June - Modern Materials Handling

modern SYSTEM REPORTValpak’sautomated DCDirect marketer reduces handling: What usedto be touched 10 to 12 times is now onlytouched once.deliversBob Trebilcock, Executive Editor4Automated storageand retrieval system(AS/RS)6Mini-loadAS/RS5Conveyor/sortationShipping/receiving12Processingarea7Palletizing,strapping,stretch-wrapping3Printing areaConveyorsystem811AS/RS 293Automatic transfervehicles (ATV)10Automatic transfervehicles (ATV) 3The materials handling system managing the movementof raw materials and finished products through Valpak’snew St. Petersburg, Fla., facility is almost completelyautomated: For the most part, the role of materials handlersis limited to loading and unloading trucks. Thatlevel of automation will allow the company to accommodatefuture growth while remaining as lean as possible.Receiving and putaway: Postalsupplies, inserts and envelopes arrive atthe receiving/shipping docks 1 on palletsand are unloaded by lift truck operators.To validate the pallets and receivethem into the inventory managementsystem, an operator in a processing area2 scans a bar code. Once a pallet hasbeen validated, it’s picked up by an automatictransfer vehicle (ATV) 3 thatdelivers it for putaway into an automatedstorage and retrieval system (AS/RS) 4 .Collating areaValpak,St. Petersburg, Fla.SIZE: 470,000 square feet, manufacturingand distributionAS/RS: 8,800 pallet locationsSHIFTS: 6 days/24 hoursEMPLOYMENT: 430PRODUCTS: promotional couponsVOLUME: Prints 20 billion inserts a year/mails 45 million envelopes per monthPicking: To fill an order, pallets of thevarious inserts that will go into an envelopeare retrieved from the AS/RS 4 anddelivered to an output station. The palletsare delivered by an ATV back to the processingarea 2 . There, an operator picksthe amount of material needed for that1018 J UNE 2009 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING mmh.com