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In today's fast paced manufacturing world; time is money. The right mix of trained workers and required parts to keep the manufacturing floor running is vital to success. Using lean manufacturing initiatives to reduce waste in the manufacturing process can help organizations find the right mix that leads to profit. Saia Burgess, a world wide motion solutions manufacturer, is continually looking at ways to lean out waste.  
            Saia Burgess is a manufacturer of a wide range of motion control solutions at their Vandalia, Ohio manufacturing facility. Motion control solutions, such as solenoids and switches, are used in a wide range products globally including: ATMs, security monitoring systems, medical devices and military systems. 
Leaning Towards Efficiency
            With a company wide push to lean processes and cut waste, Saia Burgess turned their attention to the warehouse. "Lean initiatives were going on throughout the company, in every department," said Tim O'Brien, Materials Manager, "part of lean is taking out the waste and looking for better ways of doing things and the warehouse was right for that."  
            To keep nine manufacturing departments operating efficiently, Saia Burgess keeps just over 10,000 SKUs on hand, previously stored on shelving. "I t became apparent we were doing a lot of very redundant activity through the day," said O'Brien, "Sometimes going to the same spot 10 or 12 times a day to pick the same part, just for a different work order." 
            In a lean effort to do more with less, Saia Burgess replaced the stockroom shelving with four KardexRemstar horizontal carousels integrated with pick-to-light technology and FastPic inventory management software. Seventy percent of all parts (6,800 SKUs) are stored in the new carousel system, with bulk SKUs remaining in the shelving.   "We shrank the number of people required, cycle count accuracy is higher and we are able to pick orders faster and more efficient, it was a very successful lean effort," said O'Brien.  
The Paper Picking Past      

    Prior to introducing automation into the stockroom, workers had a one to one relationship with an order, each worker focused on picking one order at a time. Pick tickets were generated daily and workers would walk throughout the shelving searching for all the parts they needed to complete the order. When the order was complete, they would deliver it to the correct department and return to the stockroom to pick the next order in the pile of pick tickets. Workers often visited fast moving part locations several times a day, creating redundant activity.

The KardexRemstar Solution
            Implementing four KardexRemstar horizontal carousels integrated with pick-to-light technology and FastPic inventory management software changed the way orders were processed. One worker can now batch pick up to six orders simultaneously without walking or searching for parts. Eight assembly department group leaders print material packets indicating the parts they require. When the material packets are printed, the order is downloaded from the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) Movex software to the FastPic inventory management software. Part orders can be entered days before the material is required. The department manager delivers the materials packet and a cart to the stockroom, indicating the order is ready to be picked.