Grocery Chain Triples Capacity in Half the Space

Can This Food Distribution Miracle Apply to You?
Imagine trying to compete in an industry where margins range from .2 to .4%. Your next nightmare is that ½ of your inventory is perishable. Finally, new competitors, big box mass merchandisers, are eating away at market share. Welcome to the food distribution or what is commonly known as the grocery industry.

The most common way to remain competitive is to have an excellent logistics operation. Inventory turnover is critical. Even without factoring the perishable nature of their inventory, a grocer must have a proven method of keeping the right SKUs on the valuable shelf space at their retail stores.

One west coast grocery chain has recognized a way to increase their throughput by 174%. After installing eight high-density horizontal carousels in their distribution centers, workers are able to pick 280 lines per hour compared to 174 per hour using less efficient systems.

“Besides increasing productivity, we have been able to expand our product line. We stock twice as many SKUs in less than half the space,” explained their inventory manager. As an example, they had used 6,000 square feet to store 1,600 items of health and beauty aids. After the conversion to carousels, 3,200 items are stored in 2,400 square feet.

Errors in picking are impressive. Using lightrees and sortbars allowed for paperless batch picking – up to eight orders, each for a different store. Since adding the picking system, errors in items pulled and quantity have nearly disappeared.

Collectively the four people working the day and second shift now pick 15,000 lines per week. The decision to implement the horizontal carousels was made easy. The ROI projection was projected at 18 months. This company saw their payback at 14 months allowing them to reclaim a competitive position again in their market.

Does your operation have fast moving or high value items? Is increasing inventory turnover critical to your company’s success? If so a carousel might make sense for part of your distribution center operation. Morrison Company can conduct a facility assessment to determine whether a carousel would improve picking efficiency, reduce picking errors and save valuable floor space. Selecting the contact us link, indicate facility assessment in the area of interest.

You Do That? - Mezzanines

Mezzanines Span Time and Space

Now you can fully utilize existing overhead space and gain valuable working, office, storage or manufacturing areas at a lower cost than new construction. Also, you are able to put this space to work fast, with minimal interruption to your working floor area.

Wildeck designed mezzanines assemble quickly with the simplicity of "erector set" construction to form rugged, high-load-bearing overhead levels. Special steel components engineered for mezzanines lock together to form a strong, unitized structure. Heavy-duty columns provide rigid support, eliminating obstructing bracing and providing maximum flexibility of movement and utilization of the lower level.

Versatility of Wildeck mezzanines offers a choice of optional accessories to match your needs-railings, stairs, landings, swing gates, sliding gates, types of decking and more. And the structure can be expanded to meet future requirements.

Wildeck has been a pioneer in the development of mezzanines with a solid reputation for products that have been engineered to the highest standards. Thousands of mezzanines are in use today-in warehouses, industrial plants, institutions, retail stores and government facilities. This is an assurance that your Wildeck mezzanine will give you extra space at a moderate cost, with superior quality throughout.

What solution is right for your operation? A Wildeck system provides the most cost-effective mezzanine based on load, size, span or height requirements. Rugged steel construction provides all the strength and rigidity needed for more efficient office, production or storage needs.

Does a mezzanine make sense over conventional construction? Many times the initial cost is similar. Factoring in a favorable depreciation schedule for a mezzanine, the numbers many times point to a steel mezzanine.

Morrison Company has consistency been one of Wildeck’s top producing distributors in the United States. A Morrison Company representative can discuss your unique requirements; even conduct a facility assessment to determine the best mezzanine solution for you. Select mezzanine in the area of interest on the contact us page of the Morrison Company website.

Test Your Knowledge

What is HR Outsourcing?
Whatever your company's human resources requirements, there's an HR outsourcing firm to meet those needs. Some HR outsourcing firms are generalists, offering a wide variety of services, while others are specialists, focusing on specific areas such as payroll or recruiting. Depending on the size of your business and how much control you want to maintain over HR functions, you can either outsource all your HR tasks or contract for services a la carte.

The basic services offered by HR outsourcing firms may include:

• Overseeing organizational structure and staffing requirements


• Recruiting, training and development
• Tracking department objectives, goals and strategies
• Employee and manager training
• Benefits administration
• Employee orientation programs

Businesses that outsource HR are typically small to midsize firms with between 25 and 1,500 employees. These businesses view HR outsourcing as a strategic tool that relieves them of HR responsibilities and enables them to focus on what they do best. In addition to allowing you to concentrate on your core business activities, outsourcing provides some key benefits, including:

• Providing you with skilled professionals who are focused specifically on HR


• Helping you reduce and manage operating costs
• Improving employee relations

If you don't need the comprehensive services of a PEO, you can contract specific projects through an HR outsourcing firm to help you:

• Implement a human resource information system (HRIS)


• Create or update employee handbooks and policy manuals
• Develop and implement a compensation program
• Create or review a performance appraisal system
• Write and update affirmative action plans
• Provide sexual harassment training

Is RFID Loosing Momentum?

Companies are Not Sure it Makes Sense
It's been nearly seven months since Best Buy announced plans to require the use of RFID tags on shipments from its suppliers, starting in January 2006. In that time, not a single retailer, manufacturer or government entity has announced an RFID mandate. And at least one RFID software provider, GenuOne, is withdrawing from the RFID market. So the question has to be asked: Is RFID losing momentum?

Industry experts seem to think it isn’t, though it might appear to be. That’s because the excitement about RFID’s potential is being superseded by the hard work involved with deploying the technology in a way that delivers measurable business value. We are entering what Gartner calls the "trough of disillusionment"—the period in the evolution of a new technology when hype gives way to reality.

But a little reality is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a sign of progress that companies are coming to grips with many of the issues that have to be overcome before RFID can deliver a return on investment. At a recent logistics planning event, there was less discussion about the physics of RFID than about data integration and changing business processes. These are much tougher nuts to crack than simply getting a tag to read. But leading early adopters seem no less determined to take on these issues. They are developing new systems and evolving new business practices. Progress is slow, but steady.

Even companies that are not facing mandates are now taking a serious look at RFID. Many hospitals are now launching pilots and looking for ways to improve their operations and enhance patient safety.

That said, RFID is not going to take off until these early adopters can show that the technology is delivering tangible benefits. Given that we are in the very early stages of deployment, that's going to take some time. So expect the momentum to be slow and perhaps uneven through this year and maybe into next year. Some advice: Don't wait for things to pick up and then throw money at RFID projects. Use this period to learn about the technology and to identify applications where it makes sense today and in the near future, when hardware prices are lower and the technology is more mature.

Assembly Operation Up to Speed

Morrison Delivers on Client’s Logistics Goals
Whether your manufacturing business is trending up or down, an efficient assembly and shipping area can mean the difference between profitability and a restructure. Below is an example of an assembly operation whose logistics goals were met with Morrison Company on the team.

A 200,000 Sq. Ft. facility was required in order to maintain the client’s high level of customer service while at the same time meeting their current needs and future growth projections.

Morrison Company design engineers initially provided detailed drawings describing how the dense pallet and decked rack modules would integrate with the other logistics systems in the client’s warehousing and shipping operations.

Over the next six months, Morrison Company engineers and project managers worked with the general contractor to obtain appropriate building permits and code approvals. Material was ordered from a myriad of material handling component manufacturers and scheduled to arrive so the installation time was minimal. Installation was completed and attention was refocused on designing the shipping cells.

With the warehousing cells complete, Morrison Company design engineers next addressed the project’s shipping functions. Various forms of lift-assist devises, including cranes and vacuum lifts, were implemented to assist operators easily move finished goods.

In order to efficiently assemble the client’s electronic components, phase two of the project addressed the fabrication and assembly cells. The client’s workflow solution called for an assembly area to be constructed featuring a pit module. At the base of the module were to be 50 lift tables that met these tolerances: a specified vertical lift height, when being loaded, a flush position on the manufacturing floor, a turntable allowing the operator to position work, and when active assembly operations, a flush position to an adjacent platform.

A Morrison Company project director worked with the lift table manufacturer to devise custom features allowing the table to perform to the specified tolerances.

Another aspect of the assembly cell was the tote conveyor line. Working closely with the client’s manufacturing management and facility planning firm engineers, an overhead-enclosed track tote conveyor line was conceived allowing for both floor and ceiling support to carry empty totes to various workstations. These totes accepted various sub-assembly components that were then sent to locations on the outbound conveyors. An interesting design change within the overhead conveyor line that reduced ambient noise was the change from a steel wheel to a nylon load chain.

At each stage of the deployment, Morrison Company and the facility planning firm’s personnel worked as a team to design and install material handling systems creating the state-of-the-art facility the client wanted. To set up an evaluation of your facility, select facility assessment.

Is Your Customer Service Dead?

What Can be Done to Improve
It seems organizations are becoming more anonymous and technologically robotic every day. They're substituting machines for people at an ever-accelerating rate. And, when a human being is present, it's so often a low-paid, untrained, discourteous person, at least judging from the quality of service (or lack of it).

Just try to get a knowledgeable person on the phone to help you with a problem. Before a live voice appears, there is usually a lengthy list of, "press this for that, or that for this" set of options. After wading through all the number pressing options, the wait for a live person is usually so long, either we’ve figured out the answer ourselves or given up.

A recent personal experience brings this to reality. I had a question about an invoice, so I called the company's "customer service" number. Well, first I was told by a recorded voice that if I wanted information about new pricing, I should press "25." Of course, that wasn't for me. Then, the voice said, "for common questions, press 5." Did I have a common question? I didn't know. Then it said, "for questions about billing, press "1." I figured pressing "1" would only bring on more button pressing, so I decided to listen on -- for maybe a live voice.

Next, it was "press 2," then "press 4." Then -- believe it or not -- the voice said, "press 0 for Customer Care." Eureka! So, I pressed "0", and was told by another very robotic sounding voice that someone would be with me in "42 minutes!" Yup, in just 42 minutes I might speak to a human being.

Why is it that so many employers can't seem to understand that their customer contact people are perhaps the most important in the organization? After all, if there are no sales or income, there will be no strategic planning, production/operations, accounting, shipping, or anything else. And -- why is it that organizations so often put their lowest paid, least trained employees in customer service, or on the phone to take orders or solve problems?

There's something about a good person-to-person contact that has always filled cash drawers and always will. Well paid, trained, courteous, knowledgeable customer service people are one of the best investments an organization can make.

Does your customer service experience resemble the example above? Is customer service important in delivering value to your clients? If so, then requesting “10 Ways to Improve Customer Service” should be your next move.

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