Modern Materials Handling - April 2011

modern system reportMobile robots bringflexibility to the lineAt Otis Technology, the laser-guided vehicles shaved overan hour of walk time per employee.At Otis Technology’s Lyons Fallsfacility, mobile robots, automatedstorage and warehousemanagement (WMS) come togetherto enable lean manufacturing anddistribution.Receiving: Raw materials and partsare received (1) and staged briefly whilean associate verifies the count and scansbar codes to enter the newly receivedinventory into Otis’ WMS. Once thereceipt has been counted and verified, astock movement is created in the WMSand the inventory is ready for putaway.Otis TechnologyLyons Falls, N.Y.Size: 80,000 square feet, includingmanufacturing and distributionProducts: Firearm cleaning systemsand accessoriesSKUs: 3,354Shifts: 1 shift/5 daysEmployees in operations: 90Putaway: Product can be putawayin several locations.If an item is hot, it’ll be placed onone of the mobile robots and automaticallydirected to one of the work centersin the manufacturing area (2).Items going into storage will beplaced on a pallet for putaway inthe unit-load automatic storage andretrieval system (AS/RS) (3) or into ablue bin if the product will be storedin the mini-load AS/RS (4). Either way,the product is delivered to an inductionarea. There, it will be automaticallylaser scanned and associated witha specific storage location in one ofthe two automated storage units. Thatproduct is now available to promise inthe system.Picking: When associates receive awork order, they scan a bar code on awork card. That signal tells the AS/RS(4) to retrieve materials from storageand deliver them to a fulfillment areaknown as a supermarket (5). There,an associate scans the items to a bin.Mini-loadAS/RS4Unit loadAS/RS3Shippingand receiving15Supermarket8 StretchwrapPackaging6Manufacturingarea2Order assemblyand kitting7Manufacturingarea220 A p r i l 2 0 1 1 / Modern Materials Handling mmh.com