MRF TYRES Manufacturing Warehouse Design & Optimization
About the Organization | MRF TYRES
MRF is an Indian Multinational tyre manufacturing company and the largest manufacturer of tyres in India. It is headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The company manufactures rubber products including tyres, treads, tubes and conveyor belts, paints and toys. The organization has 10 manufacturing facilities around India.
Manufacturing Warehouse Design & Optimization Project | Business Case
MRF has a tyre manufacturing facility in Chennai. A warehouse was built adjacent to the manufacturing facility to cater to the need of finished goods and raw material storage. The global sourcing team managed 4 warehouses that were scattered around the city and posed limitations to expand further to the growing demand of the organization.
The subject warehouse design evaluation project was in collaboration with the global sourcing and automation engineering division of the organization. The Business case of the project driven by Hesol Consulting is to –
- Analyse the product trend of the current supply chain and the future growth of the raw materials procured around the world
- Review the optimum storage solution
- Select the appropriate material handling device to enhance the performance and ensure the product is fed to the line without any disruptions.
Hesol’s Supply chain services portfolio – Supply chain risk assessment, Warehouse simulation and new warehouse start-up are the core focus areas in Project MRF.
OPPORTUNITY
Scope of Work
Basis the discussion with the client and the initial data points the scope of work formulated as below:
Define the optimal storage methodology for the product varieties, select the appropriate material handling device which was executed by deep diving into the following areas.
- In depth product portfolio classification based on the storage and retrieval methods
- Existing facility layout study with respect to storage, material handling, transport movement and inbound value-added activities
- Simulation of the scenarios for meeting the storage capacity
- Resource estimations
Tools & Techniques
- Demand analysis of the raw materials with the next 2 years in scope.
- Detailed market research for the optimal material handling equipment availability in India and around the globe with distribution facilities in India.
- Simulation of the optimal storage method for single deep, double deep, ASRS and floor loading.
- Specification designing for the heavy-duty racking and machinery.
- Float and validation of RFQ across the globe and selection of the resource.
- Transportation simulation and optimization.
- Cause and effect based decision matrix for racking selection
- Resource cost estimation
Challenges Faced
- Very heavy material with load capacity of 800kg weighing up to 1700 kg.
- Very large size pallet running up to 2.5m in length and non-standard as well.
- 49250 MT of material across 7 major categories to stored in the warehouse with material that are temperature sensitive, chemically interactive with one another and proven to dust accumulation.
- Limited players in India for heavy material movement within the warehouse for 10.5m height.
- Constrained timeline for execution.
SOLUTION
MRF Warehouse Design & Optimization
We successfully solved the business case as follows:
- Reviewed the order planning process and optimize the resources of procurement and quantity for the next 2 yrs.
- Categorized the material for chemical, temperature and dust reaction and arrived at specific solution for each
- Standardized the pallet options to consider for designing based on volume.
- Completed Storage selection, Opt material handling solution and flow
- Finalized the Rack / storage specifications
- Completed Space forecasting and Simulated the pallet positions required by SKU and type.
- Identified the value add activities that needs to be carried out prior to storage within the 4 walls as the intention was to bring the operations from 4 different warehouses under a single roof.
- Simulated and arrived at the number of pallet positions for single deep, double deep, ASRS and floor stacking.
- Floated RFQ, identified players, completed market validation of key players including the tech specs and funneling the engagement –the players for pan India was researched and technically narrowed down for strategic engagement based on the market penetration, sustaining serviceability support for long term and financial stability.
- Racking and MHE specifications are finalized.
- CAPEX plan is made ready.
- Resource utilization & Through-put estimation for Floor stacking, selective racking, double deep racking and ASRS are completed.
RESULTS
- Customized Solution for Storage, Handling and Flow was arrived at for the Non-standard, Big and Heavy product portfolio.
- Multiple design options are arrived at and then evaluated for throughput, cost, efficiency and scalability and ROI
- Thorough Space forecasting is completed as a timeline
- Devised the implementation strategy with detailed tech specifications by phase
- The Optimum Solution (Storage, Flow, and Handling) with the best ROI is completed
Feedback from MRF TYRES
“We would like to appreciate the work done by Hesol consulting in helping us to do an extensive study on our centralized warehousing operation in MRF Chennai, India. With this project, the team displayed extraordinary workmanship and walked that extra mile to get into the details and come up with an exhaustive study and solution to our warehousing layout. We are happy with your services and would definitely come back to you for any new projects.”
– Kevin, MRF Tyres
