TOP 20 - Modern Materials Handling

modern SYSTEM REPORT
As part of an allergan prevention
program, the WMS system manages
the storage of raw nuts by type.
innovation was mechanical shelling,
which was introduced in the 1960s,”
says Sanfilippo. “That meant that fewer
home-based families were needed to do
the shelling.”
In 1964, Sanfilippo’s father took over
the company and diversified into other
tree nuts, including walnuts, cashews,
almonds and macadamia nuts. In the
late 1960s, the company also shipped
its first private label product, an 8ounce
bag of pecans, to the Chicagobased
grocer Dominick’s Finer Foods.
As the private label business grew, the
company expanded. In the late 1980s,
Sanfilippo & Son built a peanut plant
in Georgia and added walnut, in-shell
peanut and almond processing plants.
In 1991, the company went public, and
in 1995, it purchased the Fisher Nuts
brand from Proctor & Gamble. Today,
the company processes an average of
600,000 pounds of nuts each day, and
ships 375,000 cases of nuts per week
during peak season.
The WMS brings together raw
materials and packaging products
during processing.
By 2005, the company’s operations
were spread across five different facilities
in a 10-mile square area in suburban
Chicago. “There are logistical
challenges when you’re sending raw
materials from two warehouses to three
different manufacturing facilities,” says
Sanfilippo. “Especially when you’re
trying to control your inventory with a
manual system.”
What’s more, the company was
bumping up against capacity constraints
that would hinder its ability to continue
to grow. “We needed space so we could
increase the capacity of our existing line
without increasing our overhead, and
we needed to standardize processes for
quality control reasons,” adds Kirkham.
“If you’re operating in five buildings, it’s
not hard to end up with five different
processes.”
The company had already purchased
land and was working with consultants
on the design of a new headquarters
when a 1.06 million square foot building,
formerly owned by Panasonic,
came up for sale in Elgin, Ill., including
400,000 square feet of office space and
about 650,000 square feet of manufacturing
space. In the end, reconfiguring
an existing space was faster and more
efficient than building a new space.
Selecting a WMS
From a materials handling standpoint,
designing the new facility was relatively
straight-forward. The manufacturing
area relies on specialized and proprietary
processes and equipment.
When it came to warehousing, raw
materials and finished goods are primarily
handled on pallets with lift trucks
18 A PRIL 2009 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING mmh.com