Increasing Manufacturing Productivity in an Increasingly Demanding World

By: Keith Simon, Contributor

In today’s fast-paced environment, ecommerce surrounds nearly every aspect of our purchases, putting the world—and our groceries—a finger-click away. While a consumer’s dream, the rapid rise of ecommerce—in addition to thriving plastics, automotive and tech manufacturing sectors—
creates new challenges for warehouse and manufacturing facilities, leading them to look for new ways to drive operational efficiency in order to meet growing demand on labor and resources.

To meet demands in the past, manufacturers often turned to investment in operational capacity. This, however, led to additional operation costs and new labor requirements. With the rise of ecommerce not slowing down, continuously expanding operational capacity is not always a viable solution. Rather, today’s challenges must be met with forward-thinking strategies that leverage technology, as well as lean and new ways of thinking about efficiency and optimization. Re-imagining workflows with innovative processes and the right tools will help operators realize the full potential of existing resources, thus limiting investment, while also improving efficiency and safety. And, it all starts with the right material flow design and material handling equipment.

ALIGN MATERIAL FLOW WITH MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT

For many operations, the default material handling tool is the forklift. But, a warehouse is only as efficient as the material flow design and the tools specified to carry out material movements.

According to an analysis by CBInsights which measured overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), on average, manufacturing and warehouses operate at only 60% of designed capacity. But, that doesn’t have to be the case. Forklifts are a great solution for what they were made to do—loading and unloading trucks, as well as vertical goods storage. When used for horizontal movement, however, forklifts create undue challenges and risks to the operator, the product and the entire operation.

In fact, OSHA reports nearly 35,000 worker injuries caused by forklifts every year. These avoidable injuries increase workplace costs and decrease efficiencies. Additionally, forklifts require frequent maintenance intervals, as well as high repair and fuel costs. This results in increased downtime and operator expenses, year-over-year.

The key to optimizing costs, productivity and safety in the ecommerce environment is matching the right tool to each task. As already mentioned, forklifts are ideal for vertical movement but produce efficiency challenges for horizontal movement. Tow tractors and tug systems, on the other hand, are designed specifically for horizontal material movement, transporting more material in fewer trips and reducing material delivery time by up to 50%. These systems are also designed with operational safety in mind.

In addition to unobstructed views, for example, tow tractors and tug systems often increase visibility with features such as flashing emergency lights, reflectors and light bars; as well as include warning sounds and a cut-off power switch in case of emergencies. And, the proof is in the numbers. Since 2002, there have only been eight total OSHA-reported tow tractor incidents, compared to the over 500,000 reported injuries by forklifts in that same timeframe.

OPTIMIZE OPERATIONS

Operations that don’t evolve to more forward-thinking material flow will struggle to keep up with ever-increasing resource and labor demands. Deloitte estimates that 2 million manufacturing jobs will remain unfilled by 2025. Investing in new material handling systems will help reallocate workers and optimize workflow, offsetting the need to increase staff size or facility footprint.

With limited hauling abilities and heavy OSHA regulations, forklifts require additional, highly paid and skilled workers to haul materials to key areas of the facility without slowing productivity. When used in horizontal material handling, instead of focusing simply on vertical movement or loading and unloading, additional trips become needed to move material—leading to increased transportation bottlenecks and operational inefficiencies. By incorporating tow tractors and tug systems into a current forklift fleet, operations can better scale up to meet ecommerce demand by reducing these bottlenecks—while achieving new labor efficiencies and increasing overall productivity.

INCREASE ROI

By replacing forklifts where performance is sacrificed with more efficient tow tractors and tug systems, operations get a cost-effective option up-front that also immediately begins to capture efficiencies and long-term cost savings. For example, for every forklift that is replaced with a tow tractor, operations can see an average of $22,200 in total cost of ownership savings over five years. This savings is supplemented through increased workplace safety and more strategic labor allocation. Workflow efficiencies and increased productivity also have the potential to generate revenue growth as a direct result of tow tractor and tug system adoption.

By converting forklifts to tow tractors and tug systems in horizontal material flow areas, companies can save millions of dollars in operational expenses—all while creating an operational eco-system that stands up to the ever-increasing demands of today’s ecommerce world. WMHS

Keith Simon serves as the Vice President and General Manager of Polaris Commercial and Government North America. With an extensive background in manufacturing and engineering, Simon oversees the strategy and operations of Polaris’ broad portfolio of commercial, industrial and utility vehicle solutions. (www.polaris.com)