The goal of all automation is to gain productivity while expending less effort. Aerospace manufacturer ITT Industries recently accomplished this and more when it automated storage that supports production at its Aerospace Controls facility in Valencia, Calif. The new horizontal carousels have freed space in the building, decreased labor needs by nearly 75%, and increased picking accuracy and productivity.

ITT Industries is one of America's leading industrial manufacturers, with over $5 billion in sales annually. The 200,000 square foot Valencia facility manufactures valves and actuator products for aerospace needs, as well as industrial switches used by chemical, oil and power companies. Each of these products contains small, light-weight parts and components that are now stored in the horizontal carousels (Diamond Phoenix) prior to production. The parts are later picked as kits for assembly, which is performed in work cells.

Prior to the upgrade, the parts were stored on static shelving and picked one at a time. The process was slow even for an experienced picker.

"We were very labor dependent in that area before," says Bob Lacy, director of materials. "We even had to bring in temporary labor to cover periods of peak demand."

The new systems have since reduced average labor needs in the storage area from 15 to 4 people. This has contributed significantly to an expected return on investment of only 18 months. Also, all of the paperwork was handled manually before the carousels were installed. This often caused errors and extended the length of time needed to pick.

"With the manual system we often pulled the wrong parts and would not find the error until it was discovered in assembly," says Debra Tietz, supervisor of inventory control.

Now selection is performed using pick-to-light with no paperwork involved.

The carousels units are centrally located within the building between the two main assembly areas and adjacent to machine shops to facilitate flow.

"When we built this facility five years ago, there was not much thought of flow," says Lacy. "We now have centralized operations, with the carousels in the middle feeding assembly on both sides. It really flows well now. It is a wonder that more companies do not use these kinds of systems."

Raw materials and components enter the facility at the receiving dock. Bar stock and castings are placed onto wheeled carts for transport to storage. Upon arrival, they are placed into cantilever racks, pallet racks and shelving.

Cartons of components and small electronic parts are also placed onto carts at receiving and taken to quality review, where the cartons are opened and the individual pieces are inspected and counted. If the parts are needed for current assembly operations, they are placed onto other carts and taken directly to workstations in assembly or subassembly areas. Upon arrival there, they are transferred to shelving adjacent to the assembly cells.

Other parts not needed immediately are bagged, labeled and placed into a cardboard bin to prepare them for putaway in the carousels. The bins are then placed onto a wheeled cart and taken to shelving next to the powered storage units. When workers there are prepared to receive new stock, the bins are placed onto a short section of conveyor that feeds the carousel processing stations.

Workers scan each item to begin putaway. This causes the carousels to spin to the assigned place where that part will be stored. Lights on the carousels indicate the proper unit and shelf to deposit the parts.

"We have mapped zones within the carousels to store parts used in the same assembly close to one another," says Lacy. "This maximizes our kitting."

The worker places the item into the storage location and pushes a button to confirm proper putaway. The entire processing area of the carousels is built on a lift platform that is able to raise and lower to bring the worker within easy reach of the storage locations.

In addition to receipts, most of the subassemblies manufactured in the facility, such as motors and electronics, are also brought by cart to the carousels for storage.

"The carousels have done what we expected," adds Tietz. "We have made gains in our productivity."

The manufacturing resource planning software determines which units will be built in particular cells.

"The MRP really drives the process," says Lacy. "It releases materials to the manufacturing cells when that product is needed."

Eight bins are staged at put stations within the processing area of the carousels. The bins are used to gather kitted parts and subassemblies needed for each build, with each bin holding parts destined for a particular assembly station. The worker scans a bar code on each bin and the location bar code to assign that bin to its staging slot. The system is now ready to begin assigning parts to the bins.

Labels listing needed parts are printed while the carousel units spin to the locations where the parts and subassemblies are stored. Lights illuminate next to the locations showing how many of each part to pull from storage. Lights and quantity indicators next to the totes also illuminate to show which bins require the parts and assemblies from that location and how many parts to place in each. The worker bags the needed parts, inserts the printed part label inside the bag and then places it into the assigned bin. She then pushes a button to confirm the operation. More labels print and the process is repeated until all needed parts have been gathered into the eight bins. The bins are then pushed off onto a takeaway conveyor spur for later transfer to a wheeled cart. The cart will carry the bins to the manufacturing cells.

Meanwhile, bar stock is removed from conventional racking and taken by cart to the machine shop where it is cut and shaped. Finished metal is carted to quality assurance for inspection. Work is measured for size and proper tolerances, then is wheeled on to the manufacturing cells or stored in the carousels.

Assembly is performed on U-shaped benches within the manufacturing cells. The kits of parts and subassemblies are removed from the delivered bins and used to build the valves and switches made here. About 30% of the completed products are tested and packed for shipment directly within the cells. The remainder is taken to a separate testing and inspection area upon wheeled carts, then to a packaging area where the products are placed into corrugated cartons. Foam peanuts or paper are added to help protect the packaged items.

The cartons are then gathered onto carts and taken to the facility's shipping dock, where almost all will ship to customers via UPS.

Lacy says his goal is to have all of the testing and packaging eventually occur within the cells.

"Eventually our shipping operation will be melted into the process," he says.

Click on this icon to read how carousels have kept production stoked at Weil-McLain