A CASE STUDY ON OPTIMIZING PARTS SUPPLY IN MANUFACTURING BY REUSABLE CONTAINERS

Abstract

This case study analyzes the manufacturing system of a company producing and marketing branded power tools. The production process applies containers to transport parts within the manufacturing plant from the warehouse to the production floor as well as between several stages of production. The same containers are also used by manufacturer’s suppliers to deliver parts to the manufacturer. As the containers are re-used in the production process they have to be cleaned and inventoried. Then they are allocated to internal flow of material or they are made available to suppliers so that they can furnish parts to the manufacturer. The production process is controlled by a Kanban system such that the flow of containers is also regulated in this manner. However, so far the containers were not tracked within the manufacturer as well as at the supplier. Consequently, it happened that containers were not available in the right amount so that the supply of parts from the supplier was disrupted. The purpose of this study was to evaluate methods to optimize the handling of these containers at the manufacturer. Among them is the determination of a safety stock of containers. We present the results of the findings.

Key words: Reverse Logistics, Reusable Containers, Production Control, Kanban, Parts Supply, Closed-Loop System, Case Study