Industrial Engineering

Grocery Roller Racks

Analysis Presented by:

Winn Dixie Industrial Engineer

Problem Statement:

Winn Dixie Miami Distribution Center is centrally located in NW Miami and is responsible for delivering a myriad variety of products including perishable and grocery merchandising to its 122 affiliated stores across South Florida. In order to effectively improve the efficiency within the warehouse, there are a total of 64 isles where 4 of them are utilizing fine tuned hard plastic roller racks purchased three years ago from the supplier which are essentially designed and coordinated to withstand both heavy and moderate moving pallets in the front of the warehouse. The purpose of this engineering analysis is to scrutinize the roller racking system put in place as well as identifies possible root cause problems that result in regular wear and tear ultimately resulting in total failure of the rack incurring unnecessary costs to this facility.

Scope of the project:

The objective of this project is to closely monitor the roller racks utilization in order to effectively examine all the factors associated with the racks including the total drivers’ letdowns and pickups patterns, the pallet types being currently in use, the frequency of the pallet loads alongside with their associated characteristics such as total weight, total cubic space etc…

Initial observations:

* Should all pallets be the same type?

* When did warehouse start initially observing failures? How often?

* Has maintenance been involved before the critical damages started occurring?

* Had the drivers received adequate training (also awareness on costs) on forklifts/ and these types of racks? If so when?

* Do management audits include proper settings of pallets as drivers are letting them down?

* Due to the technology built in...