Top Ten Benefits of Fork Truck Free with One Piece Flow and Small Lot (repetitive) Delivery Frees Up Floor Space

December 8, 2017 Fork Truck Free Info 3509 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 of the most financially quantifiable impacts of one piece flow and small lot delivery is freeing up floor space. Because single piece flow naturally works within a cell, there is less space for the accumulation of inventory between processes. A cell is setup to maximize production floor space and improve communication between processes to improve quality and increase throughput. There is no waste associated with defects, scrap, unneeded stacks of raw material, or stacks of finished goods waiting for the next process. None of those costly elements exists because as soon as inventory is created (in the form of one unit), it is absorbed and processed by the next station and so on, down through the line.

Batched parts occupy much more space than a single piece flow, especially if batches are so heavy that forklift aisles are needed. Eliminating fork trucks can drive a space savings up to 30 percent of a manufacturing plant floor.

Companies anticipating expansion or new plants discover that in the fork truck free environment, current manufacturing facilities are often more than adequate.

If setup can be eliminated or reduced, the need to manufacture in batches, then parts, sub-assemblies, and products can flow one piece at a time. One piece flow may be essential when building to-order a wide variety of standard or mass-customized products. It also eliminates much of the waste of batch-and-queue manufacturing: waiting, interruptions, overproduction, extra handling, recurring defects, and other non-value-added activities.

Lean Implementation
There is a myriad of benefits of a lean implementation resulting in one piece flow, small lot delivery, and the fork truck free benefits. A safer workplace with defects reduced by 30 percent or more are often the result. Quality costs improvements increase up to 50 percent with delivery lead times reduced by more than 50 percent.

On Time Delivery Improved to 99+ Percent
With inventory (working capital) reductions of more than 50 percent and optimized equipment (capital equipment utilized for direct production and support) the ROI of the implementation of lean is rather simple to accomplish.

Most manufacturers report between a 30 to 50 percent reduction in floor space requirements while achieving a return on assets improvement of 99+ percent. A competitive world class manufacturing operation starts in a Fork Truck Free Lean Manufacturing Environment.

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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