Many companies think that automating the way materials are moved is a good idea, but that it's only for the big companies. Material handling automation comes in many different shapes and sizes. It saves a lot more time than it takes to train, install, and keep up with. In fact, it's a great way to help you reach your goal size.
With a carousel, a plant can save space, time, and money.
Many companies think that automating the way materials are moved is a good idea, but that it's only for the big companies. Computers and other automated systems do cost money, after all. Automation is made for shops that do a lot of work. It uses up room. It needs to be taught, which takes time away from production. Once automation is set up, it needs to be kept up, which means more downtime. Too often, the decision to automate is put off until the company thinks it will need it or can afford it in the future.
Material handling automation comes in many different shapes and sizes. It saves a lot more time than it takes to train, install, and keep up with. In fact, it can save space. A plant doesn't have to be a certain size for this to work. In fact, it's a great way to help you reach your goal size.
Take a look at these examples:/b>
On about 2,000 square feet of floor space, four or five people at an electronics company picked orders from shelves. By putting in two simple horizontal carousels, only 700 square feet were needed for the same amount of work to be done by one or two people.
In another job, eight to ten people worked two shifts picking aeroplane parts from an area that was about 15,000 square feet. With the installation of an automated storage system and its software, the space needed on the floor went down to about 8,000 square feet, and the number of people on the payroll went down to three.
Even though the companies in these examples aren't very big, they could still use the savings. If about 1,300 square feet of sorting space is taken away, the move to bigger facilities might have to be put off. If you got rid of five or six related salaries, it could mean the difference between losing money and making money.
In both cases, the basic automation tool is a carousel, which is an automated system for storing and getting the right part to the right workstation. Carousels bring the shelves to the worker, who stands in one place and is ready to do the next step, which could be to load the delivered part into the machine, work on the delivered assembly, or pack the delivered part to ship.
This is how the idea works at its most basic level. In a machine shop, a vertical carousel is filled with small tools and parts that are used often. This arrangement takes up a lot less space on the floor than a typical shelving system. When a certain part or tool is needed, the operator presses a keypad, the carousel turns, and the thing that is needed is brought close by. Yes, it does take the operator a little while to figure out which buttons to push. But the learning time is made up for the first time the operator doesn't have to waste time looking for a part that was mislabeled or put on the wrong shelf.
On a more advanced level, carousels can use software to control the flow of inventory from the point of delivery to storage and from storage to the fulfilment and shipping areas when an order comes in.
Putting away parts that are no longer made
For example, a company will often stop making old parts and give its distributors a certain amount of time to return any items that haven't sold. As the returned parts come in, an operator types the part number into the system or scans a bar code. The carousel sends the right bin to the operator's workstation so that the parts can be put away. The software then changes the number of items in stock.
When the grace period for returning this part is over, the system notifies an operator, who then empties the bin and sends the parts to storage where they won't be used. The empty bin can now be used for something else, probably for another part that is no longer made. Because software runs the system, parts that are the same don't have to be kept together. You can put anything that will fit in any available space, so you don't have to reorganise the whole storage system all the time.
Volume
Horizontal carousels can help boost productivity in a plant with three or more workers, each of whom makes more than 1,000 picks a day from the stock. Several stationary pickers can be served at the same time by the horizontal carousel. No longer do workers have to go from bin to bin looking for parts.
Even though vertical carousels also improve productivity, it's usually not because they can handle more. Most of the time, vertical units are used by individual workers. When they don't have to pick when they should be doing something else, they are more productive.
When space is tight, carousels can help. Horizontal systems might use less space because they store things more efficiently and need fewer people to do the work, but vertical carousels are the best way to save money. They use the top half of a building, which is underused by most plants, without needing extra space for forklifts or ladders to get to things on higher shelves. In this case, the parts are brought down by the carousel to the picker that is standing still on the floor.
Accuracy
Carousels that are run by software encourage accuracy. Workers are much less likely to make mistakes even with simple systems that are run by keypads. Also, things are less likely to be put away wrong, which saves time spent looking for lost things. Accuracy is important in most material handling tasks because it affects customer satisfaction, return rates, and the next steps in the manufacturing process.
Controlling what's in stock
When a plant puts in a carousel system, it has to change how it stores things. This usually requires a thorough physical inventory and a rationalisation of the process to create a clean baseline for a fresh start with accurate information and better procedures. The accuracy of the carousel makes it much easier to keep it in perfect shape.
With systems that are controlled by software, things are even better. The computer tells the operator which picks to make and moves the right bin to a place where it's easy for the operator to make the right picks. Then it takes the items that were picked off the record of what's in stock.
Productivity
Vertical carousels quickly and accurately get the right part or tool to a worker. Like vertical carousels, horizontal ones let you make huge gains in productivity.
Horizontal systems are usually set up in groups called pods. Each operator might have access to two carousels. Now that the operator is standing still, he or she follows the instructions on the computer screen to light up the trees on the carousel. The number of picks goes up a lot because the operator does nothing but pick.
