Mouser Warehouse System - continued
Above: Mouser's efficient, flexible shipping department
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The Outcome
Mouser’s system, implemented in phases, accomplishes all its goals. Said Shopp: “If we didn’t have this system, with our growth, I don’t know what we’d be doing. We have increased our inventory value 35% in nine months.”
· Increase Shipping Speed
Originally, the automated distribution center project allowed Mouser to increase its daily output from 1,750 to 2,250 orders per day. That’s increased to more than 5,000 orders on a peak day as the company added customers and shipping stations. Each order involves an average of 3.6 picks, thus over 18,000 total lines picked on peak days.
Mouser picks its most active items from carousels and feeds them onto a conveyor line that feeds the shipping area. Slower moving and bulky items are stored away from the conveyor lines, while the busiest items are situated in bins and shelving near the conveyor line. A dedicated section deals with ESD and Moisture Sensitive parts to ensure they are handled safely and correctly.
Much
of the improvement has come from reducing congestion. “With the
completed carton takeaway conveyor,” Shopp said, “a key was the
amount of
accumulation we were able to design into it without losing
any floor space at all. It was built against an unusable back
wall, up in the air, and over existing areas.”
In the shipping area, selected stations are equipped to handle
UPS, FedEx, COD, and international shipments. This helps Mouser
process shipments more efficiently. “Those Orders requiring
special shipping methods are marked with reflective tape so they
get automatically diverted to the right shippers,” Shopp said.
“Before, it was kind of ‘pack-and-throw’. People would get
whatever, and we didn’t have an automated system.”
The system balances the shipping lines out if one is full (and
the other empty or nearly so). Said Shopp, “At the busiest time
of the day—usually at the end of the day—when we have completed
FedEx and international shipments, the system keeps both lines
working at an even rate.”
· Increase Quality & Shipping Accuracy
Mouser considers the quality and accuracy of its shipments to be
paramount, but didn’t anticipate that its new material handling
system would enhance quality as much as it has.
How much has quality increased? “A lot,” according to Mouser
President Glenn Smith.
“We were thinking it would just make us more efficient,” Smith
said. The system helps Mouser be even more customer-focused than
ever. “We had a goal to reduce footsteps in the warehouse, but
we were thinking mostly about productivity. We didn’t anticipate
the quality increase we’ve seen.”
“Errors have declined 25%,”
Smith said. Considering over the same period that Mouser hasn’t
needed to add personnel or increase work hours, and has seen a
25% increase in its business, the quality increase is
remarkable. Mouser defines quality as the total number of errors
vs. line items shipped.
“We
think one of the biggest factors is the fact that there are
fewer footsteps in the warehouse,” said Smith. “People aren’t as
tired. They are more productive and they don’t make as many
mistakes. There’s no question that the system had a significant
impact on the quality.”
“The reduced congestion has been a huge part of our overall
improvement,” Shopp added. “I think a lot of our improvement is
our new packing
stations.”
The design of the new pack stations has increased the amount of
useful packing space. “People were cramped before—almost
tripping over their workstations with monitors, keyboards,
boxes, and product all in a confined workstation,” said Shopp.
Now, they have room to work in a more ergonomically designed
packing station.
Before any of the shippers arrive at work, their packing stations are loaded with the supplies they’ll need for the day. “Combine it with the bubble wrap rolls,” Shopp said, “and you’ve eliminated a lot of downtime simply by allowing people to pick more orders without having to get boxes and supplies.”
· The ability to adapt to future requirements
Mouser’s goal of being able to change its facility for future operating requirements was satisfied in the project. The company can convert to its preferred picking and shipping methods when the time comes.
· An Appealing, Safe, and Pleasant Facility
Besides
making order picking more efficient, the conveyor overpasses
mean employees don’t have to deal with lifting gates during
their shifts, a definite ergonomic improvement. “For us,” said
Shopp, “that was a great thing.”
Belt conveyors added another quality-of-work advantage:
silence. “The new belt conveyors compared to the old roller
conveyors has made things a lot quieter,” Shopp said. “Plus,
they conform to our future requirements.”
Mouser also pursues a pleasant working environment. Its vendors,
suppliers, and customers are impressed with the new warehouse.
“It’s a ‘wow’ factor,” said Shopp. “It’s an image we want to
encourage. We set up the warehouse with good lighting, air
conditioning, dry walled walls, and textured, painted ceilings.
We want it to look nice and be a place people like to work.”
Mouser isn’t finished growing and continues to expand its business with a keen eye on its distribution and warehousing systems. The company has become so adept at distribution that it now acts as a 3PL (third party logistics) company for a few key vendor partners. Mouser expects that part of is business to grow as well.
Since this article was originally published in 2003, the company announced a new, 225,000 square foot expansion project to add additional capacity and growth. Cisco-Eagle was recently selected to implement a material handling system for the expansion. The expansion is expected to be complete in summer 2006.
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