Lagerhantering i framtiden på Aero Materiel AB
In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on streamlining the supply chain. Keeping inventory and warehouses is considered to be a waste of resources. It is however difficult to completely eliminate the need for inventory and warehouses in a supply chain. The purpose of warehousing is to provide a service for the customer. By keeping what the customer demands in inventory it is possible to make a quick delivery when a need arises. Warehousing can thus be an important competitive tool.The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to analyse possible changes of the warehousing at Aero Materiel in order to increase the capacity of Aero Materiel?s warehousing. Aero Materiel is a wholesale company with an annual turnover that exceeds fifty million SEK. The company sells accessories for hatches and panels, such as hinges, quick access fasteners, bars and cage nuts. Aero Materiel aims to double their turnover and therefore look at ways to increase the capacity of the warehousing in order to meet future needs.To achieve the purpose of this thesis, the following questions have been answered.How is warehousing executed today at Aero Materiel and which methods are used at Aero Materiel?Which other methods for warehousing exist that could be suitable for Aero Materiel?In which way could these other methods improve the warehousing at Aero Materiel?Interviews and observations have been carried out at Aero Materiel in order to describe the company and its operations, and in order to describe how the warehousing is conducted. Literature on the subject of warehousing has been studied in order to help answer the thesis questions. A time study has been conducted. Two similar companies have been visited with the purpose of identifying other methods for warehousing.Aero Materiel handles between 10 and 70 order lines per day. The warehousing personnel perform the following warehousing activities: Receiving, putaway, order picking, packaging and shipping. The warehousing personnel spend more than 50% of their time on order picking and packaging.Several areas with potential for improvement at Aero Materiel were identified during the mapping of the warehousing at Aero Materiel and the visits at the two other companies: the variation of order lines from day to day, the time required for packaging, counting of items, transportation during order picking and the weighing of items.The variation of order lines from day to day can be reduced by applying different principles of levelling. By lowering the demands for quality it is possible to reduce the time needed for packaging. Order picking can be made easier by investing in some form of automated storage system. The need for weighing articles can be reduced by keeping information of the item?s weight in the ERP-system.