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Move Inventory, Not Workers
A plant can save space, time and money with a carousel
Many companies think material handling automation is a nice
idea, but something for the big guys. After all, computers and
automated systems cost money. Automation is designed for
high-volume shops. It takes up space. It requires training, and
that means hours spent away from production. Once installed,
automation needs to be maintained-and that means more downtime.
Too often, the decision to automate is put off until a future
day when the company thinks it's big enough to need it-or big
enough to afford it.
In reality, material handling automation comes in many sizes. It
saves far more productive hours than it takes in training,
installation and maintenance. It can actually save space. It's
not something that requires a plant to be of a particular size.
In fact, it's an excellent way to help grow to the size you want
to be.
Consider these examples:
An electronics company had four or five people picking orders
from shelving on about 2,000 square feet of floor space.
Installing two simple horizontal carousels allowed one or two
people to handle the same volume while needing only 700 square
feet.
In another application, eight to ten people worked two shifts
picking airline parts from an area of about 15,000 square feet.
With the installation of an automated storage system and its
software, the floor space requirement was reduced to about 8,000
square feet-and the payroll to three people.
While the companies in these examples aren't huge
multinationals, they still could use the savings. Eliminating
perhaps 1,300 square feet of sorting space might mean putting
off a move to larger facilities. Eliminating five or six related
salaries might make the difference between loss and
profitability.
In both examples, the basic automation tool is the carousel-an
automated storage and retrieval system that rotates to deliver
the proper part to a particular workstation. Instead of sending
people wandering around vast shelving storage areas, carousels
send the shelves to the worker, who stands in one place ready to
do the next step: load the delivered part to the machine, work
on the delivered assembly or pack the part for shipping.
At its simplest, the concept works like this. A vertical
carousel in a machine shop is loaded with commonly used tools
and small parts. This arrangement uses considerably less floor
space than a standard shelving system. When a particular part or
tool is required, the operator punches a keypad, the carousel
rotates, and the needed item is brought within easy reach. Yes,
it takes a little while for the operator to learn which buttons
to push. But the first time the operator doesn't have to waste
time looking for a part that has been mislabeled or placed on
the wrong shelf makes up for the learning time.
On a more sophisticated level, carousels can use software to
control the flow of inventory from the delivery point to storage
and, when an order is received, from storage to the fulfillment
and shipping areas.
Storing Discontinued Parts
For example, a company regularly discontinues old parts and
gives its distributors a specified time to return unsold
merchandise. As the returned parts arrive, an operator keys the
part number (or scans a bar code) into the system. The carousel
sends the proper bin to the workstation for the operator to
store the parts. Then the software updates inventory figures.
When the
grace period for returning this particular part ends,
the system informs an operator, who empties the bin and sends
the parts to inactive storage. The available bin now can be
assigned another purpose-probably another discontinued part.
Because software controls the system, similar parts don't need
to be stored next to each other. Any available space can be used
for anything that will fit, which eliminates the need for
reorganizing the entire storage system periodically.
Volume
A plant with three or more workers, each making more than 1,000
picks a day from inventory, might benefit from the productivity
gains that horizontal carousels offer. The horizontal carousel
can serve several stationary pickers simultaneously. Workers no
longer have to walk from bin to bin in search of parts. While
vertical carousels also offer productivity gains, it's usually
not as a result of increasing volume. Vertical units usually
serve individual workers who become more productive when they
don't have to spend time picking when they should be doing
something else. If acreage is at a premium, carousels can help.
Horizontal systems may reduce space requirements to some extent
just because of more efficient storage and a reduction in the
number of workers needed to do the work, but the real savings
come with vertical carousels. They use the top half of a
facility that most plants underutilize-without requiring extra
space for forklifts or ladders to reach something stored on
upper shelves. In this case, the carousel brings the parts down
to the stationary picker standing on the floor.
Accuracy
Software-driven carousels encourage accuracy. Even with simple
keypad-controlled systems, workers are far less likely to make
mistakes. In addition, items are less likely to be stored
incorrectly, eliminating time wasted looking for lost items. In
most material handling applications, accuracy is important not
only because it contributes to productivity: it also can have an
impact on customer satisfaction, return rates or subsequent
stages in the manufacturing process.
Inventory Control
When a plant installs a carousel system, it must revise storage
procedures. This usually requires a thorough physical inventory
and a rationalization of the process to produce a clean baseline
for a fresh start with accurate information and better
procedures. The carousel's accuracy makes it much easier to
maintain the pristine condition. With software-controlled
systems, the situation is even better. The computer specifies
which picks to make and moves the proper bin to where it's a
simple matter for an operator to make the picks accurately. Then
it removes the picked items from the inventory record.
Productivity
Vertical carousels deliver the correct part or tool to a worker
quickly and accurately. Horizontal carousels, like vertical
types, allow for enormous productivity gains. Horizontal systems
are usually installed in pods, with perhaps two carousels
serving each operator. The now-stationary operator follows the
instructions on the computer monitor and light trees on the
carousel. Because the operator does nothing but pick, the
number-of-picks rate rises dramatically.
About the author:
Frank Sterner is a Solutions Specialist at SJF Material
Handling, Inc. He can be reached at fsterner@sjf.com and
(320)-485-2824 ext. #202 To find
more information about industrial carousels please visit
www.SJF.com
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