You've ordered a tube and joint dynamic storage unit for your facility. You're standing in front of a pile of steel tubing that has to be measured, cut, and fitted. You glance at your watch and start to mutter.
Flexibility and ease of use are the top priorities of any manufacturer, especially in the automotive industry. Designers are consistently adding new features and products, as well as updating the standards of their vehicles. Manufacturers need a work space that can be quickly rearranged while maintaining the efficiency of their operation in order to meet the changing demands of designers. For Johnson Controls, an automotive manufacturer based in Georgia, this challenge led to Unex’s patented Flow Cell workstations.
The Flow Cell workstation offered many benefits that appealed to the operations managers at Johnson Controls. As a dynamic storage unit, Flow Cells increase space utilization by 50% and pick rates by up to 30%. Flow Cell units decrease reach distance while simultaneously increasing pick access, shaving valuable seconds off of the order picking process. Flow Cell’s first in, first out design allows the unit to be replenished without interfering with the order picker’s work. The return lanes allow for the order picker to dispose of or move totes and cartons without stepping away from their work stations. Flow Cell units offer several advantages that Johnson Controls was able to exploit, which helped them step up from 55 jobs an hour to 60 jobs an hour.
Johnson Controls required a product that was highly durable as well as mobile- they needed a unit that could be moved and adjusted without completely disassembling the unit. Typical tube and joint structures were not an option, as they did not offer the mobility presented by Flow Cell units. While a tube and joint structure would need to be taken apart and reassembled in a new location, a Flow Cell unit on casters could simply be rolled from one station to the next. Reconfiguring a Flow Cell for a new workstation is a very simple process, and can be reconfigured three times faster than similar tube and joint structures. These Flow Cell units are capable of carrying three thousand pounds per unit, making them ideal candidates for a facility such as Johnson Controls, where heavy parts can produce stress on a storage unit. Simply put, Flow Cell’s structural integrity, coupled with its ease of movement and ease of reconfiguration, made it a far more superior product than typical tube and joint structures.
For Johnson Controls, Flow Cell units present three extremely valuable features- efficient use of space, uninterrupted work flow, and reusability. By maximizing floor space, keeping productivity high, and being flexible enough for any job, Flow Cell units provided Johnson Controls with the tools they needed to increase the value of their products. On top of all that value, Johnson Controls was able to assemble 41 Flow Cell units in less than a half hour each, saving the operation even more time and money.
Stop cutting steel tubing for your tube and joint structures. It's time-consuming, costly, and frustrating. Flow Cell units are specifically designed to ensure you spend more time picking and a lot less time cursing under your breath with a pile of steel tubes lying in front of you.