Everything under control – the oil warehouse management application for Toyota

As you might guess, in a car parts factory, oils are one of the key resources. They are indispensable not only in production lines but also in the maintenance and repair of machines. No wonder then that maintaining their proper condition and managing it by procedures is an important matter. 

How to make the process as efficient as possible? The answer is simple – the production automation and a good warehouse management application tailored to the customer’s needs. 

Initial Situation

At the Toyota factory, warehouse management was carried out in a way that has not changed over the years. There is no surprise here – if a method works for many years, its modification does not seem particularly urgent. In addition, as your business grows, routine changes become more difficult. 

The Toyota oil warehouse was managed using analog solutions – boards on which employees manually marked how many barrels of oil were left on which shelf and which were issued.

In this case, the first move is always to identify the customer’s problems. At the Toyota factory, the most difficult things were: 

Low transparency

It wasn’t easy to put up-to-date, clear information on the number of barrels of a specific oil in the warehouse, and thus it was difficult to predict how long the amount of oil that we already have in stock would last and when to replenish supplies.

Unclear system of marking issued kegs

The board with sliding elements marking individual oil containers was not always easy to use. It consisted of a certain number of columns symbolizing the racks, so if a new type of oil appeared in the warehouse, it had to be expanded. It was also not very convenient to remove the “barrels” from the inside from the “racks” – the entire structure was large, and updating it in this way required effort. 

Solution: warehouse management application

Toyota is attached to its solutions, which is why in the application we have mapped the boards used by employees in a modernized, interactive version.

The TV

First of all, we improved the visibility of the warehouse. From now on, the entire stock can be viewed on a screen visible to all employees.

Scanner

The application supports the scanner. It reduces the risk of incorrect marking of the barrels. All an employee has to do is scan their number, and the application will connect it with the proper type of oil.

User’s competencies

 The user can document in the application all activities that he performs in the warehouse – delivery of barrels to the warehouse, transferring them to other shelves, picking. The application also ensures that the lower shelves are emptied first and only then the shelves to which the forklift is needed. In the system, you can also indicate the minimum amount of oil in the warehouse and indicate the e-mail addresses of employees who will receive notifications when this level is reached. Thanks to this, it is possible to replenish stocks in good time without the risk that the necessary oil will run out when you least expect it.

The administrator’s competencies

o all the factors were properly configured – all oils have their assigned numbers, mailing lists with warnings about ending raw material stocks were updated – is supervised by the administrator, who additionally logs in with a password. It can also perform operations inaccessible to ordinary users: 

  • issuing newer barrels, for example, in the event of their damage and the need to use their contents,
  • moving them in a non-standard way,
  • adding more oil to the warehouse, which is especially valuable when setting up a warehouse or adding new types of oils.

 

What was the purpose of modernization? Transparent warehouse system, easy checking of what the shifts looked like and who made them, warnings about any shortages in the warehouse directed to the right employees, and at the same time keeping the patterns known to the customer.