Storage made easy

30. Juni 2016, 15:39

Often, stocking is simply a necessary evil to temporarily store products, raw materials, spare parts, and the like until you need them. Of course you do not only need space for that, storage also requires time and money. Here are some tips on how to reduce cost factors and increase the efficiency of your warehouse

Autor: Alexander Kohl
Article from issue 3/2016   directly to the order

Anyone who has a cellar or a storeroom at home knows the problem: there is something there that you do not need at all or not often - you do not know where to go with it, so you just "store" it. Weeks later, but exactly this thing would be very useful and important, so get back to it. But where is it? How much other stuff was deposited on it, about it, before that? What is the likelihood that anything else will suit you if you try to pull it off the shelf? How much time have you wasted on searches, bureaucracy, space creation and "outsourcing"? How many nerves did that cost you?

The topic of camps is often not only a problem child at home. Warehousing in many companies still eats time, money and sometimes nerves. The warehouse is an important part of the supply chain, the optimization of which can significantly increase efficiency. And there is still a lot of potential here, as the study "Supply Chain Performance Management" by Horváth & Partners shows: "Procurement and warehousing in particular are seen by around three quarters of respondents as an optimization lever."

The optimization potentials are diverse and often hide in details. It already starts with the purchase of the shelves: the right size of shelves and containers, the ability to expand at any time, intermediate and build the camp modular, the color design and the attachment of identification labels to facilitate differentiation to the use of the entire room , And it ends with the right picking solution for the respective storage environment and the products and the software in the background.

Keyword lean management

Lean management has also become an important topic in warehouses in the wood industry. Processes should become leaner, processes more efficient. This is where Bito storage technology with its racking and container solutions comes in. "The main goal of lean management is to minimize waste, eliminate redundancy, and streamline processes to work in perfect harmony," said Peter Kerth, Head of Product Management at Bito. He knows that the Lean principle also causes smaller batch sizes. In the intralogistics and assembly feeders, the containers used are often too big for the contents and the requirements. The goal must therefore always be to deliver the smallest possible quantity just at the right time.

This is also the Kanban principle. "Label or sticker in Japanese, by the way, kanban," says Peter Kerth. Kanban systems fit perfectly into the Lean concept. This means that replenishment processes are automatically executed in one control loop. Kanban is a demand-oriented method based on the pull or haul principle. This means that the worker decides what he needs in which quantity and when. This reduces stock levels sustainably and at the same time ensures the permanent supply of work and assembly stations. Many manufacturing companies still rely on containers and shelves that do not support the kanban principle due to their size or nature, but only waste space and are confusing.

One of the most important design principles of lean management is the continuous and smooth flow of production - the flow principle. "This should be implemented without a forklift if possible because they require a lot of space," explains Kerth Product Manager.

Software support

Of course, in addition to all visible optimization options - from the shelf to the individual container - not the invisible helper in the background must be forgotten: the software. Different programs support you in warehouse management and optimal planning of your stocks and processes. With all promising solutions, you should make sure that the software can be easily integrated into your ERP and ERP systems. In addition, even the largest amount of data will not help if the information is not (or can not) be used.

Editor's Notes

Martina Winkler
Useful helper

In the brief interview, Martina Winkler, JOWI, explains how options for mobile intermediate storage can increase warehouse efficiency.

IHM: Ms Winkler, what advice would you give to a customer when it comes to warehouse optimization?


Winkler: As important as a "master plan" is for the warehouse - just as decisive is a sophisticated "micro-logistics" in in-house material handling. How, for example, can workpieces be flexibly stored in a flexible and flexible manner and moved through the operation without the overview being lost or being damaged? In practice, we see that there is still a lot of productivity to be gained, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Your shelf trolleys are very special solutions.
Who would you recommend for a purchase?

If you not only need to temporarily store various parts, but also constantly need them in changing places in the company, then our customers can use our racking and transport trolleys to gain a mobile warehouse: the parts can be transferred from one station to another within seconds.

Editor's Notes

Edwin Müller
Basic decisions

Edwin Müller, Elvedi GmbH, gives tips on what one should generally pay attention to when organizing his warehouse. Often little things make a lot of ...

IHM: Mr. Müller, what basic advice do you give a customer when it comes to warehouse optimization? What should he pay attention to?
Müller: He should make sure that he has only one contact person! Too many cooks spoil the broth! In many major projects, the trades are assigned individually by the customer and it is saved on the project manager. In many cases this is problematic because it must be ensured that the expertise and the time for the coordination of the individual trades exist. Furthermore, if possible use the height of the halls. Heavy goods for ground storage, the lighter ones then stored in higher levels. That's an important cost factor. And the customer should also pay attention to the flexibility of the shelves. At Elvedi, all shelving systems are designed according to the modular principle.

Especially picking sometimes has to be quick. How can you increase the access speed in the warehouse?

Fast launches should always be in the lower storage levels, slow-moving upwards. Storage software and computer-aided storage facilities, such as barcode, barcode, display-controlled seats and so on, can also optimize access speed and routes.
contact

callback