After several years of growth, Mississippi Valley Stihl knew it needed to upgrade its product storage and organizational system to alleviate some warehousing and shipping challenges.

Since installing three vertical lift modules (Hanel Storage Systems, 412-787-3444), the Peoria, Ill.-based company cut 12 labor hours from its daily order process time— more than 40% savings. The company distributes tool parts and accessories, including chainsaws, trimmers, edgers and drills, to northern Illinois and Iowa.

"As our product lines and customer base continued to grow, we found it was taking more employees longer to pull the orders by hand," explains Mike Joynt, company president. "Our efficiency was decreasing dramatically with this growth, and our error rate began increasing. Service levels were just not where we wanted them to be."

Previously, every day at 4:30 p.m., three office workers would join the warehouse staff until 6:30 p.m. to help pull parts and accessories for shipping. With finished goods, parts and accessories warehoused in 17,000 square feet, workers literally walked the aisles to pull the items needed to fill individual orders.

All that changed with the three vertical lift modules, which are 22-feet high, 9-feet deep, and 51-inches wide. These powered units provide dense storage without limiting access to parts. In fact, the company now stores 6,000 items in just 400 square feet. Previously, 7,000 square feet were required for the same inventory. Similar parts are organized on trays stored in the units, maximizing accessibility.

After implementing the powered storage systems, the company was also able to institute a batch order process. Now, when an order is received, the system automatically moves to the modules' software, which batches it with as many as 14 other orders. The parts are then brought by the unit to the pick window where an operator selects the items and places them in totes. A powered conveyor takes away totes so picked items can be matched with any other parts in the same order picked from other modules.

"One person can now pick the vast majority of small parts and get orders moving more quickly," says Joynt. "What used to take 28 hours to process now takes 16, and the goal is to cut that time in half." Additionally, the system can be operated by just one person. "Some day we'd like to offer same-day shipping, and with the new system we think it's possible, even as we continue to grow," continues Joynt.