Reusable containers fill in-house needs
Employee examines stampings going into a returnable container used to deliver parts just-in-time to the company's assembly operation.
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 5/1/1998
By working with Mercedes-Benz to develop a unique just-in-time delivery program with reusable shipping containers, managers at South Charleston Stamping & Manufacturing (SCSM) found that the same techniques and container types could be applied to its own in-house materials handling operations.SCSM operates a modern, 922,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in South Charleston, W.Va., some 800 miles from the new MBUSI plant. The company manufactures sheet metal stampings and sub-assemblies such as floor pans, firewalls, and roof assemblies that are ready to go directly into the M-Class vehicle assembly line at the new MBUSI plant.
Because SCSM is a major supplier to the automotive industry, the on-time delivery of large quantities of components is critical to the company's success. Consequently, SCSM is a shipping-oriented company, with a series of truck doors, special box car loading docks, and barge loading docks on the Kanawha River, part of the Mississippi/Ohio river system.
"We ship about 40 containers per day," says Gary Casto, a SCSM industrial engineer. "We were pleased with the way the system worked and decided to try the containers in our own manufacturing operation."
At SCSM, both sizes of containers-45 in. x 48 in. x 25 in. and 45 in. x 48 in. x 34 in.-are used to deliver stampings from the press room and progressive tooling operation to the assembly area.
Casto says that just-in-time delivery is as valid a concept for in-house operations as it is for shipping parts to customers. "We've determined that using the same approach to deliver components to our own operations on a need basis saves time and helps improve throughput," he says.
In SCSM's internal materials handling system, stampings are delivered to the assembly area on a need basis. After the component parts are removed from the container, it is collapsed. The collapsed container is the signal to the lift truck operator to retrieve another full container from storage, deliver it to the assembly area, and pick up the collapsed empty container for return to storage.
The containers used by SCSM in its manufacturing operation are color coded, just as are the containers used to ship parts to MBUSI, so that there is no confusion about the size of the container.
"Each of our components has its own packaging specification," Casto says. "Included in that specification is the color code of the container to be used for materials handling purposes."
SCSM currently uses about 2,000 shipping containers, two-thirds of which are used in the company's own manufacturing and assembly operations. The remainder are used to ship parts to MBUSI. The containers have been integrated into the material handling operation at SCSM for approximately a year.
"The primary benefit that we've found with these containers is that they can be collapsed and stored in a relatively small amount of space," Casto explains. "The ratio is about 3:1, meaning that we can store three collapsed containers for every full container. We need less warehouse space than we would need for traditional types of containers that don't store flat."
The containers are sturdy, are easily handled by a lift truck, but can be moved by hand when collapsed. "They meet 99 percent of our materials handling and shipping needs," he adds.
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