In Canada, the law requires that manufacturers of certain farming implements must store parts for up to 25 years. As the years pass, one can well imagine that the manufacturer has a great deal of slower-moving parts inventory.
In this particular case, the farm implement manufacturer recently turned to a global professional services firm, whose supply chain practice works with a variety of clients across major industry sectors to design and implement distribution centers. The manufacturer was seeking options to deal with the parts storage problem that was increasing in size with each passing year.
The end-user knew they needed a new building, but what size and what height should it be The global professional services team worked with the manufacturer through three months of design, a little over a year of construction and equipment installation.
They presented three cost-justified options to the client drawing upon over 20 years of experience in supply chain strategy, network design, facility design and
implementation:
- Goods-to-person automated solution, or a
- four-level platform solution which would require a large investment in floor reinforcement, three sets of stairs and three stories of platforms (similar to another recent Western Pacific Storage Solutions (https://www.wpss.com) four-level case study or a
- high-rise shelving solution (38' high) with order picker trucks.
The manufacturer chose the high-rise shelving solution, thus avoiding the floor expenditure, three stories of stairs and platforms. Because they didn't have enough business to justify a goods-to-person solution, likewise, they didn't have large numbers of warehouse workers, manual order pickers appeared most cost-effective.
The global firm stated, "The 38' high shelving solution offered by Western Pacific Storage Solutions is working well. They were responsive when needed. I think the final outcome is a real show-case for our client."
With 90% of the picks happening at the floor level, this solution is an excellent one for small parts. "One word of advice that I would share with anyone contemplating
a high-rise shelving solution is to make sure your installers are properly trained on installing high equipment; installation is quite different as spliced uprights are required."
In 2013, Western Pacific had built one of the first 4-level platform systems in the U.S., but this may be the first of its kind [38'. high-rise shelving] in Canada.
Company: Western Pacific Storage Solutions
Company URL: https://www.wpss.com
