The Problem
A custom team uniforms manufacturer presented us with an issue involving storage at its Warwick, Rhode Island facility. They were in need of a method to increase their storage for more SKUs as they currently were not able to organize and efficiently store each item.
One of the main issues in their storage process was the positioning of their racking. Racks were set back-to-back making only one side of each rack accessible to staff. The other issue was their use of rolling racks along the edges of the facility to store additional SKUs. These rolling racks were not big enough and did not provide an efficient method of storage along the edge of their facility.
The client was in need of a major re-organization of their racking and storage process as a whole!
The Solution
We recognized immediately that the re-organization of their racking was priority #1. In order to accomplish this, we reached out to our friends over at Trademark to take the existing racking down and move it to incorporate more aisles and access to each side of each rack.
We then removed the rolling racks along the edges and replaced them with new static shelving with hanging units that not only provided a more sturdy solution, but also provided more storage as a whole considering that the static shelving was a few feet higher than the rolling racks.
We did encounter some special circumstances that required additional accommodations to the project. This came in the form of one day on site followed by a day off site as they still needed their staff picking and working to decrease downtime. We were able to find an efficient method of moving 2-4 lanes of racking each day, then allow them to fill that racking on the day off site. We continued this process with the client until the project was complete!
As a result we were able to increase their storage by 70%! This resulting from improved facing locations of racking as well as more efficient pick paths. Our ability to utilize all of the available cubic space in the facility, while still maintaining the existing footprint helped increase product accuracy, safety, efficiency, and most importantly employee moral!
Special Thanks
Hats off to our sales rep, Justin Lincoln-Grogan; our project manager, Don Moccia; and our friends over at Trademark for another great project!