Material flow made easy by BITO
STORAGE , HANDLING & DISTRIBUTION STORAGE & PICKING SOLUTIONS
BITO
Material flow made easy by BITO
Storage and order picking equipment are essential for maintaining efficient material flow . Creating the ideal system will give manufacturers a massive increase in storage capacity and pick rates within the space they have available , says Edward Hutchison , Managing Director of BITO Storage Systems .
Without effective and reliable storage and order picking systems , production and assembly lines will grind to a halt . The Just In Time ( JIT ) supply of parts , semi-finished products and raw materials to production machines requires flexible and scalable warehouse storage and retrieval systems . Systems can be manual or automated , working in combination with continuous units , such as overhead conveyors and conveyor belts , or discontinuous systems , such as Autonomous Mobile Robot ( AMRs ), Automated Guided Vehicles ( AGVs ) or forklift trucks .
Such systems must not only provide a smooth flow of parts through the plant , from storage to feed the line , but also accommodate future growth . And with assembly areas claiming priority over space in most factories , storage and order picking will often need to fit into a constrained footprint . Fortunately , there are many ways that these objectives can be achieved successfully .
Right first time
A good example of a lower cost and space saving method to achieve ‘ right first time ’ part delivery to the line comes in the form of carton or
pallet live systems , comprising flow shelves created from racking . With clear labelling , flow shelves help create effective pick zones because the design provides a density of storage that results in a greater number of pick face locations than would be possible with tradition shelving and racking . Because cartons or pallets are loaded into the flow lane on a first in , first out ( FIFO ) basis , when an empty unit is removed another full carton or a pallet full of parts flows into place on rollers in the inclined lane , ready to pick from .
Compared to a traditional wide aisle configuration , Very Narrow Aisle ( VNA ) racking provides a more space efficient solution for holding general parts , usually on pallets and is served by VNA lift trucks . This is a pretty standard solution these days , though a narrow aisle can be designed to feed a carton live structure , integrated into the rack , running alongside the aisle and providing a dense pick face for parts .
Simple small parts picking
Picking small parts is a vital element in most factory warehouses , and where the goal is to keep things simple , this can be easily integrated within pallet racks . One option is to create small parts pick locations on the reachable ground level , with upper storage levels serving as a buffer store for replenishment . Plastic small parts storage containers will help to store and organise small items and C-parts – making them available for quick and easy picking . This will result in a reasonably efficient picking process but ground floor locations within a pallet rack will , of course , be limited . Flow shelves , however , can be easily installed into pallet racking to increase the number of pick locations and volume of SKUs located on the ground level pick face . Adding standard shelving within pallet racking is another option to create flexible small item pick faces . Using mobile shelving will maximise the available space , though moving the shelves increases pick times . Inclined shelving within a pallet racking bay will make items clearly visible for picking .
Bins and containers
Plastic bins and containers will keep parts protected throughout the intralogistics process and during transport to ensure they are delivered to the line in prime condition . It is worth seeking out storage system supplier such as BITO , which in addition to offering racking , shelving and flow lanes , also provides a plastic container range comprising a variety of sizes and a broad choice of accessories . This will ensure the optimum system is designed to fit a given space , maximising the potential for small parts picking and , ultimately , improve manufacturing efficiency .
For further information , please visit www . bito . com
86 PECM Issue 69