Industrial Storage Solutions for Manufacturers
Manufacturing Efficiency through Improved Industrial Storage
Finding space to keep up with demand is the most common problem in growing manufacturing companies. Whether space is needed for increased inventory, SKU proliferation, more machinery, or more staff, the question is always the same: How can we get more efficient in how we use our existing space?
Optimizing Storage in the Same Footprint with Industrial Storage Solutions
Problem:
Manufacturing operations typically have a lot of heavy, complicated, fixed equipment. As the need for industrial space optimization increases, it is not ideal to move to a new location; effort and cost associated with a manufacturing facility relocation can be prohibitive.
Manufacturers should instead consider optimizing the existing facility to gain storage space. Instead of hiring a rigger, optimizing the facility’s existing footprint can make it possible to keep the floorplan the same, which requires significantly fewer changes to the overall manufacturing operation.
By analyzing the storage space and flow of the existing facility, it is possible to minimize moving manufacturing equipment, which keeps costs low and reduces manufacturing downtime.
Solution:
By storing items on shelving or pallets, manufacturers are missing out on the storage space above floor level load. Installing industrial racking can double, triple, or quadruple industrial storage space, depending on the height of the facility.
By utilizing carton flow in a modular rack, like FlowCell and SpanTrack, facilities can gain up to 80% more space due to the compression of the pick window. When an employee is picking from a pallet, all locations on the pallet must be accessible by the employee, and all those locations must remain accessible even if they’ve already been picked because the physical pallet must remain. SpanTrack requires only one static location for each item, and the rest flow to that location automatically. This greatly limits the need for costly open space around pallets and potentially dangerous reaches for far-away products.
The same can be said for pallet positions in a rack. When beams are set up to hold full pallets, that position becomes fixed. While ground-level space is utilized, regardless of how full the pallet may be, the space it occupies is constant. Reaching into racks to pick from the rear of pallets is difficult, dangerous, and costly. With SpanTrack, the product always flows to the front, and the fixed storage space is the depth of the lane, which allows for substantially greater density where it counts: the pick face and the overall height.
Manufacturing Innovation: Optimize Lineside Storage
Problem:
Storing bulk items lineside takes up valuable real estate, even when the material requirements are minimal. Sometimes it’s necessary to produce subcomponents to leverage machine efficiency or minimize setup costs. The problem becomes: where should the rest be stored?
Solution:
Right-sizing storage products and equipment is a fantastic way to free up real estate where it matters in a manufacturing facility – lineside. By storing only what is necessary for an hour, shift, or production run on the line; manufacturing facilities can achieve:
- Reduced storage space requirements,
- Shortened production line, and
- Improved productivity.
Utilizing a lineside rack, like FlowCell, optimized for a manufacturing line’s specific requirements creates dedicated, sequenced flow lanes for the optimal number of products. Lineside racks prevent the overstocking of parts in the most critical space in a facility and shift it to fewer sensitive areas like the warehouse or supermarket.
Optimizing Storage Mediums and Carton Flow to Improve Throughout
Problem:
Cramming inventory into a space that’s too small can come at the expense of productivity. There’s a reason why the lean principles of manufacturing don’t include a “manufacturing junk drawer.”
Solution:
With a dedicated, engineered storage system, there’s a place for everything and everything has a place. The SpeedCell dynamic storage system offers an incredible amount of defined, labeled, locations for slower-moving products. SpeedCell also creates fixed locations for products, and it’s a great solution in manufacturing facilities for infrequently used items like maintenance and service parts. Although the locations are smaller, density is increased by 500%, and there is a significant reduction in travel and search time.
Carton flow solutions like SpanTrack lane features dedicated lanes for specific boxes. SpanTrack wheel bed offers various labeling and guiding systems. SpanTrack creates fixed locations, which helps eliminate searching for both pickers and replenishers. When totes flow to the front, users don’t have to bend, reach, or struggle to pick items or full containers. This flow makes their interactions predictable, teachable, and repeatable. The consistency also helps make it easy to train and compare different employees or shifts, further optimizing performance.
