Kubota Manufacturing of America has reduced parts pick times and greatly improved efficiency in material

flow at its Georgia facility by placing versatile Unex Roller Racks within existing pallet rack structures.

t’s a daunting task keep-ing the assembly lines in

two enormous buildingsstocked with components

for Kubota’s celebrated rough ter-rain vehicles, lawn tractors, mowers,backhoes and loaders. An army oflift trucks stacks, unstacks and

moves pallets of parts from ware-house storage racks to ‘line side’holding areas at the sprawlingGeorgia facility of KubotaManufacturing of America (KMA)just north of Atlanta.

Juichi Shiraishi, KMA’s presi-dent, is justifiably proud of the com-pany’s growth, having received the2003 Large Manufacturer of the Yearaward from the State of Georgia.Demand for existing products was

exploding alongwith orders for thecompany’s newRTVs that are onlybuilt here butshipped world-wide. He was also excited about anew assembly building under con-struction. The picture was justpeachy.

But the strain of the added out-put before Building 3 comes on linein 2005 was becoming apparent.Parts picks were averaging an eter-nally long 7 minutes each, compro-mising efficiency.

The parts storage and retrievalsystem needed to be revamped.

But there was no need forKMA’s plant supervisors to worry.Making continuous improvementsin a gradual and methodical manner

is rooted inJapanese culture, aconcept known asKaizan. Accordingto Tony Bradley,KMA’s Kaizan lead

person, it is not simply about mak-ing improvements until an ‘accept-able’ level is achieved, but continual-ly making improvements in anorganized fashion over a relatively

long time period.Unex distributor and

valuedKMA sup-plier ASI

HandlingSystem, a divi-

sion of Air SpecialistsInc., was asked to evaluate the partsstorage and retrieval routines anddevelop recommendations forimprovements.

Mike Machado, sales manager,and Robbie Jones, sales consultant,studied how parts were warehousedand selectively brought to theassembly lines. They were convincedthat a strategy combining both over-head pallet storage and ground level,easy-to-pick parts storage would

result in quicker parts picks andsubstantial labor savings. Their planproposed maximizing the storagedensity of the existing overhead bulkpallet areas and then placing bays ofUnex Roller Racks on ground level,tucked within the pallet rack struc-ture.

“A lot of lost production time isdue to gathering the parts to putinto the assembly line,” says Jones.“Roller Racks bring the product tothe operator in a visual, positive andergonomic manner – the operator isable to see when product needs tobe refilled. They make the work area

Unex Roller Racks bring the product to the operator in a visual manner that makes iteasy to identify and speeds up pick time. Also, the operator can easily see when productneeds to be refilled to keep Kubota tractors rolling off the assembly lines.

neater and induce pride of pro-duction in the employees.”

Roller Racks Roll In –Or Out – On Demand

“There’s great flexibility inthis arrangement because if thespace was needed again for bulkstorage the Roller Racks couldsimply be rolled out and movedto another location,” adds Jones.Also, Machado and Jones point-ed out that with KMA employingvarious types of pallet storageracks throughout the facility theUnex Roller Racks could bequickly and easily reassembled –no hardware or tools needed – tosuit different storage patterns.

Although faced with a vari-ety of choices from other suppli-ers, ASI Handling System’sunique proposal was selected asthe best solution for meetingimmediate as well as futureneeds. “I looked at two other com-panies that had channel liners andplastic rollers,” says Greg Allan,Kubota’s supervisor of procurementmaterials. “I didn’t think the plasticrollers would last with the weight wewould have to put on them.” ASIHandling System’s Jones agrees withthat assessment and also mentionsthe safety benefits of Unex’s Span-Track aluminum rollers: “You don’thave to climb into the middle of arack to fix a plastic wheel.”

Pipe type structures were alsoconsidered, but Allan rejected themoutright. “A similar size rack wouldtake 4 hours to cut lengths of pipeand put together and if you didn’tput on extra bracing it would col-lapse with our heavy totes contain-

ing welded components.”Bill Edgy, Unex’s Southern

Regional Manager, reports thatKMA placed an initial order for 20Roller Rack units with Span-Trackrollerassem-blies forBuilding 2.The unitswereassembled at KMA by their employ-ees. Tony Bradley, KMA’s Kaizanlead person, put many of the unitstogether himself. “One eight-footassembly was about 20 minutes,” hesays. “One person could easily putRoller Racks together. Granted, twopeople make it easier,” he adds withan exuberant grin.

Even before the initialinstallation was completed,however, KMA project engi-neers from Building 1 were‘peeking over the fence’ tocheck out the new arrivals.Impressed with Roller Rack’sversatility, they immediatelyplaced orders for 35 additionalunits for their facility. A totalof 55 units are now in opera-tion between both buildings.

Pick Efficiency ExceedsExpectations

It’s a vastly improvedwork flow now that UnexRoller Racks have been placedinto service. “The ‘pick effi-ciency’ has increased substan-tially – now a lightning fast 19seconds vs. 7 minutes,” saysAllan.

The redesigned parts stor-age and flow is enabling thehighly skilled Kubota assem-bly technicians to easilyachieve their production goalswhile awaiting completion ofBuilding 3. Robert Bone,KMA’s supervisor of ware-house materials, looking outon bay after bay of RollerRacks, appreciates theincreased number of parts

that can now be quickly and easilypicked and the greatly improved effi-ciency in material flow. “We can setindividual Roller Racks free-standing

on the floor at the assembly lineareas too,” he comments.

A significant benefit of theRoller Rack installation, explainsAllan, is that “the same part, previ-ously stored in five different loca-tions throughout the plant, is nowavailable in one spot, enabling thecompany to implement an orderly

No plastic rollers here. Parts totes glide smoothly on ruggedUnex Span-Track full-width aluminum roller flow track. Easyto insert or reposition within Roller Rack, different trackwidths may be intermixed for utmost flexibility.

rotation of parts using the standardFIFO (first in / first out) inventorypractice.”

And that army of lift truckspatrolling KMA’s warehouse aisles hasnow been cut by three vehicles, a sig-nificant savings in manpower hours.

According to UnexManufacturing’s information, RollerRacks are designed for quick, easyassembly and form bay after bay ofefficient carton flow where parts andproduct are always easily reachable.They are constructed of rugged ‘mix& match’ components to withstandthe heavy duty, high volume pace ofthe manufacturing process and arebacked by a seven year warranty.System components include slotteduprights, boltless beams and Span-

Track full width aluminum rollerflow track that are easy to insert or

reposition within Roller Rack andprovide the precise flow from loadpoint to pick point for even hard tohandle totes.

To customize Roller Racks forspecific applications, a variety ofaccessories is available, including:galvanized steel add-on pick trays indepths of 12" and 15"; galvanized

steel workbenches in 12" and 18"depths; label holders for SKU identi-fication and infeed guides and guardrails.

With Roller Racks critical suc-cess with KMA’s parts storage andpicking requirements in Buildings 1and 2, discussions are already underway about placing these versatilestorage units in Building 3 as well.

For more information aboutUnex Roller Rack and Span-Trackready framework, including thecompany’s complete carton flowline, contact: Unex Manufacturing,Inc., 50 Progress Place, Jackson, NJ08527. Phone: 800-695-7726;Fax: 732-928-2828;E-mail: span@unex.com;Web: www.unex.com.

A total of 55 UnexRoller Rack units locat-ed in the two Kubotaassembly buildings oftheir Gainesville, Ga.manufacturing facilityhelped increase thenumber of parts thatcan be easily accessedto maintain productiontargets for lawn trac-tors, RTVs, backhoesand loaders.

UNEX MANUFACTURING, INC.50 PROGRESS PLACE, JACKSON, NJ 08527732-928-2800 • 1-800-695-SPAN (7726) • FAX: 732-928-2828span@unex.com • www.unex.com Printed in USA