ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- The results of a study performed almost two years ago are coming to fruition in the industrial area – modernizing and streamlining storage areas for better efficiency.
“It’s really warehouse process optimization,” said Jeb Nabors, a maintenance systems analyst in Anniston Army Depot’s Directorate of Production Management.
According to Brian Mitchell, chief of the Components Planning and Control Division, the new process will enable improved storage, kitting and tracking of reworked parts.
Mitchell said the depot contracted with Defense Systems and Solutions to perform a study of reclaimed parts tracking and storage.
“We are in the process of executing the findings of that study,” said Mitchell. “Currently, most of our storage involves just laying the part on the ground. The DSS study recommended we have vertical storage.”
The new storage racks will be tailor-made to handle the weight of the combat vehicle parts being repaired or remanufactured on the installation.
While physical storage improvements are being made, new capabilities in the Logistics Modernization Program are being developed to enable improved visibility of all kitting processes.
“We will be able to do total kit simulation based off data from LMP,” said Nabors. “We will bring reclaim to record and put it in a bin location via a single transaction in Enterprise Resource Planning Central Component. We’ve never been able to do that before, at least not efficiently. The system will then calculate kit fill and shortage rates based on our local picking strategy of using reclaim first for Depot Overhaul Factor items. The Goods Issue process is also being simplified, so we should see a huge indirect labor savings.”
Once rack installation is complete in the first component shop this summer, the new LMP functionality will be piloted to work out any unforeseen issues.
The final piece of the storage improvement and efficiency process will come later this year, when ANAD takes possession of the Automated Storage and Retrieval System currently operated by the Defense Logistics Agency on the installation.
“ASRS and the surrounding buildings will give us the capacity to kit parts going to the production lines in a single area of the depot, but we’ve got a lot of master data restructuring to do,” said Nabors. “Ultimately, the goal is to have a warehouse which functions efficiently and provides necessary information to decision makers.”
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