Teamwork plus technology boost productivity 165%
Parts travel from the carousels via conveyor in totes (containers shown for illustration only) to the consolidation area before moving to the QC, packing, and shipping areas. ;Parts in the consumer warehouse are picked from flow racks, then travel by conveyor for packing and manifesting.;DC operations simplified: The parts distribution center for Brother International handles orders for the company's industrial sewing machines and all other product lines, including fax machines and the new mobile co
By Lisa A. Goetze -- Modern Materials Handling, 5/1/1998
The Brother International Corporation Parts Distribution Center in Bartlett, Tenn. implemented several advanced systems recently, and is more productive because of them. The facility's customers, which include consumers, dealers, and service centers, now receive replacement parts for all Brother product lines more quickly. Importantly, the number of employees has remained about the same, due in no small part to the added efficiencies built into the new processes.As a result of the changes, the number of orders shipped has increased tremendously. For example, while the facility fulfilled about 130,500 orders in 1994, it shipped about 191,500 a year later, a 40% increase. That number increased to almost 395,000 late last year, a 200% increase over the rate of a few years ago. To quantify this in terms of labor productivity, shipments per worker have increased about 165% during the past three years.
Brother stresses the importance of teamwork at the parts distribution center. Neyl Williams, warehouse manager, indicates that "each employee has training in at least two functional areas," such as receiving and shipping, while about 60% have training in four areas. Williams also praises the outstanding efforts of the parts manager who oversees the operators who input all orders received by mail, fax, and telephone. He adds that parts ordering via the Internet will be implemented during 1998, thus providing more flexibility for customers.
Process encourages productivity
The parts distribution center employs a total of 26 people (including management) in two shifts, which overlap in terms of work responsibility. The first shift handles all orders received before the cut-off time for same day shipment, which varies by order type. The second shift completes orders received after the cut-off time for same day shipment. These orders are ready for shipment the next business day. Functional areas include order receiving, picking, packing, shipping, and parts replenishment to the carousels (accomplished through "picking in reverse").
Orders are first batched in an AS400 according to shipping method, then downloaded to the manifest system, which is an interface between the AS400 and the storage system. Marvin Elrod, parts director, reports that the facility's receiving process begins at 5:00 am, and that the carousels are dedicated for putaway between 5:00 and 7:30 am. Receiving is performed separately from the picking and packing functions. Put-away is performed separately in order to "ensure accurate inventory levels," says Elrod.
The computer, which primarily controls the carousels, serves several additional purposes. It creates tote labels and picking tickets, and also manages and stores all information about both incoming parts and existing inventory.
Items with a lower turnover rate are located in the bulk storage area, which has an area of 24,000 sq ft. Brother uses stock chasers for picking items and transporting them from the bulk storage area to the consolidation area to be combined with outgoing carousel items.
The two horizontal carousels, each with three 12-ft-high zones, contain items that move quickly. The carousels are arranged such that the most frequently picked items are the most accessible. Workers use ladders to pick items from the carousels. They prefer ladders to a lift system (which was tested in 1990) because the lift system was slow-moving and cumbersome to position, according to operators' comments to Williams.
Each carousel has 17 levels, with a maximum of 32 storage locations, or cells, per level. One flashing light on the light tree at the cell indicates that a pick is required from that cell, while another light indicates the number of parts to be picked from that cell.
One of the facility's two carousels contains parts for the company's industrial sewing machines, while the second contains parts for all other product lines. The bulk storage area contains a mixture of both types of parts. (Larger items and reserve storage quantities of high turnover items are found in bulk storage.) In addition, Brother uses a flow rack to facilitate picking and shipping of all consumer parts.
Using the automated system now in place, parts can be picked in either "pick and pass" mode or "parallel" mode. The latter is preferable because picking may be done simultaneously in the carousel and bulk zones. (In pick and pass mode, picking is done sequentially, first from a carousel, then from bulk storage.) Parallel picking is more efficient for Brother, Williams indicates, because orders sometimes require picking from both a carousel and the bulk area.
The containers (Flexcon) in the carousel are made of steel-reinforced plastic, and can be divided into 1, 4, 16, or 32 compartments. Before installing these containers, Brother had been limited to containers with just 16 compartments. This has been a beneficial addition for Brother, given that the distribution center handles a large number of small parts in addition to larger ones. To accommodate larger parts the single-cell containers are either 21 or 24 in. wide, and 12 in. high, while the divided containers are the same width but about 6 in. tall.
Williams reports that the durable containers offer vast improvements in adaptability compared to the corrugated cardboard containers that were used previously. They also help to enhance inventory and picking accuracy because of the improved organization they provide. Brother now uses these containers exclusively in the carousels.
During picking from the carousel, the tote bar indicates the number of pieces for placement in each particular tote. The plastic totes used on the conveyor line for picking are 11 by 16.5 by 8 in. Totes are sent from both the bulk and carousel areas to the consolidation area, and then to quality control (QC).
After QC, the packer prints the two-part packing slip, one part of which is placed inside the box, and one which is attached to the outside for comparison with the shipping label, which the packer also prints.
The manifest system operator then scans the bar code label on the carton, the first two numbers of which indicate the number of boxes for the particular order. The second part states the control number, and the third section indicates the destination zip code.
All orders go through three rounds of checking, first by the picker, then by the QC inspector, and finally by the packer. Because of this thorough process, Brother reports an error rate of less than 1%.
Once an order is complete, the empty totes return by a third level of (overhead) conveyor to the carousel to be reused. At the end of the day, all orders are uploaded back into the AS400 for easy reference. Invoicing then takes place based on this information.
For 1998, Brother intends to continue its strategy of improvements, in order to handle an expected 425,000 orders. One change planned is to purchase a new manifest system with an in-motion scanner, which will divert boxes with unreadable bar codes (and COD orders) to a separate lane for static manifesting. In addition, tracking numbers will be uploaded into the AS400 for easy reference. The facility will continue to improve productivity while maintaining a corporate culture emphasizing teamwork.
System Snapshot
Brother International Parts Distribution Center Bartlett, Tenn.
Parts handled: Replacement parts for Brother International line of fax machines (including new multi-function center fax), consumer and industrial sewing machines, typewriters, word processors, and the new mobile computing device
Distribution center parts director: Marvin Elrod
Distribution center manager: Neyl Williams
Warehouse size: 36,000 sq ft
Hours of operation: 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 a.m., 2 shifts
Locations served: 2,500-3,000 authorized dealers and service centers
Stock keeping units: 19,000
Storage locations: 40,000 (split between bulk and carousels)
Productivity average: 1,610 orders per day (about 30% consumer orders, 70% dealers, service centers)
Shipping accuracy: 99.68%
Order fulfillment average: 95%
Containers: Flexcon 973-467-3323
Carousels: White Systems 908-272-6700
Flow rack: Unarco 615-384-3531
Manifest system: A.L. Manifest Systems 973-586-8500
Conveyors: Ermanco Conveyors 616-798-4547
Lift trucks: Crown 419-629-2311
Stock chasers: Taylor-Dunn 714-956-4040
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