How do you implement Lean in a Warehouse
There's no production line no processing and by Its Very nature the Places full of
Inventory Which we Know is waste i'm Tim mclean and This is a TXM Lean case study
Henry Technologies are a leading international manufacturer and distributor of
Components for Industrial Rep
refrigeration and air Conditioning
Henry Technologies manufacture a Small range of Bespoke
Products Here in australia But most of The product range is Now Manufactured in their factory in China and distributed Globally
Including Through This Warehouse in Melbourne
Today I'm with Jason Owen production manager for Henry technologies
We're in Henry technologies warehouse to talk about how Lean Thinking?
Has Transformed Everyday Warehouse processes
Jason to start With
Can You tell me about the Kind of Challenges That Henry technology were
Facing When you that may Just decide to set Out on Applying Lean in the warehouse
we had a Lot of Bottlenecks
We were getting Good order Rates and Just not having the ability to process them
And we're making a Lot of Mistakes Because we're so cluttered
People were trying Their best But We Just couldn't Find a Way Just to improve Reduce the Mistakes and Get product out on time
We first Worked with you in your manufacturing Facilities here and in china
So what made you really think that Lean Was the answer for the warehouse
We could See where we used to have bottlenecks in production Which we Then Worked on and we Split it up into
Separate tasks of the one Job we Build pressure Vessels and
Instead of Having all This glut of Work in there we went to single piece Flow
and Where we could we Could split parts of The Job Up and we Thought They could Work in the assembly
In the warehouse as Well so What were the major Changes That TXM Helped You implement in the warehouse?
we did a complete Relay with all the the picking benches and Reduced all the Bottlenecks and we Just had the flow
Come across the Benches There Was less Picking Up with products so less physical Movement?
So we Reduced a Lot of time waste and Reduced a Lot of The errors that we're making okay and you also
Made Changes in Terms of Racking or
With the flow racks that Was one of the first Things that We Implemented was Just so much Easier to
replenish All The Fast Moving stock in the flow racks
Lot Less Forklift Transactions
and the pickers to then Go and Gather most of Their most of Their stock
Reduced Manual Handling Issues where we had bulk Pallets That People had to go and Get
So so many less Forklift Transactions and We Could Have our dedicated Forklift Driver do that Rather Than Part-Timers
and We Could also Then Put products That Were Heavy in between sort of
In between your belt and you and you and your Shoulder line Yeah Rather Than having to bend down
Economic strike Salad Right in the so that we're avoiding bending or lifting you know
so you can Design The pig face for Safety Really Couldn'T It yes yeah and
Also for different Heights of operators as Well with the benches and
we can tailor The Roller Axe to suit the height of our Staff as well But often Safety and Productivity Go together don't that Pretty
Much Hand in hand yeah it's interesting to your comment about
Stuff You use all the Time
Being Down the back of the warehouse it's amazing how often we See that but the most commonly i picked items
Actually in the most distant Location in the warehouse
When We Started The Project that It Seemed insurmountable to try and Get it all in the manner that We Wanted
But When we Just broke it the any of the chunks and we had dedicated People That Could Work on Certain Things
So one person didn't
Have to do the Whole task and it Just made it so Much Easier and
We Got It done in Good time What Advice Would You give to other warehouse managers Looking to implement lane
you Just Need to start somewhere
first Thing i would do Would Be consult Somebody Like TxM
formulate a Plan That might Be Baby Steps you may find that It Needs a Bit of capital
But you Need to start somewhere Things like The the Red Red and Green Board Very easy to implement and
Highly Visible and Everything Should Just Be Highly visible
Has a task being done and That's Just a Great start then you can Work on your economics and Things Like That Where you need
To spend some money
That's Great Thanks Jason Henry technologies offer a Complex range of products to large customers in a Technically Demanding Industry
Lean Thinking has enabled The warehouse team to significantly improve its performance
This has Led to improve customer service and
Reduce costs Thank You for viewing This case Study of The Henry technologies Warehouse Lean Transformation
Please Contact Txm if you want to learn more about how you can transform your Business using Lean Thinking
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