Monster in the sky
slimmed down its warehouse.
By Sonja Randall -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/1/2000
Capable of the rapid strategic delivery of military troops and all types of cargo, the C-17 Globemaster III is the newest, most flexible cargo aircraft to ever enter the airlift force. It's also one of the biggest.Furthermore, the 2005 delivery date for 120 of these aircraft doesn't leave a lot of time for Boeing to assemble them. After all, it takes just under 2 years to assemble one aircraft from fabrication of the first part to final delivery to the U.S. Air Force.
Such a project requires streamlined warehousing and manufacturing operations - especially considering that over 800 companies supply parts to each $180 million aircraft. To meet the U.S. Air Force's 2005 deadline, Boeing's warehousing operation had to meet two major objectives: reduce storage requirements and trim the time needed to pick parts.
"After consolidating with McDonnell Douglas there was a push to fuse real estate," says Jim Brown, senior manager of C-17 inventory and receiving operations. Horizontal carousels helped get that done.
"Our primary reasons for automating were to support a higher rate of aircraft production while sustaining the current head count and reducing the square footage of the warehouse footprint allowing for inventory consolidation from other Boeing warehouses."
The project included the integration of multiple material handling and storage technologies, including automated horizontal carousels, conveyor subsystems, shipping sortation conveyors, order pickers for high bay pallet racks, real-time controls, and a warehouse management system (WMS).
Twelve horizontal carousels (Diamond Phoenix, www.diamondphoenix.com ) house 65% of the parts inventory that used to fill the entire warehouse. Warehouse control software integrates the Boeing mainframe host computer to the carousel system, directs order consolidation activity, and provides radio frequency data communication (RFDC) bar code scanning warehouse-wide.
"Before automation, some areas of the warehouse stored multiple part numbers in the same bin due to space constraints. We had a 50/50 chance of pulling the right part," says Brown. "Identifying the selected part and replacing it with the correct one was obviously inefficient."
Now each bin has a unique part number, which contributes, along with carousel automation, to the overall 5:1 picking productivity. Boeing also has a handle on age and lot control of parts with first in/first out.
Return on investment (ROI) was another important challenge for Boeing in installing the automated system. The company had to have at least 15% annual ROI over 5 years. In addition, the installation of the carousels had to meet the deadline of October 1999 for the system to reach this goal by the time the 120th plane was ready for the runway.
The 260,000 sq ft facility was successfully consolidated to 200,000 sq. ft. after installation of the carousel system.
Picking parts now
The largest parts of the aircraft, such as four turbofan engines for each aircraft and wing parts, are diverted to the Long Beach, CA assembly area, eight miles south of the warehouse.
Smaller, more maneuverable parts, must all go through the warehouse.
Previously, Boeing employees pushed carts up and down aisles walking to and from bins, guided to picks by paper tickets. But now, the carousels bring the materials to the employees, making the process paperless and therefore much more efficient.
Upon arrival at the warehouse, each part is inspected. Critical information about the receipt such as the document number, how many pieces were received, their size, weight, and other details are entered in Boeing's mainframe database system. This process closes out the scheduled receipts.
Parts are then transported to the storage location area where a "store" transaction in the mainframe produces a bar code label. Scanning the label with an RFDC scanner passes ownership of the part from the mainframe to the WMS which then directs warehouse employees through all warehouse processing-storage, picking, consolidation, packing, and shipping.
To induct parts into the carousels, the bar code, with part information, is scanned with an RFDC hand-held terminal. The part is placed into a bar coded tote which is also scanned. The WMS searches and locates a location within the carousel system based on the size and quantity of parts set for putaway. With a location selected, the tote is placed on a conveyor that delivers it to the WMS-selected location.
To fill a request for parts stored in the carousel, the host system downloads order information to the WMS. The WMS sends pick instructions to the carousel control system location pod (six pods of two carousels each) for picking. The operator selects "picking" on the workstation screen and selects the orders available to pick. The system automatically loads picking commands while, simultaneously, the operator lines up order totes and scans them for order assignment. As many as eight work orders can be processed at a time from each pod. Then the operator pushes a function key that signals that the order is ready for picking.
The carousel control system optimizes the picking sequence across all work orders and instructs the carousel to turn to the first position where the first part number is located. When the location arrives, a light tree on the carousel lights up, signaling the operator that this is the level to pick from. The light tree also shows how many of each item should be picked and the specific location to pick from. The parts are placed in the tote position lighted on the sort bar containing the totes. The sort bar task button is pushed to complete the picking transaction. This decrements the inventory and starts the carousel moving to the next picking position.
As each tote is completed, the sort bar lights up the words "done." This means the order in that tote is ready to be pushed out onto the conveyor for routing to the order consolidation and shipping area.
Two levels of conveyor control the transportation of incoming totes (bottom level) and orders going to workstations (top level). Orders may be picked in parallel, from any workstation at the same time, or picked and passed until the order is complete.
Completed orders are diverted in totes to appropriate lanes in the consolidation area.
Operators scan the tote and are directed to either the packing and shipping area or the order assembly area. If the parts in the tote complete the order, the are placed on a packing and shipping workbench next to the conveyor lane. If the parts in the tote need to be combined with large parts from outside the carousels, the operator transports the tote to its assigned order assembly location, directed by the WMS.
Parts in the packing area are shipped in a common container that is also bar coded.
"We picked products we know we will continually benefit from," says Brown. "The system has capabilities that we have just begun to tap."
The entire system was designed, developed, tested, and put into production in less than nine months.
Benefits at a glance
- Materials are brought to employers instead of employee walking through the warehouse
- A savings of 56, 000 sq. ft. of space
- Better handle on age control
- Increase picking efficiencies 5 to 1
- Increase in number of daily work orders
SYSTEM SNAPSHOT
Boeing C-17 warehouse
Carson,CA
EMPLOYEES: 75 operating 7 days/24-hour/365 days
WAREHOUSE SIZE: 150,000 sq. ft.
SUPPLIERS:
AUTOMATED HORIZONTAL
CAROUSELS:
Diamond Phoenix
207-784-1381
www.diamondphoenix.com
CONVEYOR:
HK Systems
800-HKSystems
www.hksystems.com
WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:
Catalyst International, Inc.
414-362-6800
www.catalystwms.com
WORKSTATION SCALES:
Measurement Systems
International
800-874-4320
www.msiscales.com
RFDC TERMINALS:
Intermec
Technologies
425-348-2600
www.intermec.com
LIFT TRUCKS:
Crown
419-629-2311
www.crown.com
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