Space Capacity and Warehouse Design Optimized by LTTS

Customer Profile: The North America based manufacturer of electric vehicles wanted to set up a 44,000 square feet warehouse with the space capacity and warehouse design optimized to meet the demand of 5,000 units per annum. This is a greenfield project, and the customer wanted to analyze the layout with material flow options and uninterrupted flow of goods, personnel, and equipment. The customer also wanted CapEx and OpEx to be calculated for budget allocation, and a customized racking design for material replenishment and storage. After careful evaluation, LTTS (L&T Technology Services) was selected to execute the plan and help the customer overcome challenges on multiple fronts. 

The Challenges:

• Space limitations.
• Full end-to-end supply chain visibility.
• Collecting & analyzing data to Plan For Every Part (PFEP).
• Material flow operations between receiving dock and point of use (POU).
• Capturing the current state of plant in detail, with the proposed changes into a simulation model.
• Determining the material movements within the warehouse to develop dynamic simulation model to test what-if scenarios. 

LTTS’ Holistic Approach:

LTTS’ master plan of a practical warehouse design helped in arranging the processes in a logical sequence layout that streamlined operations, maximized productivity and efficiency, and optimized expenses. Using its cross-functional team, LTTS provided the detailed warehouse design validated by simulation analysis that helped the customer’s budget planning and implementation.

How it was done

• Creation of a digital model that represented the exact factory scenario.
• Validated with simulation on smart warehouse operations and configuration.
• Evaluated with simulation on traditional racking vs. ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system).
• Warehouse material flow design was flexible to meet future demand.
• Identification of possible bottlenecks in the line using simulation.
• All custom and standard racks designed by off-the-shelf components.

Improved Statistics: LTTS’ strategic layout design accommodated all manufacturing and utility needs within the available space with CapEx of over $1 million and OpEx of up to $1 million. Other benefits include:

• Optimization of forklift operations improved by 25 percent.
• Manual intervention / efforts reduced by 30 percent.
• Effective space utilization improved by 52 percent.