TOP 20 - Modern Materials Handling

modern SYSTEM REPORT
the raw materials, seasonings, oil and
packaging materials required for that
work order. Raw materials are selected
in part on a FiFo basis. The WMS then
directs the delivery of those items to
the right workstations in the manufacturing
and packaging areas. It also
tracks the item level, quantity and lot
numbers of everything associated with
that work order to meet tracking and
tracing requirements.
Once product has been manufactured,
the WMS creates a new stock
keeping unit (SKU) for the finished
good. The system is used to direct palletizing
operations and the delivery of a pallet
to a stretch-wrapping system. Once
it’s been stretch-wrapped, the WMS
receives the new product into the finished
goods warehouse, which is zoned
by customer and then into full pallet and
case picking areas. After that, picking
and shipping functions are handled by
the system similarly to any other system
shipping food and snacks into the grocery
or big box retail supply chains. That
includes the management of any custom
labeling requirements or advanced shipment
notifications (ASNs).
Robotic palletizers build pallets for
storage in the warehouse.
Down the road
Having automated the information
management functions, Sanfilippo &
Son now plans to automate some of its
materials handling processes. While
most of the palletizing is still done
manually, two robotic palletizing stations
have been installed. Once those
units are operating at full speed, the
company plans to install more robotic
palletizers in another area of the building.
There are also plans to cut down on
lift truck traffic by installing conveyor
Palletized goods are stretch wrapped
and stored on pallet racks.
to deliver finished goods to one of the
manual palletizing areas, and to install
automatic guided vehicles to shuttle
pallets from the palletizing area to the
stretch wrapper and then into the finished
goods warehouse.
“We spend an inordinate amount of
time moving pallets from one end of
the building into the warehouse,” says
Kirkham. “We want to use our materials
handling in more productive ways. That
will allow us to scale up the facility as
we grow with our existing workforce.”
Jasper Sanfilippo Jr., the fourth
generation of his family to work in the
business, says the new facility has been
a success. That success can be measured
in hard numbers: Inventory is
now better than 99% accurate, which
has allowed the company to eliminate
two of the four physical inventories it
performed a year, with a goal of getting
down to one physical inventory a year.
While harder to measure, there’s
success as a result of the company’s
allergen program. “Ultimately that will
lead to more business,” says Sanfilippo.
“That’s hard to quantify now from an
ROI perspective, but we could not have
done that without the systems we put
in place.”
20 A PRIL 2009 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING mmh.com