An and SHUT Case
for Plant Mezzanine Safety
Mezzanine
Safeti-Gates, Inc.
174 WESTERN AVENUE ■ TEL (978) 768-3000
ESSEX, MA 01929-1110 ■ FAX (978) 768-1101
Website: www.MezzGate.com
E-Mail: Sales@MezzGate.com
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Elevated
Pallet-Drop
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the location data along to the WES that
manages the warehouse and tracks all
activities in real time.
THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS
Workers in the manufacturing areas
control the delivery of ingredients to the
production areas. When an ingredient
is needed, a worker uses a computer
to access the operator interface within
the EMS and call for the material. The
management software then dispatches
an AGV to the appropriate warehouse to
retrieve the ingredient.
In keeping with the FDA cGMP regulations, the facility is designed with
vestibules that provide a clean buffer
zone between the warehouses and the
various manufacturing areas. As an AGV
approaches a vestibule, it signals (via an
RF antenna) an automatic door to roll
up to give the vehicle access to the vestibule (the automatic doors were supplied
by Rytec). The first door closes and a
second door opens to allow the AGV to
exit to dedicated drop zones adjacent to
the manufacturing cells, where the AGV
deposits the load.
There are, however, some manufacturing areas where the guidelines prohibit
AGVs from entering. At these locations,
the AGV simply drops its load in the
vestibule and departs via the same door
through which it entered. An operator
working in the manufacturing area then
opens the second door to retrieve the
load with a pallet jack.
Once inside the manufacturing area, a
worker removes the ingredients from the
pallet for use in production. If more than
one pallet of a given ingredient is needed,
the worker uses a wireless push button to
signal the EMS that he or she is ready for
delivery of the next pallet.
When all of the ingredients have been
consumed, the operator takes the empty
plastic pallet and places it onto a stack.
When a full stack is accumulated, the
operator signals the EMS to send an
AGV to gather and transport the empties
to an automated pallet washer. If unused
ingredients remain on a pallet, an AGV
is summoned to return it to its warehouse.
The AGVs also handle pallet moves for
work-in-process. After manufacturing
and inspection, palletized boxes of bulk
soft gels are moved to a packaging stag-
ing warehouse, which is a small storage
area that is temperature- and humidi-
ty-controlled. This area contains four
levels of racking for temporary storage of
the bulk soft gels. The AGVs later collect
the gels for packaging internally or for
shipment to another Nutrilite facility for
final packaging.
When a truck arrives for pickup, AGVs
are again summoned to retrieve the loads
from the finished-goods warehouse.
After the loads are secured for transport
(using Lantech stretch wrappers), the
AGVs deliver them to floor staging lanes,
where manual forklifts take over the
loading of pallets onto the truck.
SAFE AND SOUND
As for how it has all worked out, since
moving to the Dematic AGVs, Amway
has accomplished its goals of maintaining a clear separation between the warehouses and production. Plus, there’s no
more waiting around for forklift drivers
to deliver goods, as workers can simply
call for the AGVs to deliver products on
demand.
Dematic continues to provide ongoing
support for the AGVs. “We had a great
working relationship with Dematic from
the design phase through commissioning, and they continue to do our quarterly preventive maintenance and the
training of our technicians who maintain
our systems daily,” says DeVries.
Eliminating forklift traffic and congestion in production areas has also resulted
in a safe manufacturing environment.
It further allows Amway to allocate its
work force to production instead of
intraplant transport. And best of all,
Amway has gained the “supplemental”
advantages of consistency and accuracy
in its operations.
Editor’s note: To learn more about
Amway’s manufacturing strategy, see
“Manufacturing from the ground up” in
the Q4 2016 issue of DC VELOCITY’s sister publication, CSCMP’s Supply Chain
Quarterly (www.supplychainquarterly.
com).
Strategy MANUFACTURING WAREHOUSING
