Home
  Users
  MH Glossary
  Material Handling Info
  How to Get Started
  Daifuku America
Material Handling Information - Case Studies - North American Lighting
   
Case Studies - Automotive Industry Application
North American Lighting
Click on any thumbnail for a larger image
Application
  • North American Lighting manufacturing facility -- Salem, IL.
  • Manufactures taillights, turn signals, back-up lights, side markers, and license plate lamps for Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Honda, and other automakers.
  • Output averages around 1.86 million pieces per month with about 750 manufacturing employees.
  • Sustained annual sales growth of nearly 30% created a serious need for more production capacity.
  • Six previous plant expansions used all available space.
Key Customer Benefits
  • Saves 73% of floor space compared to previous raw material storage area.
  • Provides room for two additional molding machines.
  • Improved accuracy, reducing inventory levels and costs.
  • First-in, first-out (FIFO) material control.
Material Flow Requirements
  • Open up floor space to make room for additional molding machines.
  • Improve inventory control accuracy.
Material Flow Hardware
  • One-aisle unit load automated buffer with 288 storage locations.
  • Two fixed-load tables for input/output using forklift trucks.
Computer Control System
  • Real-time inventory control software with interface to NAL’s host computer.
Material Flow Process

Input
  • Receives 35-40 Gaylord containers every day, with information on incoming containers input into the real-time inventory control system
  • Gaylords contain red, amber, and clear acrylic plastic pellets that are molded into lenses for the automobile lighting assemblies.
  • Forklift trucks deliver the Gaylords on a pallet to one of two input/output stations.
  • Unit load Storage/Retrieval (S/R) machine picks up the pallet and stores it in one of the unit load racks.
Output
  • As NAL’s mold machines require replenishment of raw materials, a worker retrieves the necessary Gaylord from the unit load.
  • A forklift truck picks up the container at the input/output station and takes it to one of the molding machines.
  • At the molding machine, the worker inserts a vacuum hose into the Gaylord container.
  • The suction draws the pellets into a dryer that heats them to the point where they can be molded.
Guest Survey