New Warehouse Design Review and Recommendation for UTi

UTi Logistics Taiwan Company has envisioned itself as a world-class integrated logistics services provider since its establishment in 1995.

• Due to further expansion and government issues, UTi Logistics Taiwan planned to merge the four warehouses in Taipei areas and move it to a new warehouse in Bade City at Taoyuan. During the merging, UTi Logistics Taiwan wanted to review its logistics service performance and upgrade its logistics equipment at the same time.
• UTi Logistics Taiwan has commissioned BPS to act as the consultant to review the current logistics issues and to give recommendations on areas of layout design, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and logistics equipment.

Project Challenges

• Warehouse Layout Problem
  – Inappropriate clients’ goods allocation in layout design
  – Lack of shelving positions
  – Inappropriate Value Added Services (VAS) and Return areas allocation
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
  – Non-standardized logistics workflow from inbound to outbound
  – Unclear VAS procedures
• Logistics Equipment
  – Non-structured WMS functions
  – Lack of logistics status control in WMS
  – Lack of safety alert and precaution equipment
  – Incomplete implementation of Bar-code system

Project Summary

Consultancy work for the new warehouse in Beda City at Taoyuan with over 29,000 pallets storage:

• Data Analysis
  – Product characteristics (Storage capacity/pattern, throughput capacity etc.)
  – Facility characteristics (no. of L/UL dock, storage area, grid size etc.)
• SOP Review
  – Receiving, Return, Sorting, Putaway, Picking etc.
• Warehouse Layout Review & Recommendation
  – Functional area arrangement, space utilization, security control etc.
• Logistics Equipment Review & Recommendation
  – Handling capacity, operational space requirement
• Preparation of Equipment Specifications for Tender purpose

Project Timeline

Warehouse review and recommendations report (2012/7 – 2012/8)

Project Results and Benefits

• Streamlined operations workflow and minimized the overall travelling distances
• Segregation of ABC items for internal clients of UTi helped to optimize the warehouse performance by better allocating the storage positions according to product characteristics
• Integrated the warehouse with combination of racking and shelving system: to achieve higher utilization rate
• Re-positioned the VAS area and restructured it into mezzanine design: to save warehouse space and minimize the workload in bottleneck areas
• Re-positioned the Return area: to increase the operations efficiency
• Defined the requirement for system integration such as WMS & bar-code: to assist UTi improving operations process performance to adapt for future expansion