Smith & Nephew Medical -in addition to their well known conventional dressings and first aid products, an advanced range of treatments for difficult to heal wounds are manufactured.

the brief - the extensive manufacturing complex at Hull was being re-developed to cope with growth and the introduction of new products. During this phase the flow of materials from receiving to the wound management factory and subsequently to the distribution centre for despatch was critical to the entire operation. The requirement was to examine the quantities and flows to recommend systems, operations and equipment to support manufacture.

the approach - we commenced the study by visiting the site to examine the facilities and gain valuable data on production materials issue requirements and the operations flows involving movement and storage from production to the distribution centre. The client proposed to add a new receiving dock in the distribution centre, so it was essential we reviewed ways in which the loss of storage space could be made up.

We then produced a number of alternative layouts, showing the flow from receipt of raw materials though production to the storage and despatch of finished goods. Advice and budget quotations were also giving on suitable providers for the supply of systems and equipment. Because this was only one of several building development phases, all designs had to be flexible enough to cope with the changes as well as considerable growth. Short and long term layouts for a new raw materials store and revised finished goods storage were produced with procedures for the supporting handling processes and transport across the site.

the result - the study provided the Smith & Nephew Management Team with the information they required to direct the implementation of the current and subsequent phase of the development so that there was no disruption to the manufacturing and distribution operations.

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