Case Study 1
Chelsea & Scott


No more backlog with Hytrol conveyor system

Chelsea & Scott, a.k.a. One Step Ahead, located in Lake Bluff, Illinois, was founded in 1988. The company is a distributor of toys, clothing, and accessories for children infant through eight years old. The company uses a 105,000 sq. ft. distribution facility to fill orders. About 150 workers are employed here. Prior to the installation of the Hytrol system, the facility used gravity lines. Workers picked into totes, then manually pushed the totes to the packers. After packing, the orders were pushed to the case sealer, then to outbound scanning, and finally to shipping. This method caused backlogs on the entire line, especially in the shipping area. Boxes would pile up there before being loaded on outbound trucks.






The firm realized the issues in their system and, with their increased business, knew a solution had to be found. They wanted to eliminate slowdown in the movement of the product going out the door and provide a smooth flow in the entire operation. They wanted a system that would make better use of the manpower in the operation, allowing all employees to be productive. They wanted a system which would handle current as well as future needs. They did not want to make another investment in the near future. Finally, they wanted a way to automatically move the used totes back to the pick location to begin the process again.
Conveyor Solutions, a Hytrol distributor located in Schaumburg, Illinois, lived up to their name by providing the perfect system to handle Chelsea & Scott’s needs.




"We no longer have to push the totes through the entire facility to get the order out the door," says David Kizer, director of distribution for Chelsea & Scott. "The pick tote can be placed on the conveyor in the back of the warehouse and move all the way to the pack station without intervention. The highest payback may be at the outbound scanning area. Before, this area was continually jammed with product. We had two or more people working in close quarters and always behind on the scanning/weighing process. Now, a single employee can run this area comfortably with minimal lifting of product."






How the System works: Order sheets are taken to the picking area to the proper zone. Orders are picked into totes, several at a time, until the order is completed. The tote is then placed on the outbound conveyor which takes it to the packers. The packers scan the order sheet in the tote and each item on the sheet is displayed on their PC. All items are then scanned and verification is made that the order is complete. The products are then placed in the appropriate size shipping box, the shipping label attached, and the box is placed on the outbound conveyor. Once the box is taped, it is moved along the line through a series of photo eyes that determine to which outbound ramp it will be sent. This is determined by workload. The box is then weighed and scanned a final time to create a shipping manifest. The scanned boxes are placed on a takeaway conveyor where the boxes are sorted based on the shipping carrier.


Adapted from: http://www.conveyorsolutions.com/chelsea-scott.html

System Hy-lites
Facility Size:
105,000 sq.ft.
Employees:
150
Product Handled:
Toys, clothing and accessories for infants to eight years old.
Throughput:
5,000-6,000 cases a day
Types of Conveyors:
ACC, ABA, ABEZ, & LRC as well as gravity roller & skatewheel
















Case Study 2
Faster Recharge battery for forklift!


Article adapted fromhttp://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx



Quick recharging vehicle battery
Toshiba plans to make a quickcharging new battery for forklifts, construction machinery and other industrial use.
Toshiba Corp.’s Super Charge ion Battery, to start shipping in March, can recharge to 90 percent of its full capacity in less than five minutes, Toshiba spokeswoman Hiroko Mochida said.
Toshiba, a newcomer in rechargeable batteries, said the new lithium-ion battery, with a life span of 10 years, could be used in hybrid and electric cars by 2010, Mochida said.
Battery innovations are expected to be key in making hybrid vehicles more widespread because lighter and easier-to-recharge batteries will make it easier to offer variety among hybrids. And they will allow vehicles to travel farther on electricity.
“This is a truly innovative battery,” said Toshiba Corporate Vice President Toshiharu Watanabe.
The new battery will first be used in electric bicycles, motorcycles, forklifts and construction machinery. It can work in temperatures as low as minus-22 degrees Fahrenheit.
Most lithium-ion batteries in use now, such as those in laptop computers, require hours to recharge to full capacity, with the fastest ones requiring about half an hour.
Toshiba also said its new battery is unlikely to rupture or catch fire, problems that have beset some lithium-ion batteries used in laptops.
The Tokyo electronics-maker expects global sales of the new fast-charging battery to reach $893.7 million by fiscal 2015.








Case Study 3
TCJ turns focus to forklifts

Diversifies into distributing Italian manufacturer’s trucks after slump in building projects
Sasithorn Ongdee The Nation
Co n s t r u c t i o n supplier TCJ Asia hopes to garner a share of the Bt4billion domestic forklift market in its first year of operation in that area after suffering from a shrinking number of construction projects.
Managing director Songwoot Graipaspong yesterday said the constructionequipment distributor had extended its product line to include forklifts and industrial vehicles targeted at the manufacturing, transp o r t a t i o n and logistics industries.
The company’s main business is distributing heavy equipment and cranes and m a k i n g s t a i n l e s s - steel tubes.
TCJ Asia recently became the sole distributor in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Burma for leading Italian manufacturer OM Carrelli Elevatori. The OM brand covers a full range of forklifts and industrial vehicles.
“ This move will surely support TCJ Asia in operating fully in the industrial and logistics markets,” Songwoot said.
Chairman Nibhat Bhukkanasut said TCJ Asia’s prices for forklifts, starting at Bt600,000, would be close to those of its Japanese rivals, which enjoy a combined market share of more than 80 per cent.
Songwoot said that as Thailand was one of the Southeast Asian countries with high potential in industrial development, forklifts were considered essential for handling and transporting raw materials, component parts and finished products in manufacturing facilities and logistics outlets.
OM- brand forklifts will better serve the market with superior product quality, he said.
The company offers leasing, hire-purchase and maintenance services for its forklift customers. “ The company expects to sell about 100 forklifts in the first year of operation, with 10- per- cent a n n u a l growth,” he said.
An OM C a r r e l l i E l e v a t o r i survey showed Thailand was the biggest importer of forklifts in the region.
The company will attend the Thailand International Logistics Fair 2007 next week at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre, where it will promote its new OM forklifts.
The firm posted a firsthalf net profit of Bt14.43 million on sales of Bt451.3 million. It has total assets of Bt1.66 billion and total liabilities of Bt646 million.
Nibhat said if the company succeeded in meeting its target volume for forklift sales, then it would likely expand its relationship with the OM brand.

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