News
Lean Logistics and Order Picking
Logistics professionals are under increasing pressure to satisfy customers' ever increasing demands and with a generally increasing cost base "lean" organisations are seeking to meet this demand whilst controlling costs and increasing profits. Therefore, company directors are looking to supply chain managers for the next competitive enhancement to facilitate this.
Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems offer such an enhancement, particularly in one of the most time consuming and costly processes in the supply chain - order picking.
Automated Storage systems are the epitome of "lean"; they provide high storage densities, fully utilise ceiling heights, thereby providing an optimum use of ever expensive warehouse floor space; they also improve the security of stored items and, most pertinently, dramatically reduce picking times.
At BMW Bracknell, BMW's UK parts distribution centre, 12 Hänel Lean-Lifts, distributed exclusively across the UK and Ireland by IAS Industore, operate simultaneously to retrieve automotive parts bound for BMW's network of dealerships. Parts are brought to the user at an ergonomically positioned access point in a matter seconds; furthermore, pick accuracy is enhanced by a pick-to-light system which clearly identifies the location of the item to be picked. Such benefits contribute to markedly improved productivity which in turn contributes to a swift payback period, typically 12-18 months.
Order picking with computer controlled automated storage systems can be further improved by integrating them with inventory management software systems; Multipart Supply Chain Solutions have decided upon this option. IAS Industore software has been designed to integrate 20 Hänel Lean-Lifts with Multipart's ERP system. This combined system will control the functions of picking, replenishment and perpetual inventory. It will also pass commands to a conveyor system in order to control transactions associated with tote movements in and out of warehouse activity zones.
Mayflex Electronics, a Birmingham based electrical parts distributor, have reaped many benefits from this integrated software approach since installing six Lean-Lifts in 2004 (they have recently ordered a further Lean-Lift to complement their operation). Jez Warne, Logistics Manager at Mayflex Electronics, comments on the installation: "There is no doubt this innovative way of working in the warehouse is benefiting our customers. The speed at which goods are picked and replenished using the Lean-Lifts ensures that both efficiency and accuracy are substantially enhanced".