CASE Study Supermarket Zone Rack SM Material
1.8M Replenishment
Put off Call Off Material
Bulky Zone Rack
Picking with Pull Card
Bulky Zone Rack
Bulky Material
Warehouse
Production Line
Figure 3- Schematic Material Flow between Warehouse and Production
Additionally, WMS system changes would need to be incorporated to support the new ways of working and the improvement in the control and accuracy of inventory.
Formulation and Implementation The Approach Because the project involved the overhaul of the current state operations rather than a simple modification, the structured approach used to tackle the challenge followed the DMEDI (for Define-MeasureExplore-Develop-Implement) improvement model. The Solution The main characteristics of the solution were as follows: • Value Streams are grouped together in order to facilitate access to replenishment and picking. • SKU item codes that are common to more than one Value Stream are located in a central passageway that is always traversed by pickers. • SKU item codes with large box sizes are also located in the central passageway adjacent to the common items. • Replenishment and picking take place in mutually exclusive dedicated aisles thus ensuring that fork lift traffic and pedestrian traffic are separated. • 80 percent of picking now takes place
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within about 30 percent of the floor area that was previously used for picking. The Data Optimizing the size of stock location for materials and the access routes to the locations required a careful analysis of both historical data and future case scenarios. The main items of data required were; • Stock movement transactions spanning a period of 12 months. • Material Master Data for each and every SKU item code. • Dimensional data by SKU with both supplier and issue pack dimensions and weights. • Current storage equipment type, location and capacity and suitability for reconfiguration. • CAD drawings of warehouse buildings, docks and yard. The Analysis A range of analyses was carried out and included a combined analysis of the Movements and Master databases. The daily and weekly movements per SKU were calculated both in terms of quantities and volume and a cross check done against the Planners’ current schedules in order to validate figures. In addition, an analysis was carried out to identify those SKUs deemed suitable for insertion into “supermarket” shelf modules
as distinct from those deemed to be “bulky” and requiring pallet pick locations. A range of criteria including dimensions, weights and throughput were used for this distinction. Finally, an analysis was carried out to identify those SKUs that were unique to a particular Value Stream as distinct from those that were common to more than one Value Stream in order to inform the layout and flow for dedicated picking routes. Getting it Done - Production Side On the Production side the specific elements of work that had to be undertaken included determining the One-Time Picking Quantity and the related information required on the kanban pull card. It was also required to determine ideal trolley size and format to transfer issue packs back and forth to the warehouse and to implement. Getting it Done - Warehouse Side On the warehouse side, it was necessary to quantify the projected warehouse workload and compare current state operations with future options. Following on from this was the definition of the physical locations for material within the racking and shelving and setting up the beginning inventory with clear visibility of information on the rack. On the systems software and hardware
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