Ways to cut yard costs, lmprove seruce

Ily William C. Capps Managing Director Material Handling lnstitute lnc.

ETTER handling methods can reduce operations costs, result in an overall safer operation, improve customer service, and reduce inventory and damaged products.

These are not empty promises or opportunities limited to the very large lumber yards. Every size yard can achieve savings.

Before we plunge forward, material handling must be defined so you will understand its breadth and be able to take advantage of all of the material handling benefits possible in your lumber yard.

Material handling is a major cost of doing business. lt can be your largest cost of doing business, but material handling costs can be reduced and controlled once they are identified. Please don't assume your material handling costs can't be reduced or controtled. In fact, they may be your best cost reduction opportunity.

Story at a Glance

How to make yard layout more efficient . material handling cost reduction opportunities. fiee literature souroes, information on material handling.

The material handling process is the movement, storage, control, protection, consumption and disposal of products through your facility. Think about how your products are moved, stored, controlled, protected, consumed, and disposed of every day. These are the direct/labor costs, equipment costs, building and land costs and maintenance costs.

What does it cost to move, store, control and protect your inventory? How much of the product is consumed internally? How much is not sold and must be disposed off Do you know what the lumber material handling costs are?

Cost reduction solutions come from many areas. The first is from physical layout planning.

An efficient physical layout can be based on the way your customers buy your product. What is the logical sequence in which the drive-in customer loads his truck? Are the plywood sheets picked first and placed in the truck bed? What items are next? Look at customer orders for typical examples. Drive through with your customers and see if time is wasted with rehandling, waiting and backtracking. Ask your yard people for assistance. Encourage them to participate in the process.

Here are some material handling cost reduction opportunities to con- sider. They are listed by material handling functions.

Movement - Many different types of fork lift trucks are available for narrower aisles and higher reaches. l:ork lift attachments are available for safer and faster lifts in narrow aisles. With narrower aisles you need less floor space and can add more storage or show space.

StorageThere is a wide range of options including rack supported buildings. The depreciation schedule changes from 30 years to 7 years on a rack supported building because it is classified as equipment. not as a building.

Control Investigate autonratic identification that can provide real time inventory control and a paperless or a less paper environment with a better inventory control system.

On-board lork lift truck automation identification devices such as R t t)C ( Radio [:requency l)ata Communications) can be used to direct and/or inform the driver where to go for a pick or a drop and how much inventory is there, as well as provide voice contact within your organization without a driver getting off the fork lift truck seat. As the orders are picked or inventory restocked, inventory is adjusted automatically. This equipment may easily tie into your current computer system.

Similar equipment is available for anyone who performs these tasks on foot. This off the shelf equipment has been proven in other warehouse and distribution centers. There will be less paper and the picks will be quicker.

ProtectionSome of the storage racks available can minimize lumber losses due to weather. To me as a customer at a local lumber yard (...currently

Remodeling

three bathrooms), weather damaged lumber losses seems significant. What is it worth to reduce your weather losses by at least 80% a year with better storage equipment?

It is impossible to present all the material handling cost reduction opportunities in one short article, but I have one more comment. Take the challenge. Others have and reduced their costs and improved overall operations.