Material Handling Information - New Facility Planned
Floor Space
New Facility Planned
The complex, inefficient material flow process in this old facility needs to be completely reworked from a clean sheet of paper.
In this new facility, the material flow process is dramatically simplified and far more efficient.
Problem
Existing facilities have been expanded as much as they can; need a new building.
Cost of land and new construction is very high.
Processes have been modified to work with previous phased expansions; not optimized for productivity.
Business must reinvent itself often based on changing markets and technologies.
Customers and suppliers continue to increase their influence on internal processes.
Solution
Think vertical - The cost of a building is based on square footage. Building higher and making use of vertical space with mini load, unit load, or high-speed box buffers gives you more floor space without increasing square footage.
Think process - The old process doesn’t work; start with a clean sheet of paper and let your material flow define your building layout, not the other way around. Shrink the distance material must travel, and only touch material when you can add value.
Think flexibility - Your business will change; design your new facility so that you can readily adapt or change operations to meet customer demand.
Involve your customers and suppliers in the design process to see how you can work together more efficiently.
