Focus on the finish line when designing a new system

Before putting a new materials handling system in place, you need to get a handle on your overall operational goals.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 11/6/2007

Where do you start when you begin to put a new materials handling system in place? Brian Hudock, a partner at Tompkins Associates, says the first thing he does is step back and look at the big picture.

“Before doing anything, I want to understand their overall operational goals,” says Hudock. “What type of orders and volumes are they trying to get out the door? What’s the time frame to fill them? How do they define the perfect order?” 

• Know what the customer needs to accomplish. This, Hudock says, allows you to evaluate the existing equipment, systems, processes and staffing in light of those goals. “At that point, we can determine whether they have the right people, processes and tools in place to get the job done,” he says. 

• Look at the way product flows across the equipment.  This is the next step. “What we’re looking for is whether the system is balanced so we don’t have gaps in the flow,” says Hudock. 

• Benchmark the facility to determine how people and equipment are being used, Hudock says. “That process will identify what the real problem is, and suggest what the right solution might be. 

Hudock says he is currently working with a client that installed a new unit sorter designed to handle 5,000 units a day but was only handling 2,000 units a day. “They thought the scanner wasn’t reading properly and that was preventing the sorter from performing up to snuff,” says Hudock. 

While there were problems with scan reads, Hudock says the real issue was the flow of materials in and out of the sorter. “Those imbalances meant that product was circulating too long before it went to a packing station and that slowed down the picking process,” says Hudock. “Once we got rid of the mindset that it was a technology issue and focused on best practices, the sorter was operating efficiently.”