Optimizing Future Warehouse Flows and Material Storage
Efficiency was a central tenant when expanding capabilities with the addition of a new 225,000 sq ft Central Distribution Center on an existing site of The Ritedose Corporation, a blow-fill-seal focused contract development and manufacturing organization. Optimized material storage and movement needed to be designed into the new facility, but with the additional space would also come new touchpoints, materials, and travel distances—all carrying the potential for increased operational waste.
The catch-22: Unknown future operations data was needed to better inform today’s warehouse design and flows. Ritedose turned to CRB’s warehousing specialists to gain these necessary inputs and promote lean operations by minimizing operational waste.
Project Details
Client
The Ritedose Corporation
Location
South Carolina
The challenge: Understanding future warehouse needs
The client needed to ensure material transportation between and within the expanding campus did not create large operational wastes. In order to design for efficient warehouse flows, the team first needed to answer two main questions on future operations:
- How much space would material need to occupy within the new warehouse building to accommodate forecasted future growth?
- What material should be stored in the new warehouse to minimize non-value-added material transportation time/touchpoints?
The approach: Analyzing the data and developing racking plans
To start, our team of lean warehousing consultants collected data on material information, inventory times, historical production throughputs, forecasted throughput growth, and transportation time/distance. This data was then used to build a forecast model to estimate the storage needs for each material type.
A systematic material flow and storage analysis was developed to determine the optimal storage strategy across the three buildings, aiming to minimize touchpoints and travel distance while supporting the unidirectional flow of material within the building. Once the material storage strategy was agreed upon with the client, our warehouse specialists developed several conceptual-level racking plans to illustrate the amount of space that would be occupied in the new warehouse when supporting the forecasted storage demand. The analysis helped optimize the square footage required, thereby freeing space for other functions, like a QC lab.
The results: A lean storage and material handling equipment plan for multiple warehouses
The warehouse study projected the storage space needs (raw materials, WIP, packaging materials, finished goods, retains, etc.) to support the client’s forecasted future growth. The space demands were then allocated to each of the three facilities so that each material type would be centralized in a dedicated building (ex., all WIP would be located together). This approach helped to reduce material transportation and touchpoints.
A storage and material handling equipment (MHE) plan was also developed for the allocated warehouse space within the new facility. This plan was driven by key operational characteristics such as throughput, physical item dimensions, and inventory policies. The MHE detailed the layout of material storage racks, laydown space, forklifts, hand trucks, additional equipment needs and support functions. Alternative plans were developed and evaluated based on space efficiency, storage capacity, labor requirement, ease of use and cost.
Not only did CRB provide insightful, data-driven answers to Ritedose’s two main questions, but thanks to our attention to detail, breadth of lean methodology and deep industry knowledge, the client quickly expanded our scope of involvement to help achieve their larger project goals and targets.
This is just one example of our consulting team’s many data-driven solutions that have helped our clients implement lean manufacturing practices to optimize biopharma warehouse flows and inventory management. If you want to get more out of your new or existing warehouse, we can help you find out how. Talk with our warehouse experts today.
