Business smells sweet at Givaudan Fragrances Corp.

Givaudan produces fragrances for personal care products like soaps, laundry detergent, shampoos and perfumes at a production plant in Mount Olive, New Jersey. The 180,000 square foot facility includes 110,000 square feet of warehouse and production space.

Although it is a greenfield facility, Givaudan still faced time and space constraints that called for a unique materials handling solution, according to Cindy Buntzen, production manager at the plant.

To maximize storage in a 40,000 square foot warehouse area, Givaudan installed high-bay racks that are accessed by narrow aisle lift trucks.

On the production floor, the fragrance producer turned to vertical lift modules (VLMs) to provide high-density storage of raw materials with minimal loss of floor space.

These units utilize vertically arranged trays, an extraction platform, and a series of computer-directed controls to store, locate and retrieve the raw materials that are used to produce fragrances for Givaudan's customers.

'The high-bay rack area is great for bulk storage,' Buntzen explains. 'But in production, we often just need small amounts of raw materials. It's impractical to send someone to the warehouse or wait for a lift truck for those amounts.'

With VLMs (Remstar, 800-639-5805) on the production floor, raw materials are never more than a short walk away.

At the Mount Olive facility, bulk shipments of raw materials are stored outside in a tank farm. Containerized raw materials are shipped in on pallets.

When pallets are received, Givaudan's inventory management system generates bar code labels for containers to track the material. At that point, raw materials are sampled for quality control purposes, and the product is staged in the warehouse for putaway.

Raw materials are stored in a high bay rack system. Pallets are delivered on narrow aisle lift trucks equipped with bar code readers, and the operator scans the location to confirm the putaway.

'There are no assigned locations,' says Buntzen. 'Since we're a fully containerized warehouse, the driver chooses a location based on whatever is available.'

Once stored material has been scanned, it's available for production.

The VLMs, located in the production area, are used to store materials in small quantities that are easily accessible to compoundersi preparing fragrances.

A central unit features three different access openings. Workers and office employees at a mezzanine location above the ground can access the unit from different sides, and at different levels.

The unit has 38 storage trays that measure approximately 4 feet by 3 feet. The trays feature a system of dividers that can be adjusted in one-inch increments to make the best use of the space. What's more, an automatic height sensor determines the height of the product being stored.

While VLMs are primarily used for storing raw materials used in the manufacturing process, Givaudan also stores small quantities of sample fragrances that customers order over the Web.

The inventory management system manages both putaway and replenishment of the high bay storage area and the VLM. The system determines what materials will be stored for production in the VLM based on upcoming orders. The overall mix of raw materials is reviewed and adjusted on a quarterly basis. Replenishment of product that's been removed for production is done on a daily basis.

'When a product in one of the units requires replenishment, the system sends an order to the warehouse,' says Buntzen. 'The raw materials are delivered by lift truck to the unit. Then an operator stores them in the unit and scans the location to confirm the putaway.'

The plant produces batches of fragrances in quantities as small as a few hundred grams and as large as thousands of kilograms.

Production begins when an order is entered into Givaudan's system by the customer service department. The order flows first to a planning program that verifies that all raw materials to make that order are on hand. At that point, an order is created and delivered electronically to the workstations on the production floor that will be involved in that order.

Narrow-aisle lift truck drivers in the warehouse also receive orders on their radio frequency units for material quantities that are too large for one of the vertical storage units. Product is removed from the high-bay storage area and delivered to the proper workstation.

Compounders at the workstation print out batch sheets for that order. The batch sheets will list the raw materials and quantities needed for the order as well as a tray location in a VLM. The compounder manually enters a location number. When the tray is delivered, the raw materials needed are removed and the tray is returned to its storage location.

Once a batch is mixed, a lift truck delivers the finished product for a quality control check. If it passes inspection, the material is delivered to the packaging area. There, large volume orders are pumped out of a production vessel and into a bulk container. Smaller quantities are packaged by hand into a container for shipment. A shipping label is applied to the container, and it's staged for putaway in the warehouse or delivered to the shipping dock for just-in-time orders.

Buntzen says vertical storage has added significantly to the plant's success. 'The vertical storage units can be operated by anyone with minimal training,' Buntzen says. 'Having raw material in the hands of the people doing the blending as soon as possible makes them more efficient. This unit provides that for us.'

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