its suitability for Burjeel's intended distribution centre operations. Potential operational bottlenecks, infrastructure limitations, and functionality gaps were identified early, allowing improvements to be incorporated before fit-out activities commenced.
This ensured the facility was operationally optimized from day one, avoided costly future modifications, and maximized the long-term usability of the building.
The proposed storage strategy created an optimal balance between storage density, accessibility, throughput requirements, and operational flexibility. By developing separate yet integrated storage approaches for pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical inventory – aligned to the product characteristics, the design improved space utilization while ensuring efficient inventory flow throughout the facility.
The replenishment-driven model further enabled inventory to be positioned closer to fulfilment activities, reducing travel distances and improving order processing efficiency.
A key value delivered by Coign was the structured evaluation, selection, and design of the most suitable automation solution for Burjeel's pharmaceutical operations. Multiple ASRS technologies were assessed against product characteristics, inventory profiles, order patterns, throughput requirements, future growth projections, system flexibility, uptime, response times, serviceability, maintenance requirements, implementation timelines, and total lifecycle cost.
Rather than selecting automation purely based on technology, the evaluation focused on identifying the solution best aligned to Burjeel's operational objectives and long-term business strategy. Particular emphasis was placed on the system's ability to efficiently support both hospital and retail pharmacy replenishment operations (B2B) as well as future direct-to-consumer e-commerce fulfilment (B2C), each having distinct order profiles, throughput requirements, and service level expectations.
The selected solution established a scalable platform capable of supporting growing order volumes across multiple fulfilment channels while reducing manual intervention, improving inventory accuracy, increasing productivity, enhancing operational consistency, and strengthening Burjeel's ability to meet demanding healthcare delivery SLAs.
To support efficient order fulfilment, Coign designed an integrated outbound processing solution that consolidated inventory from both conventional storage systems and automated fulfilment systems into customer-specific orders. The solution incorporated automated order consolidation, profile and weight verification, carton sealing, tote closing, strapping, route-wise sorting, and dispatch staging processes.
The integration of telescopic conveyors for both inbound unloading and outbound loading operations further reduced manual handling effort, improved throughput, and enabled a faster and more efficient dispatch process. The resulting design established a streamlined fulfilment operation capable of supporting increasing order volumes while maintaining stringent healthcare service requirements.
Coign defined the functional requirements for both the Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Warehouse Control System (WCS) to support seamless integration between warehouse processes and automation systems. The proposed framework established the foundation for location-controlled inventory management, system-directed operations, real-time inventory visibility, process standardization, and enhanced operational control.
By enabling a transition from manual and paper-based operations to a system-driven environment, the design improved process consistency, inventory accuracy, traceability, and overall operational governance.
Safety was incorporated as a fundamental design principle throughout the facility. Dedicated storage zones, processing areas, pedestrian walkways, equipment movement corridors, and infrastructure protection systems were integrated into the layout to ensure safe interaction between personnel, equipment, and automation systems.
The resulting design enhanced workplace safety, reduced operational risk, improved traffic management, and protected critical assets including inventory, material handling equipment, and automated systems.
Through a combination of warehouse design, automation strategy, process optimization, and digital enablement, Coign developed a future-ready distribution centre framework for Burjeel. The solution transformed a conventional warehouse operation into a scalable, technology-enabled healthcare distribution platform capable of supporting sustained business growth.
By combining optimized storage systems, fit-for-purpose automation, streamlined material flows, and robust inventory management processes, the proposed facility established the foundation for higher productivity, improved operational efficiency, enhanced service performance, and long-term supply chain resilience across Burjeel’s healthcare network.
