SBS Logicom Inc. (Construction of a Warehouse/Distribution Center)
Mr. Tadashi Fujimura (Branch Manager, Noda Kinosaki Branch)
Challenges
- Many individual deliveries directly to Shimachu stores.
- Congestion and crowding at the stores.
- Unloading/unpacking deliveries at stores is time-consuming and requires effort.
Results
- Consolidated the entire logistic process for Shimachu stores.
- Drastically reduced delivery congestion at the store and eliminated wait time.
- Categorized goods by department on delivery carts for smoother, faster unpacking.
- Shortened delivery times and reduced the burden on the store.
BackgroundWe provide warehouse and distribution services to Shimachu as a 3PL, delivering goods from the Center to each home center store.
Background
We provide warehouse and distribution services to Shimachu as a 3PL, delivering goods from the Center to each home center store.
Prior to engaging with SBC Logicom, deliveries of goods to Shimachu stores were made by vendors themselves, causing a significant amount of traffic and congestion. Store employees would then have to inspect inbound goods and put material away in the store, which proved to be time-consuming and burdensome. By contracting with us as their 3PL service provider, we were able to consolidate and integrate the delivery of goods to each stores. We opened a transfer center called Noda Logistics Center, which contains a large sorter, exclusively for the use of Shimachu. We engaged with Toyo Kanetsu Solutions early in the planning stage in order to design and develop the dedicated transfer system that would greatly improve efficiency and make overall operations smoother.
Reasons We Chose Toyo Kanetsu Solutions:Toyo Kanetsu was an enthusiastic partner from the beginning, and committed much time and effort in supporting and cooperating with us throughout the project.
Reasons We Chose Toyo Kanetsu Solutions:
Toyo Kanetsu was an enthusiastic partner from the beginning, and committed much time and effort in supporting and cooperating with us throughout the project.
We were looking for partner that not only has overall logistics knowledge but specific experience in designing transfer centers. Toyo Kanetsu spared no effort in creating concept drawings beginning at the proposal stage, testimony to their depth of experience in this field. Furthermore, Toyo Kanetsu offers the Ecoloveyor and New Posi-Sorter, high quality products specially designed to meet the needs for applications such as this.
We chose Toyo Kanetsu not only because of the products they offer, but also because of the significant industry skill and expertise that they bring to the table. We were confident that Toyo Kanetsu would be an ideal partner for this project.
After ImplementationReduced delivery congestion at the stores and the overall effort to receive and unpack goods.
After Implementation
Reduced delivery congestion at the stores and the overall effort to receive and unpack goods.
The transfer center at Noda currently distributes product to 4 Shimachu stores in Kansai area, and 48 stores in Kanto, for a total of 52 stores (as of June 2014). The center houses Toyo Kanetsu’s Ecoloveyor and New Posi-Sorter (total length of 105m). A total of 28 chutes are used to sort material bound for each store by destination. In high-speed mode, we can sort up to 6,000 cases/hour and 4,500 cases/hour in medium-speed mode. Full automation of sorting was a challenge due to the size and shape of some of the products the company handles. The Toyo Kanetsu team was able to devise creative ways to maximize automated sorting in order to improve cost effectiveness, and keep labor for manual sorting down at the transfer center.
The dedicated transfer center greatly streamlined and unified the distribution process to Shimachu’s stores, and reduced congestion of delivery vehicles. The process of unloading was vastly improved as well because product was now categorized by store department and packaged on carts so unpacking at the store required less time and labor. Indeed employees are pleased with the new arrangements and are happy with the improvements.
The Ecoloveyor was an ideal fit for our requirements. First, it is energy efficient and generates little noise, an important consideration from the perspective of working environment and because the center is located in a residential area. Another advantage of the system is the ease with which it can be operated. Although the equipment is almost completely trouble-free, if there is an issue, we can usually handle it ourselves. Ease of use is an important advantage.
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What’s Next?Further improvements and upgrades toward further reducing the effort required at stores.
What’s Next?
Further improvements and upgrades toward further reducing the effort required at stores.
We believe that it is our mission at SBS Logicom Co., Ltd. to improve the process and reduce effort at each Shimachu store. We will continue to improve and streamline the process, freeing up employees to do more value-added activities such as providing customer service. One improvement might be to consider how displays can be packaged and handled together with the product itself. This would further free up staff to help customers. We will look to Toyo Kanetsu for other innovative ideas to improve the process and system toward decreasing delivery times, such as transitioning to a distribution center where we actually hold inventory.
* Source: Based on an interview conducted April 2014. Data, organizational departments and personal names appear as they were at time of interview.
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