Automotive hardware distributor Wurth Canada has made significant improvements in productivity in the past six years, handling five times the orders. A smart conveyor system was just what it needed to trim down. Bob Keough knew he had a big problem when his warehouse, workers spent more time looking for product than they did picking it to fulfill orders. Warehouse employees worked every weekend, constantly putting in overtime, just to get the orders out, says Keough, operational manager for Wurth Canada, the Canadian branch of the world's largest automotive hardware manufacturer-distributor, located in over 70 countries. The Mississauga, Ontario-based warehouse could only handle 200 orders a day, at maximum. "And we couldn't grow the business because we couldn't get the orders out," says Keough, who has been with the company for eight years. "Our customers, a lot of them are one-man shops and body shops, and if they need a product, they need it tomorrow, and they can't wait for two or three days." Fast forward to six years later, and the company is processing 1,000 orders a day, its sales force has tripled, the warehouse labour force has declined, there is no overtime, very little employee turnover, and the revenues have increased 20 percent each year.
展开▼
