Workbenches & Tables

Using Workbenches & Tables – Increase Productivity

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Everyday functions of most warehouses and industrial operations falls within the realm of manual material handling–constant lifting, bending, stretching, reaching, pushing and otherwise moving materials by people. Everything from moving cartons, picking orders, reaching for packing materials and other activities. Manual material handling contributes to musculoskeletal disorders, with more than 500,000 reported annual cases of strains and stress in shoulders, backs, arms, and legs.

While you can never eliminate it, you can reduce the worst aspects of it. Using workbenches and tables will alleviate many of the problems for your team and increase productivity.

Utilize Benches & Tables

A great way to find where you can utilize benches and tables and reduce injuries and lost production is to walk your plant floor and look for awkward postures. Are people stooping or stretching to reach an area, pick an order or assemble kits? Monitor your workflow for repetitive motion. If a task requires reaching, carrying things or lifting them all the time, it’s worth investing in more effective, ergonomic changes. Heavy duty lifting and manipulation of heavy loads is a workers’ compensation case waiting to happen. Are loads such that anyone in the plant can execute the job? Make as many changes as you can so just about anyone can physically handle every job. This creates tremendous labor flexibility.

Modern research tells us sitting at a desk all day is hard on people. Any fixed position or posture, including standing on a plant floor in the same position, is ergonomically unsound.

Increases Pick Speeds

Delivering goods to pickers increases pick speeds, but one of the reasons speeds are increased is that workers aren’t wearing themselves outreaching deep into shelves or trotting around a warehouse. This also can reduce the chances of scrapes, trips, and bumps.

Raise & Lower Loads

Utilize workbenches and tables for lifting equipment to raise and lower loads rather than using muscle power. Scissor lifts are also ideal as are hoists, balancers, and other powered methods to manipulate loads. You trade flexibility for ergonomics, but you can recoup that investment with a significantly fresher, less stressed, more energetic workforce and strain/injury reduction.

Healthy Ergonomics

Rotating tables, pallet positioners, carts and other equipment foster healthy ergonomics by delivering the load to the worker. A rotating/lifting combination that always presents workers with the load in the best possible position speeds up the picking process. Install tilters to help dump or load bulk loads so they are easier on the people processing them, rather than reaching into deep bins for components.

Reduce Reaching

Platforms, steps, and ladders reduce reaching. Portable or fixed work platforms helps workers maintain more strength and balance. This means that workers should grasp loads 30 to 40 inches from her standing surface. Adjustable height workstations are another way to keep the load in the power zone.

Reduce Injury

Workbenches and tables reduce the risk of strain related injury. This helps you fulfill your legal responsibility for providing a safe working environment while increasing your ROI on every pick.

Contact us today to find out how we can help you choose the best benches and tables for your facility.

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Order Picking Productivity

5 Ways to Improve Order Picking Productivity

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Beyond running diagnostics or shifting your warehouse design around, sometimes it can be helpful to have an open and honest discussion with everyone on your staff. Everyone from your temp workers, full time operators, managers, directors, all the way up to VPs, need the ability to communicate where they see ways to improve your bottom line. Your employees will not only tell you about problems that you may not know exist, but may solve them just as quick and often in the same meeting.

Here are five ways to consider improving your picking productivity once you’ve identified the problems with your staff. You can review the potential ROI to understand which system will work best for your operation, discuss them with your team, and since they will be the ones ensuring the speed and accuracy of the systems you choose, decide which ones will benefit you the most.

1. Parts images and photos on the PC monitor when directing the picker. Many of today’s WMS, WCS and inventory management and picking software solutions allow organizations to include images of items in their database.

2. The use of pick-to-light and put-to-light indicators can be implemented in many processes to minimize errors. To make this cost effective, the integration of goods-to-person technologies (such as carousels, VLMs, shuttle technologies, ASRS, etc.) can be used. Items are delivered to the operator at an ergonomic height, and the lights tell the operator where and how many items to pick and put into the correct container.

3. Slotting your inventory will provide great benefits by increasing throughput and providing increased accuracy levels. The benefits of an effective slotting strategy include; increased throughput, improved labor utilization, reduced injuries, better cube utilization, and reduced product damage.

4. Kitting could be another option, though in some cases, while knitting does increase inventory levels, the variables may create too many kit options. If you often ship in kits, your team can help design the most cost effective kits to create and offer your customers. This can be either virtually on your marketplaces – a listed bundle comprised of disparate parts –– or physically in your warehouse – products bound together and stored in one location. The beauty of product kitting is that it allows you to sell kitted items and individual component items simultaneously.

5. Voice picking comes into play when you have a large number of SKUs in shelving or rack not using goods to person technologies. The audio directs the picker to the correct location and quantity. The picker then verbally verifies the SKU and quantity. The throughput levels often increase slightly with this technology, but your accuracy will often increase much more.

For example, Canadian retailer London Drug tossed its paper-based pick systems and turned to voice to help process SKUs of varying shapes and sizes—the result has improved productivity and 99.97% order accuracy using voice technology in its operations.

CLICK HERE TO REQUEST A FREE OPERATIONAL AUDIT OF YOUR COMPANY
Automated Warehouse Systems

Why You Should Automate Your Warehouse

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Automated warehousing applied to part or all of a distribution center can provide a wide range of benefits including space savings, lower building costs, improved productivity, more efficient material flow, less people, safer operations, reductions in inventory, increased reliability, reduced running costs, better ROI and lowest lifecycle cost.

Automated warehousing systems provide the maximum possible usage of available floor space and building height. In some cases, this enables companies to increase storage capacity by up to 400% compared to conventional forklift operations. Where space is limited, switching to an automated warehousing solution can free up additional space for other activities, such as manufacturing.

Improved Productivity

Automated warehousing systems offer tremendous performance in terms of productivity. Not only do they work faster than forklifts and narrow aisle trucks, they can also operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, keeping product on the move.

Automated warehousing systems can also enhance the efficient flow of materials through a manufacturing facility or distribution center. By integrating the system with production materials handling systems, raw materials, tools, parts, work-in-process, and finished goods can all be efficiently delivered to where they are required.

The systems can be set up to provide a buffer storage function on assembly lines, and can service multi-floor applications. By using automated storage and retrieval machines the need for drivers/operators is eliminated. Compared with conventional methods, and calculated over the life of the machine, savings can be substantial and the ROI can be highly attractive.

Reduced Inventory

With integrated location and inventory control software combined with faster throughput, it is possible to reduce stock levels. Inventory can be accurately tracked at all stages, maximizing stock availability. Stock control can also be improved, with the software enabling goods to be automatically picked on a First In First Out basis , or by ‘use-by’ date etc.

Once the automated warehouse has been set up, ongoing operating costs are minimized. Typical warehousing costs involving refueling or recharging of batteries, regular mechanical and electrical maintenance, and staffing, lighting are also minimized.

KMH offers a free Operational Audit which can give you the most efficient and cost effective evaluation of your operation. We provide you with all the available ways to automate your facility and get the most out of your current budget while still optimizing your ROI.

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Heavy Equipment Rentals

Heavy Equipment Rental Benefits

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Renting construction equipment has increased in popularity for a variety of reasons. A few key contributors to the growth of equipment rentals include the rising cost of purchasing equipment Here are some benefits that your company will see if you decide to begin renting construction equipment.

Avoid the Initial Purchase Cost

Purchasing brand new construction equipment is extremely expensive and can make a huge impact on how your company’s budget. Renting or leasing equipment avoids the upfront costs associated with purchasing, and allows businesses to better manage your financial resources.

Less Maintenance and Repair Costs

When you own equipment, you must consider the cost of maintenance and repair. Although maintenance and repair is still important for rental equipment, costs will be lowered compared to purchased equipment. With rentals, the time and labor costs associated with maintenance and repairs are lower and more manageable.

No More Market Fluctuation

The construction world is dynamic and many things influence the market. Renting equipment cushions your company from unpredictable downturns that may arise. Rather than committing to a piece of equipment, leasing allows for options that make it easier to ride the rise and fall of market forces.

No Depreciation Costs

When you own machinery, you incur considerable depreciation costs. Reselling equipment, and maintaining it requires quite a large investment on top of your upfront purchase. Although all companies operate differently, renting construction equipment avoids loses associated with depreciation.

Project-Specific Rentals

Typically, construction companies are balancing many projects at once. Renting specific pieces of equipment for particular projects eliminates any logistical delays.

Solve Storage Issues

Equipment that is not stored properly, or exposed to harsh weather condition may depreciate faster. You can negotiate with vendors or suppliers regarding how long you need a rental, and your company may not worry about long-term storage. This saves you time needed to plan out the logistics, as well as the cost of storage.

Transportation Logistics

Transportation can take a long time, affecting the productivity and efficiency of a project. Renting allows you to avoid this burden and provides a more reliable equipment option by keeping pieces onsite.

Let us give you all the information you need to run on any budget and still get the equipment you need!

CLICK HERE TO REQUEST YOUR EQUIPMENT RENTAL TODAY
KMH Systems Online Store

Shop With Us Online

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Nowadays, shopping online has become more like a daily activity for virtually everyone looking to buy something with access to the internet irrespective of location. But, despite its almost unnoticeable flaws, buying online has many advantages we should know.  You should take advantage of online shopping for a variety of reasons such as, saving time – you do not have to drive anywhere, you can often purchase an item(s) with just a simple click of a button. You can stay within the comfort of your home or office and find that perfect item no matter if it is rare or readily available.

At KMH we offer you the ease of getting everything you need shipped right to your door.  Our Allied catalog not only offers everything from your front door to the back dock, we have a variety of each item so you can tailor your order to fit each one of your needs.

Why Shop Online With Us?

Convenience:

You don’t have to wait in a line or wait till the shop assistant helps you with your purchases. You can do your shopping in minutes even if you are busy, apart from saving time and avoiding crowds. Online shops give you the opportunity to shop 24 x 7 and also reward you with deals.

Better Prices:

You can save by buying online and not have to pay for the marketing and other promotions most retail stores have to build into their pricing.

Fewer Expenses:

Many times when you opt for conventional shopping you tend to spend a lot more than the required shopping expenses, on things like eating out, traveling, impulsive shopping etc.

Comparison of Prices:

Online shopping make comparison and research of products and prices possible. Online shopping our allied catalog gives you the ability to review what we offer with other vendors.

Fast Shipping:

You can see what you want and know it is on the way to you in record time by shopping online with us. We make it easy to browse our catalog and order everything you need so it can arrive quickly to you.

Convenience:

It is very convenient to be able to do all your shopping from one spot – your couch or office!

Cost Savings:

With ever-increasing gas prices, shopping online saves you the cost of driving to and between stores as well parking fees. You will also save time by avoiding standing in line, particularly around the holidays, when stores are very busy.

Variety:

The internet provides sellers with unlimited shelf space, so they are more likely to offer a wider variety of products than they would in brick-and-mortar stores.

No Pressure:

In our store, there is no salesperson hovering around and pressuring you to purchase an item.

Easy Comparison:

Shopping with us online eliminates the need to wander from store to store trying to compare prices.

CLICK HERE TO START SHOPPING ONLINE
Cantilever Rack

Choosing The Right Racking Solution

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Before your company spends significant chunks of the budget for a system that isn’t a true solution, KMH can help you choose the best racking system for your company.

What we help you consider and factor into your decision:

– Your max spend for a racking solution
– The total floor space and ceiling height available for pallet storage
– Number of different products for which you need rack storage
– Frequency with which you need to access products in your racks
– Shelf life of your products
– What kind of truck access you’ll need including lift height

Below are a few racking options you can consider in deciding which one is right for your needs…

Cantilever Racks

Cantilever is defined as “a beam anchored at one end only”. The load is held by the arm which transfers the load to the supporting upright beam/base. Cantilever racking is primarily used for storage of bulky, over-sized, long loads such as timber, plasterboard, steel trusses & piping, PVC carpet.

Drive In Pallet Rack

Drive In Pallet Racking is installed in warehouses and distribution centers that need a cost effective, high density storage solution for their pallets and products. Because of its design, drive-in pallet rack is a first in, last out (FILO) storage system. Drive in racking is best used with a large quantity of like-products that are not time sensitive, to best utilize warehouse space. Warehouse access aisles are kept to a minimum with drive-in rack, often allowing users to achieve double or more storage capacity.

Push Back Rack

Push back racks allow for fork lifts to deposit loads more quickly. The newest loads push the previous items back up the incline to instantly create the space needed to keep items safely on the rack without the need to remove items or reorganize your racks to make room. It also cuts down on travel time for the forklift operator, meaning your operations will flow more efficiently and place less stress on your workers and equipment.

Pallet Flow Rack

Pallet flow rack systems act as a sort of pallet conveyor for your warehouse. Pallets are loaded from one side and picked from the other, while the rest of the work is done by heavy-duty rollers. This has the potential to save both time and labor. Pallet flow rack systems also save time by offering immediate access to every product stored on the system, meaning you won’t have to pull any pallets simply to gain access to other pallets.

Contact us for a FREE Operational Audit to make the best choice and investment for your company!

CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE YOUR RACK SURVEY
Lighting Surveys

Benefits of a Lighting Survey

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KMH has helped hundreds of companies save thousands of dollars a year with lighting surveys and retrofitting projects that end up paying for themselves.  The development of LED technologies, manufacturer rebates and government incentives adds to your bottom line and new lighting fixtures have proven to have greater energy efficiency, while reducing maintenance costs due to their longer lifespan.  LED technologies have come down in price, accelerating payback expectancy and helping to make retrofit projects more cost efficient altogether.

5 Reasons For Your Lighting Survey

Energy Savings

With advancements in technologies, today’s lighting retrofits can create energy savings ranging anywhere from 40% to 90%, depending upon the type of project.

Maintenance Savings

Modern technologies are fostering significant maintenance savings due to the extended life or “burn hours” of the new lighting. Many LED technologies exhibit a rated life ranging from 50,000-100,000 hours, more than three times the life of the old T-12 and HID technologies of the past.

Improved Aesthetics

Today’s latest-generation lighting technology delivers a better color rendering mix, better uniformity and spread of light, and better lumen maintenance (i.e., light levels will hold at higher levels for longer periods of time).

Better Security

Employee safety improves when areas are optimally lit with better lighting technology.

Environmental Sensitivity

Unlike Metal Halide, High Pressure Sodium, and T-12 lighting, modern LED lighting technologies eliminate mercury from facilities, creating a safer environment and “go green” image for businesses.

How We Help You…

Our team will identify those facilities in your real estate portfolio where lighting retrofit projects are the most needed with a comprehensive survey of all facility lighting, interior and exterior.  We will ensure that you’re leveraging all available rebates.

Check warranties, and leverage them where and when you can. Upon completion of a lighting retrofit project, make sure that you’re taking advantages of the great warranties that come with so many of today’s lamps and ballasts.

To schedule your lighting survey fill use the button below on this page or call: 888-564-7978

CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE YOUR SURVEY
Operational Audit

Benefits of An Operational Audit

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KMH helps companies in many industries review how the organization’s management and its operating procedures are functioning with respect to their effectiveness and efficiency in meeting stated objectives.  Going through the operational audit process provides a company with objective opinions. Those opinions often generate quicker production or sales turnaround, better allocation of costs, improved control systems, the location of areas of delay and an overall streamlined workflow.

Businesses can get a good idea of how they are doing in operations by examining company data on their own. However, sometimes those close to the company don’t review this data completely objectively or are so familiar with operations that it is difficult to come up with other approaches to finishing work.

Checklist items often include relationships with suppliers and staff, inventory management and control, alternate sources of raw materials, and all items involved in product creation, ongoing maintenance procedures, production-employee training programs, processing procedure documentation and the use of the best available technology.

KMH can assist managers to use the operational audit to evaluate and analyze the current effectiveness of the company’s operations while identifying areas of potential improvement. The identification of areas requiring improvement is a key aspect, as the fundamental purpose of the operational audit is to improve effectiveness for all operations.

The types of activities that might be audited vary between businesses, but some examples of processes that are common to many companies include purchasing, receiving and shipping stock, data processing and logistics.

Objectives

  • Appraise the effectiveness and efficiency of a division, activity, or operation of the entity in meeting organizational goals.
  • Understand the responsibilities and risks faced by an organization.
  • Identify, with management participation, opportunities for improving control.
  • Provide senior management of the organization with a detailed understanding of the result

Advantages

  • In addition to making the business more efficient and profitable in the long run.
  • An operational audit almost always provides a company with some new, fresh perspectives.
  • It makes executives aware of problems that might not have been found otherwise and lets them evaluate risks for the future.

Areas We Help You Evaluate

Preliminary preparation
Field Survey
Audit Program Development
Reporting and Follow-up

Warehouse Layout
Product/Inventory/Orders processing
Receiving & Storing

Material Handling Equipment
Safety
Inventory Control Systems Steps

If you’re in need of a KMH Operational Audit please use the link below…

CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US TODAY
Return on Investment

Free Ways to Increase your ROI

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In order to calculate a return on investment in your warehouse, it is critical to evaluate your work flow process. Is there a process that results in frequent errors or causes slow downs in the follow on processes? Identifying and correcting these conditions first will increase your ROI quickly, and have significant impact on your business operations. The goal here is to take a small amount of time to have a significant improvement in your profits.

First, in your receiving area, examine how many receivers you have. Lower costs by calculating if you can decrease labor to your busiest time slots. How many hours per week are spent on receiving? Streamline the workers to the peak receiving times and use a skeleton crew during slower times.

Ask Your Team For Suggestions

The people doing the work can see improvements on a daily basis and come up with ideas that can help them get the work flow moving more efficiently and faster.

Manage Your Inventory

Use a warehouse management system to gain inventory and warehouse accuracy so you can reduce stock levels. It also provides visibility to real-time inventory, which can potentially eliminate lost product and reduce overstocks.

Follow Up With Customers

Customer satisfaction is often hard to measure, but it is valuable. Having the right product to deliver to customers at the right time and to the right place helps increase ROI by retaining customer loyalty. A quick follow up in these fast moving times is priceless to your clients.

Improve Your Shipping Speed

How many workers are picking shipments and for how many hours? Can this be lowered? How many errors occur per week in the picking process and how many hours does it take to correct one error? Eliminating error every week instantly increases your ROI, determine the savings for this process improvement.

A few improvements will increase your ROI over time. Sometimes it is the simple changes that allow for the greatest improvements. Your company products will roll out on time, and both your customers and workers will be happy.

For a Free Operational Audit on more ways you can approve your productivity contact us!

CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US TODAY
OSHA and ANSI Training

OSHA and ANSI Training

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OSHA and ANSI have requirements regarding forklift training to maintain safety for all people in the workplace.  Different workplace types and conditions are factors in hazards for forklifts. For example, retail establishments often face greater challenges than other worksites in maintaining pedestrian safety. Beyond that, many workers can also be injured when lift trucks are inadvertently driven off loading docks; lifts fall between docks and an unsecured trainer; they are struck by a lift truck; or they fall while on elevated pallets or other objects.

It is up to you, the employer, to see that your operators and fleet managers are aware of the regulations and that your company is in compliance.

Operators that receive ongoing training are more efficient at operating your forklifts. This efficiency translates into more productive employees. Improved morale and efficiency gained from training will increase how much work each of your operators can accomplish in a day, and that improves your bottom line.  These best practices decrease the likelihood of injuries to operators and damage to equipment and property.

When observing operators using equipment, remember to ask:

  • Is the driver wearing a seat belt?
  • Is the operator driving at safe speeds?
  • Does the driver sound the horn when approaching blind spots, end of aisles or backing up?
  • When transporting a load, is the load 6” to 10” off of the floor?
  • Is the driver’s visibility blocked?
  • Does the operator use a spotter when the load is blocking his visibility?

Companies that do not emphasize safety and ongoing training of their drivers are easy to spot with this quick observation.  KMH offers training that fulfills both ANSI and OSHA laws. With proper training, you reduce downtime due to improper operation and provide effective, timely maintenance/repair of your fleet. We provide a range of forklift training classes at progressive levels to meet your needs!

All of this results in equipment that stays in better condition for a longer period of time, an increase in useful life of your forklifts, and lower operating costs.

We provide a range of forklift training classes at progressive levels to meet your needs!

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