Principles of Lean Manufacturing and an assist from Pflow Industries have led to more efficient material handling at New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc, the global sporting goods manufacturer that produces and ships 40 million shoes annually. Its fully automated, state-of-the-art warehouse facility in Lawrence, MA boasts 250,000 sq ft and houses 130 employees. Built in 1997, the warehouse has enabled New Balance to consolidate and streamline distribution of both domestically produced and imported products to retailers throughout the country.
Along with a series of logistical adjustments that were made as part of a warehouse redesign, a significant improvement to the overall process was the installation of a vertical reciprocating conveyor (VRC) from Pflow. All in all, the efforts and updates have helped New Balance reduce the time needed to prepare and ship a full order from 17 weeks to just two.
The New Balance warehouse, which contains a 3-level mezzanine, has over 3 miles of conveyor belts running at any given time, and the shoes are processed in waves from a Tilt Tray sorter. One of the warehouse redesign's major initiatives was to catch costly processing mistakes, such as incomplete boxes of shoes that were incorrectly selected for shipment, before they reached the end of the line. Pflow's "lean" machine, perfectly suited to serve the $1.5 million tilt-tray platform, was a Series M Vertical Lift that is designed in particular to alleviate problems that might occur in unit processing. If and when a wave is run without the correct shoe, the Pflow M1 is loaded with the shoe necessary to make the order whole, and then, with the touch of an elevator-like button, brought to the proper level for insertion.
Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, Pflow has been an industry leader in the design and manufacture of safe vertical material handling equipment since 1977. VRCs from Pflow provide a fast, convenient, and safe way to move goods to/from mezzanines, balconies, basements, and between levels in multistory buildings.
The Series M Lift offers high performance and durability with a two-post mechanical design that is ideal for transporting large, heavy loads between two or more levels. Bob Knapp of Baron Industries in Burlington, MA, who sold and distributed the lift, knew that Pflow's Series M is also excellent for high-cycle, automated systems or frequent-use applications, such as the New Balance warehouse. Pflow engineered the machine for New Balance to meet the exact application and height requirements needed, and the carriage is lifted and lowered by a heavy roller chain attached to a motorized mechanical lifting mechanism.
For New Balance, lean manufacturing has speeded up its run to the top of the athletic shoe industry. By applying lean techniques and seeking a higher level of performance with a little help from Pflow Industries, the Boston-based sneaker giant has dashed from No. 8 in 1995 to its current ranking of No. 4.
