MATERIAL FLOW OPTIMIZATION – A CASE STUDY

IN FOOD INDUSTRY

A CASE STUDY
Submitted by

SHASHIN MILANBHAI VYAS

[160030728017]

In fulfilment of requirement for the degree

Of
MASTER OF ENGINEERING
In
PRODUCTION ENGINEERING
(MECHANICAL)

NOVEMBER 2017

ATMIYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND

SCIENCE YOGIDHAM GURUKUL, KALAWAD ROAD,
RAJKOT– GUJARAT

I
 INTRODUCTION

Today, most contemporary organizations are facing many dilemmas, the essence of which is
the determination of the ways of acquisition or maintenance of their position in the
competitive environment. Companies have to continuously increase their economy. One of
the ways to get competitive prevalence is analysis and optimization of material flow which
contributes to the reduction of the company costs. Material flow in a production organization
tells us a lot about how well the system is organized. The Case Study presents an analysis of
the current state of material flow in a production company of the automotive branch.

The Case Study is done o Kellogg’s multinational food manufacturing company in

Michigan, United States. The way to maximizing economy is to reduce warehouse costs,
bound capital, flow times, delay costs, delivery terms and increase readiness for delivery.

Manufacturing company is to add value and to do so in the most efficient way, with the least
amount of waste in terms of time, materials, money, space and labor. To increase
productivity, the processes and operations need to be properly selected and arranged to
permit smooth and controlled flow of material through the factory. The more efficiently
materials can be produced and converted into the desired products that function with the
prescribed quality, the greater will be the companies’ productivity and the better will be the
standard of living of the employees.

DESCRIPTION:

The JBT Corporation Self Guided Vehicle System replaced an obsolete wire guided AGV
system.
Twenty-five (25) Conveyor Deck Laser Guided vehicles automatically handle pallets
between:

- 9 ASRS interface conveyors

- 16 shipping staging area conveyors
- 5 palletizers
- 4 production line conveyors

The conveyor type guided vehicles are used to move pallets of finished foods from the ends
of production line palletizers to either shipping conveyors or ASRS storage conveyors.

They are also tasked with transporting stacks of empty pallets from the empty pallet
collection conveyors to palletizer inputs.

II
Features:

Date Installed: 2006

Vehicle Type: Conveyor
Number of Vehicles: 25
Load Description: Pallets of Food, Empty Pallets
Industry Description: Food Warehousing
Guidance Method: Laser Navigation
Vehicle Capacity: 900 kg at 500 mm load center
SGV Host Controls: Windows 2000 – SGV Manager
Battery Charging Method: Opportunity Charging
Guide path Length: 400 m (1,300 feet)

III
Benefits:

• Significantly Reduce Pallet and Product Damage

• No plant interruptions during installation
• Flexible solution for plant’s changing production demands
• Safe, reliable delivery of food and empty pallets

IV