Tag: process improvement

• Products being handled too many times – In distribution centers / 3PLs / manufacturing facilities: an item or group of items can pass through several hands before making its way out the door or to its final destination. In most cases, materials don’t get more valuable the extra times they are touched. Eliminating unnecessary touches paves the way for increased profitability.
• Inefficient storage – It may not be to your advantage to operate under a premise of “We have run out of storage space…getting a larger warehouse or an additional warehouse is the solution”. An alternative option to increasing the footprint is to take a look at how efficient the current layout is designed. Are there cube utilization inefficiencies that need to be addressed? Are there higher density storage options that will function better with your storage requirements?

• Inventory management – Doing a thorough analysis on throughput and pick locations/frequency of picks can pay dividends, and can suggest re-positioning of SKUs in order to improve efficiency.
• Failure to use vertical space – Your warehouse has a 30′ clear height, but are only utilizing 16′ tall pallet rack . There is a good amount of dead space that can regain value. The wasted space is an opportunity to gain pallet positions. When it comes to small parts storage or materials being stored in shelving, you can also incur dead space between the shelves and aisles required to access the items. Implementing automation, (Vertical Lift Modules) can allow for a significantly greater utilization of the vertical space. This will free up the footprint for more profitable operational activities in your facility.

Learn about the solutions today that will drive growth for your business tomorrow.

To learn more about improving business processes contact MHS

Employee safety on the job is a crucial metric all companies should pay close attention to. Here are 6 solutions to improve warehouse safety and keep your most valuable assets out of harms way.

1. Collision Awareness Sensor Alert Warning System

Collision awareness is important to the operation of every company. This system will alert forklift drivers and pedestrians to potentially hazardous locations and situations. The product is intended to target the locations most typically involved in near-misses and collisions: Blind corners, intersections, loading docks and overhead doors. The Collision Awareness warning systems feature visual indicators (red or amber flashing lights) and optional audible alarms to let employees know where and when collision danger is near to improve safety awareness and help to reduce collisions.

Our manufacturer has a 30 day demo program available on their collision awareness devices. Discover why many of the leading companies in the United States have decided to implement this safety measure into their facilities. There are over 20 different models to protect the entire facility.

2. Safety Netting

Help raise employee morale and lower accidents by protecting staff and customers from falling objects or stock that may fall off pallet racks, mezzanines, conveyors or shelves. The rack guard can be installed vertically or horizontally; below conveyors, above sorting lines, on the sides, rear or front of racks – anywhere you need custom nets to reduce product loss and keep people safe.

3. Loading Dock Safety

Vehicle restraints are simply designed, easy to use, and can apply up to 35,000lbs of restraining force to keep a truck or trailer stationed at the dock. They safeguard against unscheduled departures, trailer creep, and trailer walk, and require minimal maintenance.

Dock Door Gates

To help companies comply with their internal safety standards as well as OSHA fall protection regulations, dock gates create awareness and act as barriers to help reduce trips, falls and collisions.

4. Column Protectors

Column protectors can help mitigate structural damage that can lead to costly and time-consuming repairs that may also disrupt daily operations. It can also help reduce the severity of personal injury and forklift damage.

Building/mezzanine column protectors prevent major damage to the building structure in the event of a collision. Ask someone who has experienced the repercussions of damaging a buildings column and the costs associated with getting the damage repaired. In seismic zones it is an absolute nightmare to deal with repairing a damaged building column caused by forklift impact.

5. Machine Guarding

Woven and welded wire machine guarding and perimeter guarding systems allow for protection and to separate property, equipment, and personnel.

6. Driver Cages & Building Access

Driver Access Cages provide an area to keep visitors confined; preventing them from wandering into dangerous areas or gaining access to inventory or other facility equipment.

Companies can become more efficient AND increase profitability by managing the functionality of their storage.

Here are 5 ways to increase efficiency of your storage to gain back valuable square footage:

Mobile Aisle Pallet Rack:

Motorized mobile pallet racking is designed to maximize the use of warehouse storage space. Mobilized compact pallet racks can reduce your pallet storage area in half, or double the capacity of your pallet rack storage in the same floorspace area. Mobilized pallet racks save space by converting static access aisles into productive storage space. The mobilized compact rack storage system mounts rows of pallet racks onto heavy-duty rolling carriages and places them on floor tracks. Rows of pallet racks (up to 96’ long) move sideways along the floor tracks creating a movable floating access aisle. Typical warehouse storage facilities may have dozens of static access aisles but only one or two forklifts capable of accessing stored materials. Mobilizing pallet racks reduce the number of access aisles to match the velocity requirements of your storage area. Rows of pallet racks are moved by pushing a button or by remote control, which opens access aisles when and where they are needed.

Mobilized pallet racks have helped many organizations reduce or eliminate new building construction costs, auxiliary warehouses, building expansions, and decrease ongoing operational costs (lighting, energy, insurance) by maximizing the use of their storage floor space.

Some disadvantages of high density pallet storage systems are; less access to all stock at any given moment (although if the stored product is all the same, it should not matter), and the expense of such systems. Selective pallet rack systems are considerably less expensive per pallet position than their higher density counterparts. In most medium to large facilities, however, high density pallet rack systems are essential, since they provide the efficiency of time and high cost facility space is better optimized.

Mobile Aisle Shelving:

By eliminating the need for an aisle between every shelving unit, more floor space can be utilised for storage. Each unit is mounted on a level trackway (to eliminate gradients in the supporting floor), making it possible to move heavy units with minimal effort. Mobile shelving can be moved manually or by the use of electrical motors.

A typical bank of mobile aisle shelving units offer close to 50% reduction of floor space or a 50% to 100% increase in storage space compared to traditional shelving.

High Density Drawers:

High Density Drawers can combine with shelving to achieve a greater storage density than static shelving alone. Drawers can be integrated into a mobile aisle system to further increase efficency of the storage footprint. One HD drawer unit holds as much as five bin units. HD drawers are heavy-duty with 400lb capacity per drawer.

Pallet Shuttle for bulk SKU storage:

The shuttle system consists of a shuttle vehicle and docking station. The docking station and the shuttle vehicle (orbiter) form a single unit that can be moved flexibly in the warehouse. Racks where the shuttle system is used have a centring console fitted onto the front.

The forklifts pick up the docking station, including the orbiter, and places it into the centring console on the required rack. The forklifts then pick up inward storage pallets and position these onto the orbiter.

While the forklift takes care of picking up the next pallet being stored, the orbiter conveys it quickly and safely into the desired storage location. The driving commands are communicated to the shuttle vehicle via wireless remote control.

Check out this video on this pallet shuttle technology for deep lane pallet storage:

Applications requiring In-plant offices, clean rooms, machine enclosures and industrial walls can benefit from pre-fabricated modular construction.

Modular wall and building systems have the following benefits when compared to traditional construction:

• Relocate and Reuse the building system: All components are capable of being reused. The #1 reason companies choose to purchase a modular system is the ability down the road to take down the modular building and relocate it. Should you need to relocate to another facility or you will never have to be concerned with loosing your original investment.
• Superior sound reduction: Greater Sound Deadening than Conventional Rooms: These sound controlled modular offices are acoustically designed to outperform any typical conventional construction. Applications with a significant amount of noise are very well qualified for a modular solution .
• Reduction in Labor Cost by Up To 50%: This may be a very conservative figure. Factoring in the installation speed of modular constructed products and the reduction in trades necessary to build, you could find this savings tremendous. It takes only one crew to assemble a modular office, and several trades like drywall crews, glazers, carpenters, painters, and electricians etc. to build conventionally. The larger the project, the more the savings.
• No engineering requirements or architectural expenses
  
• Most applications avoid needing a permit
  
• In-plant Modulars qualify for a 7-year depreciation period while conventional construction is depreciated over 39 years.
• Industrial modular wall (Hi-Wall System)