By moving product into a high-density rack layout serviced by a narrow-aisle, sideloading lift truck, Winco improved its handling capabilities and now saves time. The new system also has improved inventory accuracy by 75% and slashed delivery time 50%.

Winco is a window manufacturer based in St. Louis, Mo., producing 15-25 standard window designs in addition to a number of custom window shapes.

The firm stores approximately 500 stockkeeping units (SKUs) in its warehouse. These SKUs are generally 22-foot lengths of aluminum extrusions going to a neighboring production operation as semi-finished material. Window units are shipped to building sites for immediate use and to warehouses for distributor sales.

Winco had grown 38% in the previous year and had experienced a proportional increase in products it stores.

As the production of window units increased, it became clear to Winco that it was less expensive to implement a high-density storage facility than to increase building size to gain capacity. Winco adopted a narrow-aisle layout that could increase storage density by as much as 60%. Coupled with this layout is a sideloading lift truck.

A 30,000 square feet facility houses Winco's receiving and storage operations. Three nearby buildings provide production facilities and office space.

The sideloading lift truck is particularly suited to this application because of its ability to maneuver in tight spaces and to load and unload transport vehicles as well. This rack-to truck capability gives Winco the capacity to handle long narrow loads, such as the aluminum extrusions in the warehouse, as well as to move products within the storage facility.

There are 10 rows of rack in the redesigned facility; seven are standard cantilever design and three provide vertical storage for the extruded shapes. Aisle width has been reduced from 13 feet to 7.5 feet. The result is an approximate space savings of 58%. Storage locations are established by sales volume, with frequent movers nearest the destination points.

Prior to implementing the narrow-aisle layout, Winco used a conventional rack/lift truck combination that required floor storage of products when inventory increased.

"Inventory accuracy was in the neighborhood of 50%" in the prior system, says Frank Brodeur, materials manager at Winco.

"By moving product off the floor and organizing it into rack locations," he asserts, "inventory accuracy has improved 75% - 85%."

"The time savings of locating and transporting aluminum extrusions from storage to production with the side-loader lift truck amount to at least 50%, simply because workers don't have to move floor-stored product to reach a target load," adds Brodeur.

The lift truck vendor provided training on two separate occasions. Training on the side-loader vehicle was an important aspect to Winco because it was an entirely new mobile equipment activity than it had been accustomed to. In less than a week, however, the operator was proficient with the truck.

Drexel
205-672-2200
www.drexelindustries.com