Hecyo Implements Automation For Faster Order Fulfillment with Increased Capacity
Westbrook, ME (PRWEB) July 10, 2014 -- Founded in 1926 and still family owned, Heyco Products Inc. offers decades of experience in the design and manufacture of molded wire protection products and stamped electrical components to meet demanding customer application requirements. Their unique, in-house ability to offer customers the latest design and prototyping technology along with years of high volume manufacturing experience helps customers turn challenging "just-in-time" manufacturing deadlines into production realities.
Heyco stands behind the quality of their products by offering a sample program, allowing customers to request complimentary samples online. This commitment requires Heyco’s manufacturing facility in Toms River, NJ to inventory over 18,000 sample SKUs. With storage capacity at its limit; stocking, managing, picking and shipping sample orders was becoming a cumbersome and time consuming process. “The carousels we had in the samples area were 20+ years old and they were getting stuck quite often, requiring us to shut them down and power them back up again; this frequent downtime was making it more and more time consuming to fill sample orders,” said Colleen Faulknor, VP of Administration at Heyco.
“Sample orders are sometimes the first interaction customers have with Heyco, so it’s important that the right sample is delivered quickly to the customer,” says Faulknor. To improve the samples area, Heyco replaced two 20-year old vertical carousels with 2 new Megamat RS vertical carousels from Kardex Remstar. “With the Megamat RS vertical carousels we can fill orders quicker and we’ve increased our inventory capacity,” says Faulknor.
No Downtime
With virtually no downtime, the samples inventory is quickly available for picking at any time. With the push of a button the carousel rotates around to deliver the requested part to the samples clerk with limited wait time. “With regularly scheduled maintenance we’ve had zero unplanned downtime,” says Faulknor.
Faster Fulfillment
Heyco is fulfilling roughly the same number of sample orders as before, but they are able to fill the orders in less time. The samples clerk is able to assist in the shipping department once he has fulfilled all of the sample orders.
Room to Grow
The Megamat RS vertical carousels stand 24 feet tall and are configured with carriers and totes to maximize storage capacity. Compared to the previous carousels that were 20 feet tall and provided 1,792 storage locations, the Megamat RS carousels provide 4,788 storage locations. Heyco was able to increase sample storage capacity by 167% while maintaining roughly the same space requirements. “With that additional capacity we’ve gained, we will be able to sustain years of additional growth in our sample program,” says Faulknor.
Processing Sample Orders
While the process is much the same, the operator is able to work more efficiently. When a sample order is received on the Heyco website, the operator prints out a label for the order. The label indicates the sample requested as well as the carrier number within the carousel. The clerk uses the touch screen Logicontrol controller on the Megamat RS to rotate the carousel to the desired carrier. The clerk operator picks the sample requested, bags it and tags it with the order label. The operator then completes the shipping paperwork and ships the part.
If there is a request for a sample in-house at Heyco, the operator can simply lookup the sample part number using the Logicontrol controller that tracks all inventory locations. When sample quantities are low, the operator puts in a request to manufacturing and additional quantities are added to the next production order for that part.
Quick and Easy
Heyco is now able to stock, manage, pick and ship sample inventory quickly and easily. “The addition of the Megamat RS vertical carousels has ensured the success of our samples program for years to come,” said Faulknor.
Kardex Remstar, LLC, a company of the Kardex Group is a leading provider of automated storage and retrieval systems for manufacturing, distribution, warehousing, offices and institutions. For information about our dynamic storage solutions, call 800-639-5805 or visit http://www.kardexremstar.com.
Chelsea Tarr, Kardex Remstar, LLC, http://www.kardexremstar.com, +1 800-639-5805, [email protected]
Share this article