Top Ten Benefits of Fork Truck Free with One Piece Flow and Small Lot (repetitive) Delivery Reduces Inventory

November 17, 2017 Fork Truck Free Info 4437 Views
  1. Improves safety by reducing motion, handling, and forklift movement. READ HERE.
  2. Improves quality by first defecting defects instead of creating a bad batch. READ HERE.
  3. Improves flexibility by shortening lead-times through processes (connected processes, smaller lot sizes). READ HERE.
  4. Improves scalability by making equipment that is efficient with smaller lot sizes. READ HERE.
  5. Reduces inventory by connecting processes and reducing lot sizes through quick changeover. READ HERE.
  6. Improves productivity by working on one thing at a time and cutting out wasted motion. READ HERE.
  7. Simplifies material replenishment by making the speed of material consumption steady and paced to a takt time. READ HERE.
  8. Frees up floor space by opening space used for inventory. READ HERE.
  9. Makes kaizen take root by exposing hidden problems and making them more visible. READ HERE.
  10. Improves morale by promoting cross-training and skill enhancement, as well as identifying and solving problems more quickly and reducing frustration. READ HERE.

Topper Industrial will use this blog to take a deep dive and look at this issue and benefits.

One Piece Flow and Fork Truck Free Reduces Carrying Costs

Carrying or Storage cost is the average cost associated with storing an average production unit for the average time it will be in inventory. Storage costs are significant and often represent 20-60 percent of inventory value on an annual basis.

Carrying Cost per piece varies directly with batch quantity. The larger the batch, the more units will be in inventory.

Quantifying One Piece Flow and Fork Truck Free Reduces Inventory

Inventory management plays a crucial role in balancing the benefits and disadvantages associated with holding inventory. Efficient and effective inventory reduction strategies go a long way in the successful running and survival of a manufacturer or distributor.

Inventory comprises an important part of current assets, particularly in manufacturing industry. A lot of cash flow is committed to inventories; ensuring a smooth flow of production to meet a demanding customer service level is the capacity to deliver product on time. That said, maintaining inventory also involves holding or carrying costs along with opportunity cost. Identifying inventory reduction strategies becomes critical for supply chain and operations professionals.

Using Pareto ABC analysis will help determine which inventory is used most often. In very simple terms “A” is the inventory that is used the most, “B” is the product that is important yet used less frequently, and “C” are the products that are rarely used. “A” classification products are used frequently and can be ordered in a small quantity, or be delivered Just in time (JIT) and will require less safety stock, and “C” products can be ordered less frequently but with more safety stock kept.

Safety stock is used to absorb lead-time variation and demand variation of customer demand and achieve required service level (95 percent in in most cases). Maintaining and reviewing the correct safety stock levels are needed to achieve the right customer service levels and market lead times.

Material flow and the fork truck free environment ensures that inventory levels are reduced and allow savings on costs, decreased lost profit (eliminating carry costs), and free up money for other business operations. Too often inventory is so over saturated that a bulk of it becomes obsolete before it can be sold. When customer demand is forecasted incorrectly, unsold inventory accumulates.

Lean inventory control via one piece flow can be found in the cap of work in process (WIP). In-process cycle times and lead times drop and as a result inventory shrinks, quality rises with the adoption of this process.

Standardizing parts can greatly reduce part inventory to only the standard parts, which can then be “ordered” as a steady flow, with the confidence that they will be used. With enough standardization, the standard parts can even have a small stock on hand to even out product demand

One piece flow and continuous improvement (kaizen) are inter-dependent.  Manufacturers often hide behind inventory pretending they are utilizing one piece flow.  In fact, it is an artificial flow has characteristics, such as moving equipment close together to create what looks like a one piece flow cell, then batching product at each stage with no sense of customer takt time. It looks like a cell, but it works like a batch process.

Topper Industrial (www.topperindustrial.com) is a leading manufacturer of material handling equipment. Topper provides lean material handling solutions to the supply chain.

Topper Industrial is able to engineer and design Industrial Carts (Mother / Daughter Cart Systems, Quad Steer Carts or Tracking Carts, Specialized Delivery Carts, Transfer Carts with Roller Deck, Static Carts, Rotation Carts, Tilt Carts or Kitting Carts), Industrial Cart Components (Parts Department), Industrial Containers (Corrugated and Wire Mesh Containers), PalletsLift/Tilt Systems, and Racking. Topper Industrial designs all products with ergonomics in mind, focusing on ease of use and best positioning of material to get the job done

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