Willett UK - is the worlds leading company producing equipment and consumables for inkjet printers. The fluid division manufactures inks for the leading brand printer manufacturers.

the brief - meeting the growing product demand for the fluid manufacturing division was a major concern for the management. They realised there was a problem with the inefficiency of re-handling containers at each stage of the filling, sealing, labelling and packaging process which caused enormous labour costs due to double handling. Also the storage and order picking arrangements had become inadequate due to the growth in sales.

the approach - analysis of the entire manufacturing process enabled us to identify machine groupings which minimised re-routing and changeover requirements whilst making space available for the new, larger machine. As one concern of the client was to remove the double handling by staff, we analysed the throughput and capacities of all the machines and integrated conveyors to remove the re-handling between each stage of the inter-process movement. We then presented a number of designs and when the preferred option was chosen, we produced a detailed design that made best use of the space available.

the result - when the new machine arrived it fitted into the operation and connected up with the other processes which vastly increased the production output. The warehouse mechanisation reduced the labour costs significantly and re-design of the layout and equipment of the warehouse and despatch operations considerably increased the storage capacity and throughput.

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