manufacturing foods
THE SITUATION:
One of the nation’s largest food manufacturers is 60 years old and has a facility that had been expanded several times. The areas of distribution center operations were usable but not optimal.
Old coolers had narrow aisles and over 65% of the distribution center’s product storage racks were damaged; many of them were well beyond safe usage.
Case Study
THE CHALLENGE:
The warehousing portion of the facility has -10-degree Fahrenheit temperatures and five days a week of 24-hour activity, with 12-to-16-hour operations the remaining two days.
How could we coordinate the unloading, dismantling, installation, and reloading of product without interrupting a high-volume distribution center with huge freezers turning inventory 100% every five days?
THE CHALLENGE:
The warehousing portion of the facility has -10-degree Fahrenheit temperatures and five days a week of 24-hour activity, with 12-to-16-hour operations the remaining two days.
How could we coordinate the unloading, dismantling, installation, and reloading of the product without interrupting a high-volume distribution center with huge freezers turning inventory 100% every five days?
THE OBJECTIVE:
To repair and replace all damaged components without disrupting operations as well as prevent future damage. Keep material flowing through the facility without creating unsafe, temporary traffic or bottlenecks.
THE SOLUTION:
On Thursdays and Fridays, the distribution center was broken into several zones. The distribution center warehouse manager identified new production runs and manually “reverse slotted” SKUs to vacate locations through attrition.
New and used storage rack materials were procured and received but kept in the receiving area and outdoors. An empty truck and dumpster were staged for old materials.
Crews arrived on Friday at 5 pm and worked through the weekend. During each subsequent weekend of the run of the project, warehouse forklift operators rotated stock to clear new work areas for the crew as work was completed.
Pre-owned racks that matched the old, uncommon existing material were found and procured.
THE RESULTS:
All the freezer racks were replaced or repaired after three weekends of work.
The old rack systems were brought into safe RMI compliance for 35% of the cost of new materials. The client saved $170,000 over the course of the project as a result of choosing Used Warehouse Equipment.