Material Flow Management and Engineering
The savings potential is immense when a well thought out material flow strategy is implemented. Throughout the life cycle of a plant, with the different product introductions, building changes, and process changes, what was once a well designed material handling strategy becomes “just how we do it today”. Design Systems’ material flow experts work to save our customers money by reducing the waste in their material handling operations. Areas of focus include overall site material handling and logistics:
- Traffic Flow Plan
- Dock Allocation Studies
- Material Storage Needs
- Material Handling Equipment Methods
- Material Flow Paths
- Line Side Delivery Flow
- Material Handling Labor Requirements
- Packaging
- Containerization Requirements for Delivery and Line Presentation.
- Power Industrial Vehicle Tracking System
- Cross Docking
- Sortation Sequencing
- Site Traffic, Yard Management, and Truck Flow
- Internal Logistics – Material Routing Plan / Circle of Work Approach
- Material Flow Database - Inputs
- Material Flow Database - Outputs
- Commodity / Dock Inbound/Outbound Analysis
- Pallet / Bulk and Small Lot (Supermarket) Storage Analysis
- Indirect Labor and Material Handling Analysis
- Indirect Labor and Material Handling Simulation
- Commodity Receiving Engineering and Analysis
- Trailer and Container Cubing Analysis
Site Traffic, Yard Management, and Truck Flow
Are you expanding your current facility or looking for a new location (Greenfield or Brownfield)? Adding shifts, adjusting output for your facility, or having a new tenant sharing the same resources can cause problems. Congestion getting in to or out of your facility can cause delays in both inbound and outbound shipping and even worse extra costs incurred by shipping companies for dwell time.
Let DSI help solve your known problems and avoid future concerns with proper planning. We can apply your specific turn around times or use industry standards. We then evaluate site logistics and yard switching requirements to assure that when you need that shipment of material to continue production it is at the dock door. The logistics analysis will help determine the total yard space required, the total receiving requirements (including personnel), best practice for live unload vs adding a switcher for the yard, and the best traffic flow and yard layout to keep things moving without unnecessary congestion caused by poor shipping yard utilization.
Internal Logistics – Material Routing Plan / Circle of Work Approach
Once you have the shipment in the yard you need to get it to the point of use for the operator, manufacturing, or re-packing location. How much money do you spend every year on non-value added inventory? Are you wasting money on indirect labor, excess material handling equipment, or building leasing / expansion costs due to inefficiencies in your internal material flow and logistics operations? If you have a hunch that you are wasting money but can’t quite put your finger on it you are probably right. Before you spend precious capital money on new buildings / expansions or material handling equipment take a look at your existing operations to make the most out of what you already have. Many companies spend years developing a new product or process and just assume that somehow the material will show up when they need it.
DSI has both the tools and experienced engineers to perform a complete analysis of your complete internal logistics operation. By using the concepts of the Toyota Production Systems (TPS), Lean Manufacturing, Just in Time (JIT) inventory management, and non-value added analysis we will assure that every aspect of your material flow are analyzed. Each aspect of your internal logistics operation will be analyzed independently and as a complete Material Routing Plan (“Circle of Work”) required to assure that no stone (or cost) is left unturned. It is essential to determine how one variable impacts the next step in the circle so that the right business case is made for the final material handling plan.
Material Flow Database - Inputs
DSI has created a proprietary database to manage the significant amounts of data required for any material flow analysis. The database requirements and formats are customizable to each customers requirements and expectations. Our experienced engineers have the hands on approach for data gathering, data mining, and analysis to create a Plan for Every Part (PFEP).
Material Flow Database - Outputs
Once the inputs are gathered the rest of the material handling tool box can be quickly executed for error free results. The same database is utilized for all portions of the material flow study including line display, storage analysis, material kitting, sequencing, repacking, and pick and pack operations, receiving and shipping dock analysis, material flow analysis, and facilities and equipment (material handling equipment) requirements.
Commodity / Dock Inbound/Outbound Analysis
The first step in any material handling analysis is to determine how the inbound material, outbound material, and finished product get into and out of the facility. By understanding the overall facility and usage points a macro level plan can be established. From there, proper planning for new or expanded facilities implementing the correct number of docks is critical to a successful material flow plan. As any cost pyramid goes, the longer you wait to make the right decision - the more it costs. Excess docks, insufficient docks, or having docks in the wrong location to properly support internal logistics and shipping locations will drive unnecessary capital expenditures.
DSI uses proprietary tools to conduct dock analysis for a facility which take into consideration direct and indirect load and unloading time, trailer setup and paperwork requirements, and trailer switching time. DSI has experience in all types of dock unloading process whether using Stripper Systems, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), Automated Guided Carts (AGC), Self Guided Vehicles (SGV), self advancing trailers, Fork Free Carts (Dollies), or traditional fork lift load and unload.
In addition we can provide budgetary costs, bid packages, capital equipment build and buyoff management, installation oversight, and customer certification / buyoff documentation for all of the above options.
Upon determining the optimal unload process, the next step is to ensure that you have the right number of docks in the right location to have a cost effective material flow strategy. Our proprietary tools are integrated into the material flow database and utilize the data (container, usage, etc.) contained and maintained within the database. We will evaluate each dock interpedently, each group of docks as a unit, and finally the entire flow of material throughout the facility.
Pallet / Bulk and Small Lot (Supermarket) Storage Analysis
Nothing drives costs into a manufacturing facility or warehouse quicker than excess inventory. But nothing shuts down a facility and causes failures quicker than running out of raw material to complete the assembly process. How do you find that fine line between Just in Time (JIT) inventory requirements and keeping the shipping line running without costly down time due to inventory shortages?
DSI will perform a complete analysis based on production outputs and shipping frequencies to determine the best solutions for managing your inventory. The DSI database is designed specifically for calculating storage requirements for a facility. The database allows the user to quickly modify different storage methods (floor, pallet racks, etc.) and parameters (storage height, lane depth, etc.) in order to create an optimized storage plan. After the storage requirements have been calculated DSI will determine exactly where and how all inventory will be stored within the given facility and dock requirements to best serve the final production or warehouse environment. We will design optimized small lot (supermarkets), bulk or pallet storage, empty container or pallet return, and shipping areas to minimize non-value added travel and adhere to lean resolutes of First In First Out (FIFO) and point of use storage.
Indirect Labor and Material Handling Analysis
No matter how big or small your facility is assuring the proper number and work assignments for indirect labor is crucial to the execution of a successful material flow strategy.
The DSI database is designed to create the data files required for analysis by third party software applications. We have engineers with the experience not only to do the number crunching but we live and stand by the results of our calculations. Our team will work with your indirect operators and supervisors to understand the intangibles that can be missed in a theoretical computer environment to assure that the model is representative of actual plant situations. Our database is flexible enough to use the standards that your organization uses for various material handling requirements (pick and drop times, trailer loading times, travel speeds, etc.)
If you don’t have engineering time standards, we have the experience to create them based on industry standards and detailed time standard or MOST / MODAPTS analysis. As with everything we do, lean is the driving factor with a complete Yamazumi analysis (line balancing) to assure that the work load is shared across the various indirect operators. Value added, non value added, and idle time are all easily identified.
Whether you need help with existing material flow concerns or you are planning for a building expansion or Greenfield site we will work with your team to assure that the completed material flow analysis meets our expectations!
Sure, you have heard about Fork Free implementation but does it make sense for your operations? How will adding tugger routes save you money and improve safety?
DSI has extensive experience developing fork free methodology to manage breaking down storage areas onto dollies and delivering to the point of use. We have worked with trailer manufactures to handle over the road dolly train delivery direct to the dock. The DSI database allows the user to model tugger route analysis by interacting with CAD drawing data. DSI’s tugger analysis methodology establishes an initial run of a static simulation model, which then provides elements to decide the running of a dynamic simulation of targeted areas or commodities. It has been customized to accurately analyze complicated tugger delivery routes to assure that peak demands can still be met.
Indirect Labor and Material Handling Simulation
So you know what you want but you have to sell it to your management to prove that the money you are going to spend will work. Or worse yet you just aren’t convinced yourself that the plan you are putting together will work. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a full simulation proving all of the aspects of your material flow program must be worth a million words!
DSI’s simulation engineers have modeled all aspects of material flow. Automated stripper docks, AGV, SGV, AGC, fork free, traditional fork lift, and automated material handling equipment as well as daily traffic considerations like maintenance vehicles and pedestrians can all be included in the simulation. For more information on the extensive abilities of our Simulation Group click Here.
Commodity Receiving Engineering and Analysis
As a part of our industrial engineering group, material logistics is proving to be a tremendous cost-savings for our customers. From internal routing of parts to trailer and container cubing, the savings are there for the taking.
Trailer and Container Cubing Analysis
Manufacturing and Industrial Gallery
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