Product category:
Other lifting, loading and elevating equipment
News Release from: Autoscan | Subject: LogiMat vertical lift
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 31 January 2003
Verical lift ups store capacity, cuts
space by 95%
Installed and fully operational in just four weeks a vertical lift system produced faster pick-rates, bigger and more flexible parts-storage capacity whilst significantly reducing floor area.
Installed and fully operational in just four weeks, faster pick-rates, bigger and more flexible parts-storage capacity whilst giving a significant reduction in store floor-area from 300 to just 15m2 - these are just part of the impressive statistics relating to the installation of a LogiMat vertical lift at Tetra Pak Hoyer, the world's leading supplier of production equipment for the ice-cream industry Tetra Pak Hoyer is a global organisation, providing sales and services from six regional centres and a worldwide network of authorised agents
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 30 Apr 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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Its headquarters is situated near Aarhus in Denmark and its from here, or to be more precise, from the Customer Service Logistics Department managed by Lars Madsen, that all spare-parts are distributed.
Prior to installation of the LogiMat vertical lift all of the company's production sites operated a distribution service; the new storage solution has allowed the company to rationalise its core distribution activities under one roof, bringing together over 5,000 different product categories.
The LogiMat vertical lift, which is available in the UK from high-density storage specialist Autoscan, can best be described as a computerised chest of 'hi-rise' draws.
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Each drawer, divided into compartments of various sizes, is held within a LogiMat vertical storage 'slot'.
When a product for selection is identified on the adjacent computer screen, the drawer containing that component is moved onto the vertical lift mechanism and is delivered at a convenient position for the operator, eliminating heavy lifting, bending or stretching.
Once the item has been picked the drawer returns immediately to its original location leaving the vertical lift ready to fetch a new drawer without delay.
With the new vertical storage lift Tetra Pak Hoyer has reduced its warehouse-space by ninety-five per cent and accelerated picking times significantly.
"The reduction of space, as well as the increased ability to pick much faster were expected improvements and formed the basis for purchasing the LogiMat Vertical Lift.
We have also experienced a vast reduction in the time taken for stock replenishment, which we did not anticipate," says Lars Madsen.
"The company is in better shape now than ever to serve all its customers around the world with spare parts from one single location".
Random access storage - picking list is viewed on the computer screen, once an item has been selected automatic retrieval is activated, bringing the relevant drawer to the picking-counter.
The counter has been ergonomically designed to provide the ideal working height, and furthermore leads the operator to the right location by highlighting the relevant compartment in the drawer with a laser-spotlight.
The operator then picks and scans the required number of items.
The systems software identifies exactly which drawer is the more suitable to store the particular items.
The analysis is done on the basis of requirements of drawer-size, which items the lift already has handled and how often.
The items are stored in a "random access" order or at "fluid" locations based on the optimum location for the particular item.
The computer-system keeps check of the items by using the first-in-first-out principle, and provides continuous stocktaking by location or item.
Both loading and picking is handled by bar codes.
"Prior to the installation, we hadn't used bar-coding for our items", says Lars Madsen, "it took us a couple of days to give bar-code references to all 5,000 products.
We now know exactly what we have in stock at all times, giving us valuable additional information.
This is also why stock replenishment is faster, all we do is feed the system with a bar-code list".
Containing the footprint of the store to just 15m2 has had a marked impact on reducing time spent walking or driving to collect components, resulting in a vastly increased number of pickings per operator per work day.
Other tangible benefits created by the vertical lift include fewer people to operate the new store and a capacity to handle more work in the Customer Service Logistics Department such as the distribution of sales materials etc.
From initial discussions, the LogiMat storage solution seemed to be very simple and logical as well as very innovative and robust.
The system has an excellent user-interface and a remarkably well designed Windows-based control solution that allows easy integration with any existing computer-system via an ordinary PC; at Tetra Pak Hoyer it interfaces directly with a "Baan" ERP-system.
At the same time the system provides automatic updates of stock, as well as a complete history of transactions and a broad spectrum of other reports.
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