The 'experts' say that U.S. manufacturers can't compete without outsourcing jobs to overseas countries with cheap labor.

The 'experts' also say that inner city factories are dinosaurs, doomed to extinction.

Valkyrie is proving those 'experts' wrong on both counts. One of the last domestic manufacturers of leather accessories like wallets and PDA covers, Valkyrie is competing against low-cost producers from an 118,000 square foot plant located in an inner city neighborhood in Worcester, Mass.

The secret to Valkyrie's success, says Jim Devaney, president, is a penchant for high quality and rapid product development to catch the latest fashion trends. Making that combination possible is an investment Valkyrie has made in a new, highly automated materials handling and manufacturing system.

Automated storage carousels at both the front and back ends of the manufacturing lines (Diamond Phoenix, 207-784-1381) maximize storage space of components and finished product.

The carousels are integrated with a specialized conveyor and overhead work-in-process (WIP) storage system (Anzani SpA, 39-0331-491900) that automatically routes kitting totes with WIP materials and component parts through the various manufacturing steps.

The results are impressive. 'With lean manufacturing and automated materials handling, we reduced our standard lead time from twenty to five working days,' Devaney says. 'Our productivity has really improved.'

Founded in 1969, Valkyrie survived for years as a private label manufacturer with a reputation for high quality and product development. But in the late 90's, it became clear that the company had to come up with a new formula to remain competitive.

The answer was to offer customers a total business solution, from product design through order fulfillment capabilities across multiple distribution channels, including the Web.

Key to this strategy was Valkyrie's ability to quickly get a wide variety of product to market, and to manage the inventory for its customers until the merchandise is sold.

'Our product development skills let us offer our standard products in as many as 18 different colors, which gives our partners a uniqueness of product,' Devaney explains. 'And because we're close to our markets, we can respond to moving trends with speed that shuts out the Asian competition with longer supply chains.'

To offer that level of service, Valkyrie needed a flexible and highly-automated manufacturing system that could respond to demand.

The manufacturing system was implemented first.

The computerized systems route kits that contain raw materials and components to available workstations to complete each of the 15 steps that go into producing the typical product. Workers can adjust the height of ergonomically designed workstations so they never have to lift a tote.

Between steps, the kits are staged in a space-saving overhead conveyor system until the next workstation becomes available.

After the manufacturing system, Valkyrie installed three rows of storage carousels at the front end of the process. They store and feed components, thread, snaps and zippers to the manufacturing line. The two systems were integrated to share manufacturing information in real time.

The carousels are arranged for efficient picking. Depending on the components needed to fill an order, all three carousels may be rotating at once. That way, when an operator is done picking parts from a tote at one row, the next tote for that order is waiting in the adjacent row.

Now that the component storage carousels are running, Valkyrie is implementing a second set of carousels to store finished goods.

In fact, Devaney says, business has picked up to the point that in the midst of a manufacturing slow down, Valkyrie is expanding production and hiring more employees for the line.

'If we had not automated the facility, we would've become an importer like everyone else,' Devaney says.

Click the icon to see how Automated Distribution Systems uses carousels to automate its operations.