Your Just-in-Time Operation is Efficient. But is it Resilient?

Ken Kinsella, Director, Major Accounts, Hyster Company

Just-in-time manufacturing depends on supply chains operating at the highest levels of precision possible. Materials arrive on-site just before manufacturing commences, enabling production operations to stay lean and squeeze maximum output out of available space, but leaving little slack time or margin for error.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges to global supply chains, with lockdowns and public health effects wreaking havoc and causing delays for finely tuned manufacturing operations. But that was just the beginning – semiconductor and other commodity shortages in the automotive industry led to temporary plant closings and a shift to a more proactive approach to component sourcing, rather than the purely lean methods that have guided manufacturers for decades. 

Because of this, just-in-time philosophies are giving way to a resurgence of “just-in-case” planning, but the underlying drive for maximum efficiency remains exceptionally intense at all levels. Profit margins that are often less than 10 cents on the dollar mean manufacturers cannot afford to abandon the just-in-time philosophy’s extreme cost-consciousness. Rather than adding waste for the sake of “just-in-case” planning, manufacturers need resiliency in supply chains, achieved through simplicity, flexibility, speed – and yes, some strategic, efficient stockpiling and redundancy

This article examines how industrial trucks can support lean, just-in-time strategies, helping manufacturers manage supply chains for maximum efficiency and resiliency

Equipment utilization

Lean manufacturing strives to eliminate waste while maximizing productivity. Applying these principles to managing a fleet of lift trucks avoids wasteful spending on excess pieces of equipment and aligns fleet composition with what equipment is actually used the most. 

How can manufacturers know if their fleet is structured properly? Lift truck telemetry provides the raw data and framework to understand it, uncovering insights and driving decisions that reflect the lean ethos.

Essentially, this data shows which pieces of equipment are used most often. Enabling manufacturers to reduce permanent stock and rent when needed.

Equipment reliability Reliability is the foundational requirement for material handling equipment in manufacturing operations. The consequences of unreliable equipment lead to waste – excess lift trucks held on hand to protect against the risk of equipment downtime grinding business to a halt.  

Proper maintenance is also critical to reliable performance. Telemetry helps businesses strike the happy medium of effective maintenance without performing unnecessary service. Rather than relying on general maintenance intervals, telemetry helps determine necessary service actions for individual trucks, based on actual, real-time, asset-specific data and diagnostics.

"What was once a laser focus on the just-in-time paradigm is now tempered by a level of justin-case planning, pressuring material handling operations"

The constant monitoring of equipment status enables preventive service to be completed around operational schedules, helping minimize the impact of service on normal business. Fault code monitoring also preserves productivity by triggering automatic service orders for proactive maintenance.

Space optimization

With the risk of component shortages, operations must consider keeping inventory in reserve to help guard against supply chain disruptions restricting capacity and shutting down plants.

This renewed interest in resiliency can motivate manufacturers to ask upstream component suppliers to hold a backlog of critical inventory, such as resin, castings, forgings and electrical components. Or, manufacturers can pursue storing extra inventory themselves. 

Regardless, the most efficient way to store inventory is to take full advantage of a facility’s cubic volume – with tall, narrow-aisle storage configurations that take advantage of vertical space. This approach is especially relevant now, with the rising cost of industrial real estate pressuring operations to max out capacity in existing space and avoid expensive expansions and new construction.

Switching from lead-acid batteries to alternative power options can optimize the use of space. Powering lift trucks with lead-acid batteries requires indoor space dedicated to battery changing, watering, charging and storage. But hydrogen fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries do not present this intense space requirement, enabling operations to repurpose areas for additional storage or revenue-generating activities.

Labor performance improvement

The waste that lean and just-in-time principles aim to minimize extends to time lost to dwindling operator productivity, incidents and injuries. Research credits human error as the cause of 23 percent of unplanned downtime in manufacturing. And specific to material handling, 70 percent of forklift safety incidents can be attributed to operator error. How can manufacturers work to improve the performance of lift truck operators?

In addition to high-quality, OSHA-mandated training, telemetry data and controlled access functions, there are newer advances that can help support lift truck operator best practices in real-time.

Operator assist technology automatically adjusts truck performance based on equipment status, location and operating conditions. For example, the truck automatically slows down as it approaches a four-way cross intersection, speed is limited in designated pedestrian areas, hydraulic lock-out prevents operators from moving loads that exceed the truck’s weight threshold – and much more. 

Mobile robot deployment

Labor challenges, whether due to turnover or finding staff to begin with, threaten just-in-time success through disruptions or lost productivity. Turnover in U.S.-based manufacturing reached 44.3 percent in 2020. Deploying robotic lift trucks to handle repetitive point-to-point load transportation tasks can allow employees to focus on more engaging, value-added work. Enabling personnel to concentrate on more strategic work better equips them to remain focused, and according to a Gallup study, organizations with better employee engagement achieve substantially better retention.

These robotic lift trucks are not the same as traditional AGVs used in manufacturing – they can adapt to obstacles and move around them, keeping loads moving on time to tightly scheduled production lines, combining the predictability and reliability of automation with the flexibility to adapt to the reality of the shop floor and changing layouts. 

Finding balance

Unique global events and related supply issues are spurring change in manufacturing. What was once a laser focus on the just-in-time paradigm is now tempered by a level of justin-case planning, pressuring material handling operations to support evolving methods of doing business. Doing so requires a partner with the broad range of experience, both in manufacturing and elsewhere in the supply chain, to apply new ideas and technologies that uphold the standard of efficiency modern just-in-time manufacturing requires.