Oils are one of the most important resources in an auto parts factory. They are indispensable not only in production lines, but also in the maintenance and repair of machines. No wonder, then, that maintaining the proper condition of oils and managing them through appropriate procedures is an important matter. How can the process be made as efficient as possible? The answer is simple—through production automation and an optimal warehouse management application tailored to the customer's needs.
Initial situation
At the Toyota plant, inventory management was carried out in a way that had not changed over the years. This is not surprising—when a method works for many years, changing it does not seem particularly urgent. In addition, routine changes become more difficult as a company grows. The Toyota oil warehouse was managed using analog solutions—with boards on which employees manually marked how many barrels of oil were on which shelf and which ones had been issued.
In this case, the first step is always to identify the customer's problems. At the Toyota factory, these were the most difficult factors:
Low transparency: It was difficult to obtain up-to-date and clear information about the number of barrels of a particular oil in the warehouse. Therefore, it was almost impossible to predict how long the oil already in stock would last and when replenishment would be needed.
Unclear system for labeling dispensed barrels: The board with sliding elements for labeling individual oil containers was not always easy to use. It consisted of a certain number of columns symbolizing the compartments, so it had to be expanded when a new type of oil appeared in the warehouse. It was also not very convenient to remove the barrels from the “shelves” from the inside—the entire structure was large, and updating the inventory in this way was tedious.
The solution: An application for storage management
With our application, we have recreated the boards previously used by employees in a modernized, interactive version.
The TV: First, we improved the visibility of inventory. From now on, the entire inventory can be viewed on a screen visible to all employees.
The scanner: The application supports a scanner. This reduces the risk of incorrect labeling of barrels. An employee only has to scan a number and the application links it to the correct type of oil.
Employee skills: The respective employee can document all activities they perform in the warehouse in the app – delivery of barrels to the warehouse, transfer to other shelves, order picking. The application also ensures that the lower shelves are emptied first and only then the shelves that require a forklift. The system can also be used to specify the minimum amount of oil in the warehouse and the email addresses of employees who should be notified when this level is reached. This makes it possible to replenish stocks in good time without the risk of running out of the required oil.
The administrator's responsibilities: Once all factors have been configured correctly—all oils have been assigned numbers, mailing lists with warnings about the end of raw material stocks have been updated—the system is monitored by the administrator, who logs in with an additional password. The administrator can also perform operations that are inaccessible to normal users:
Issuing new barrels, e.g., in the event of damage
Moving barrels in a non-standard way
Replenishing the warehouse with oil, which is particularly important when setting up a warehouse or adding new types of oil
This enabled us to provide Toyota with a transparent warehouse system and easy control over what the shifts looked like and who did them, as well as warnings about potential bottlenecks in the warehouse, which were forwarded to the right employees.