Vertical lift modules (VLMs) shuttle parts
140-year-old oilfield products and service provider uses shuttle vertical lift modules to cut order picking time and free up floor space.
By Lorie King Rogers, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 10/1/2009
For more than 140 years, National Oilwell Varco has been providing customers in the oil and gas industry with high quality custom products and services—everything from spare parts to comprehensive drilling systems including rig equipment, integrated systems, downhole tools and supply chain solutions.
The company prides itself on delivering unlimited custom solutions. But along with custom jobs come custom parts, lots of parts. National Oilwell Varco's warehouse in Houston, Texas, supplies about 9,000 parts to its manufacturing facility. To streamline operations and improve efficiency, the company redesigned its warehouse and installed three shuttle vertical lift modules (Remstar, 800-639-5805, www.remstar.com).
Prior to installing the vertical lift modules (VLMs), parts were stored on standard 20-foot rack and shelving. Workers had to navigate aisles and ladders to collect the parts to complete an order, averaging 4.72 minutes per pick. "We needed to decrease that," says warehouse manager Brenda Esman.
With the VLMs, parts move automatically. There about 3,000 warehouse parts already loaded in the shuttle VLMs, which are automatically delivered directly to the operator on a tray at an ergonomically correct height. Further, the VLMs are equipped with lights that direct the operator to the exact location of the part, displaying the quantity and part number, increasing accuracy and productivity.
At this point, about half the parts for an order are picked from the shuttle VLMs and the other half from shelving. The redesign has reduced the average picking time to 2.64 minutes, a 44% increase in productivity. Esman's ultimate goal is to get all the high usage parts (about 5,000) into the VLMs. "As we move more parts into the VLMs, we expect to see the productivity numbers increase even more," says Esman.
In addition, the VLMs occupy 797 square feet of floor space, compared to 2,654 square feet needed for shelving. With the recovery of 70% of floor space, the company relocated the staging area into the warehouse, making delivery of completed orders from the VLM or shelving area much quicker.
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