UNEX Exhibits Industrial Carts and Flow Cell Solutions at The Assembly Show

UNEX Manufacturing, Inc., the trusted industry leader in providing innovative order picking solutions, will be exhibiting their advanced order picking and lineside storage solutions at The Assembly Show in Booths 1231 and 1331 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. These solutions help manufacturers improve their assembly lines by better managing materials in these areas, helping to improve productivity, quicken delivery schedules and enhance customer satisfaction.

“Manufacturers need to make sure that when the products arrive at the lineside assembly areas that they are labeled clearly and packaged well so that the contents can be easily identified. The less time it takes the assembler to visually recognize the part needed, select it, pick it and prepare to install it, the less time is wasted having to search for an item. Employees will be less frustrated not having to search for a particular part to finish their assembly,” said Brian C. Neuwirth, VP of Sales and Marketing, UNEX Manufacturing.

Both booths will showcase some of the following equipment, with one booth focusing more on mobile solutions:

UNEX lineside storage solutions improve picking operations within assembly. When customization is high in an assembly operation, having the ability to store additional SKUs in the assembly area means pickers don’t have to travel to find the right part, speeding fulfillment rates. Efficiencies and productivity are increased as well.

UNEX Flow Cell workstations help with subassembly processes by bringing small parts that are to be incorporated into larger manufactured products together, providing a workbench on which to assemble parts. Components are stored in cartons or totes on the workstations, which also can be equipped with overhead toolbars, monitors and work instructions.

UNEX industrial carts are used to move materials, parts, boxes and components from one location to another within assembly operations. Carts are available with open shelving or racks to hold cartons or parts, improving picking operations and boosting productivity. UNEX will display a prototype version of its newest industrial carts to solicit feedback from the Assembly Show audience and to demonstrate the flexibility that makes Flow Cell an industry leading solution.

Other UNEX Flow Cell products will be displayed to show how they can help maximize space, diminish movements with angled shelving, reduce waste with a lean focus and support FIFO methodologies so components never reach their expiration date.

The Assembly Show takes place on October 24 – 26, 2017, in Rosemont, IL. Visit UNEX at Booths 1231 and 1331 to better understand how the company’s solutions increase productivity and reduce manufacturing lead times.

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source http://www.unex.com/unex-industrial-carts/

The Warehouse Slotting Game

In today’s fast-paced world of getting orders into the hands of consumers and businesses seemingly instantaneously, warehouse managers have put a premium on the picking process. No picking technology can handle everything, whether its picking full pallets, partial cases or individual pieces, so it’s important to let the profiles of SKUs and orders lead you to the right solution.

Many modern warehouses use a mix of different solutions for picking orders dictated by product type, product velocity and order type. To make the best selection of picking solutions, a thorough understanding of your customer service requirements blended with SKU profiles can help you pick the best system for the job. Not every warehouse needs automated picking solutions, which may save on labor, but the added cost and maintenance can be prohibitive.

Many warehouses can speed the picking process by slotting SKUs intelligently, which involves reviewing:

• the type of product (weight, size, shape)
• how often the product is touched
• the pick path (the distance an order picker would need to travel to get to the location, and how accessible the location will be once the picker gets there)
• the size of the pick face (ensuring the product will fit into the right location)

Once this information is gathered, many UNEX customers use our powerful warehouse slotting tool, SKUBE that analyzes the product data and movement, then suggests SKU locations. It determines what should go where to maximize efficiency and ensures products move easier and faster in the order picking process.

Proper warehouse slotting can solve the problem of SKU proliferation, which occurs quite often in the food and beverage space, among others. As distributors handle more and more products – from craft beer to international foods – running out of space in the warehouse can be an issue. SKUBE assigns each product to pallets, carton flow or shelving units based on its analysis of movement so that items are stored in the right location for the fastest pick.

Warehouse slotting is a complex exercise that takes skill, knowledge and the right tool to drive warehouse efficiencies, save space and speed order picking. It is not a game of chance.

UNEX’s order picking solutions for piece, case, and/or pallet picking can speed order picking operations for most distributors – and without the maintenance responsibilities of automated systems. UNEX Pickologists work closely with clients to profile their SKUS to help them select the right picking solution for their operation. Then deploy the picking solution to improve productivity and increase accuracy – making your picking operations efficient and productive.

The post The Warehouse Slotting Game appeared first on Carton Flow and Order Picking Solutions from UNEX.

source http://www.unex.com/warehouse-slotting-game/

What’s Brewing in Beverage Distribution?

There’s no disputing that beer is big business. According to Nielsen, “In the U.S., Americans spent more than $37 billion on beer at Nielsen-measured retail stores in the year-ended Feb. 25, 2017.” From the King of Beers to independent craft brews, the number of brands, styles and flavors of beer continues to proliferate, creating a massive, diverse, high-volume product category. Beer drinkers are spoiled for choice, but still clamor for the new and unfamiliar.  As Beverage Dynamics’ Kyle Swartz described the phenomenon, “Many consumers nowadays never even revisit good beers. That’s an actual trend being reported by brewers: people will drink a beer knowing they’ll never have it again. They only want what’s new to them.”

That puts big pressure on beverage distributors and processors, who must efficiently store, handle and ship this ever-expanding jumble of SKUs, not to mention deal with the mashup of packaging types, materials, sizes and shapes, each of which contains date- and temperature-sensitive pressurized contents.

Whether it’s bottled, canned or kegged, beer is a challenge to handle and distribute. And while processors and wholesalers may face slightly different challenges – in general, processors handle fewer SKUs but in larger volumes, and wholesalers handle a larger number of SKUs, often in lower volumes, or at the case level, or even in individual quantities – both are faced with storing and processing huge amounts of product efficiently within existing warehousing space.

That’s why UNEX creates space-saving beverage storage and handling solutions that ensure accurate inventory management; fast and easy SKU identification; labor efficiency and safety; and robust, economical operation. Here’s how:

• Gravity flow systems are dynamic storage and retrieval systems that are powered by natural gravitational mechanics, decreasing energy usage and lowering operational costs.
• Sloped rows, racks and shelves get stored product off the floor and into organized, accessible, high-density locations, reducing the amount of space, time and labor needed for fulfillment.
• Kegs, cartons or pallets are loaded into the high end of pitched lanes, and product is dispensed from back to front via controlled downward glide to the pick station, an orderly flow that optimizes FIFO inventory turnover and relieves congestion by separating load and pick aisles.
• Dispensed product is ergonomically positioned, highly visible, and easily identifiable, enhancing worker safety and increasing pick speed and accuracy.
• Systems are highly fluid, flexible and configurable, allowing responsive adjustments to accommodate changing product specs, applications or operational demands.

Gravity flow solutions from UNEX comprise a range of robust, durable keg-flow, carton-flow, and pallet-racking systems, including Span-Track, the engineered-to-order keg-flow system that makes easy work of heavy, hard-to-handle kegs.

Want to tap into the latest beer and beverage distribution solutions? See UNEX in Booth 921 at NBWA’s 80th Annual Convention and Trade Show Conference, October 8 – 11, 2017 in Las Vegas NV. Cheers!

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source http://www.unex.com/beverage-distribution/