ASD Lighting are a highly successful manufacture of specialised lighting equipment that has grown over a period of 25 years into a multi million pound business.
CI Logistics has developed a close relationship with ASD Lighting during its growth and has already provided vehicle loading equipment and a comprehensive belt conveyor system to deliver completed work from the assembly area to the packing area.
As their business has grown ASD were required to meet increasing demands for smaller production batches. They had already recognised the benefits that kitting could bring to this side of their business and in early 2007 they approached CI Logistics to discuss the ways and means that this might be implemented.
The initial brief was essentially very simple but extremely challenging – how to deliver small quantities of components from the stores, directly to assembly operators benches - but without restricting their working room, access or storage requirements.
Several options were considered including the use of overhead conveyors, before an acceptable solution was eventually agreed with ASD.
The system designed would enable the stores operator to load a specific kit of parts into a tote box and direct it to any one of the 12 assembly benches. It would also present the tote at a working height to eliminate excessive bending by the operators. The assembly benches already had belt conveyors running the length of their area and any additional space for conveyors at working height was not acceptable.
The only practical route was to run the delivery conveyor along the floor, underneath the existing conveyors.
The final system uses a combination of powered belt and roller conveyor fitted with pneumatic diverters that deliver the tote to the work bench, where it is then automatically elevated to a working height.
The end result was a delivery system that took very little floor space but enabled the kitting operator to deliver a kit of parts to any packing bench at an ergonomic height.
Andrew Fitter the Production Manager said that 'the new system provides a neat and efficient solution to the increasing demands of building work to order and not for stock'.
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