Scott Stone | Warehousing Insights | Material Handling Systems - Part 10
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Pallet Rack Clearances: Lateral, Vertical and Building Structures

May 11, 2021

Warehouse rack with worker placing a pallet into tight space on a pallet rack

One of the critical aspects of pallet rack system design, aside from the specs of the rack itself, are the various clearances between rack components, the loads and the surrounding environment. Flue space can be critical for fire safety compliance. Space between a rack row and the row behind it can contribute to a safer and more effective rack system. Narrow aisles can contribute to accidents. Too tall? You could cause damaged and falling inventory, as well as damage to fixtures or HVAC components.

At the end of the day, the space around the rack is nearly as important as the rack itself.

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Posted in Pallet & Warehouse Racks|

Congressman Kevin Hern Visits Cisco-Eagle to Discuss Supply Chain, Employee Ownership

April 27, 2021

Congressman Kevin Hern visits Cisco-Eagle Tulsa Office

U.S. Congressman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma’s First District visited Cisco-Eagle’s Tulsa offices on 4/5/2021 to discuss the impact of distribution, manufacturing companies that keep the supply chain moving. Congressman Hern discussed employee ownership and its positive impact on the economy during this visit.

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Posted in ESOP & Company News|

How to Design and Utilize Storage Buffers

April 20, 2021

Bulk storage buffer at a warehouse

Buffers can be found in most warehouses and manufacturing facilities, and they take many forms. You can build buffers into racks, floor space, conveyors or external storage areas like truck trailers. When you need to temporarily store materials before they enter putaway, shipment, kitting, processing, or another production process, what are some of the best design, equipment specification and usage practices?

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Posted in Space Optimization & Planning|

Improve Productivity with Ergonomic Storage System Design

April 15, 2021

Carton flow storage loaded with the most frequent picks in the golden zone for ergonomic efficiency.
For order pickers, packers and others in industrial facilities, warehouse ergonomics is critical to both safety and effectiveness. The way you store and pick can enhance productivity — or hamper it. In an age of labor shortages and spiraling costs, it pays to design for ergonomics. The core of that is where you place items for picking and processing.

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Posted in Safety & Ergonomics|

How to Make Packing More Efficient

April 6, 2021

Automated packing area for an ecommerce distribution center, pick-to-totes operation.

Above: in this automated e-commerce distribution center, picks are packed into cartons from totes on the conveyor line. Because conveyors deliver the totes directly to workers, and the work is executed at ergonomic heights, the process is fast and efficient.

Order fulfillment is only as fast as its slowest function, and packing–often the last stop before shipping–can be a bottleneck. We’ve analyzed many operations that underestimated the needs of the packing department from the start, while others realized over time that new requirements, new SKUs and order volumes that were fine at go-live eventually bogged the packing function. It’s not unusual for picking processes to react faster and better to these conditions than the packing area.

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Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

Announcing the Retirements of Chris Doyle and Larry Trowbridge

April 1, 2021

Retirement party

From right to left: Elbert Haggard, Chris Doyle, Darein Gandall and Larry Trowbridge

Effective March 31, 2021, two of Cisco-Eagle’s longest-tenured and most influential employee-owners, Larry Trowbridge and Chris Doyle, are retiring.

Between them, Trowbridge and Doyle have served the company for 55 years and leave a legacy of friendship and excellence. We are profoundly grateful to them as they move to the next phase of their lives.

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Posted in ESOP & Company News|

A Guide to Workstation Reach Zones

March 23, 2021

assembly line with integrated conveyors and workstations.

You should always analyze the economy of movement for repetitive tasks like assembly, packing, picking and repair. Imagine reaching to the same shelf, for the same carton, to pull the same part. How many times a shift does someone make that reach? How many working days a year? How many years? Shaving time and effort off a simple repetitive motion can shave time off your process and improve ergonomics over the years.

To do that, look at how many times–and places–your people reach for things on a daily basis.

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Posted in Storage, Organization & Workstations|

Integrating Conveyors and Industrial Lifts

March 2, 2021

scissor lift for pallet handling in a conveyor line.
Above: scissor lift/rotator at the end of pallet conveyor line

Conveyors and scissor lifts are frequently integrated due to the fact that it’s such an efficient way to manipulate loads along a conveyor line. Loads can be lifted, raised or rotated on a lift table for a variety of activities. When you need to actively work on a conveyed item, it’s ideal. Here’s how to go about it.

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Posted in Lifting & Lift Systems|

Pallet Rack Safety: Preventable Risks

February 16, 2021

warehouse worker and pallet rack aisles.

Pallet racks are safe and stable storage for pallets and bulk loads in warehouses, factories and other facilities, but you should be aware of the kind of dangers they pose when misapplied, modified or neglected. In any safety program, you’re always looking for risks you can prevent. What are some avoidable risks when it comes to pallet rack?

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Posted in Pallet & Warehouse Racks|

Where to Add Warehouse Guardrails

February 9, 2021

Hallway with guardrail lining the walls for safer operations.

Facility safety for many warehouses focuses on industrial traffic and vehicles like forklifts or stackers, and no wonder—the damage that a simple mistake can do, and the people that can be harmed—is considerable. There are many varieties of guardrail systems, and they all function a little differently but have the same role: solid protection for a critical area when all else fails.

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Posted in Safety & Ergonomics|

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