Case Study: Warehouse Concept & Alternative Assessment

Client Overview

• One of the largest healthcare companies in the world and a global leader in consumer products and animal care.
• Their growing vaccine business is located in a state-of-the-art facility. Construction on the site has been ongoing since 2004, with two expansions announced since the project began. Completion of the warehouse is slated for 2012.

The Challenge

• The transition from concept to production created the need to re-evaluate warehouse operations.
• Support for updated processes, volumes, realistic inventory and quality lead times was essential, requiring expertise on operation planning and implementation.

Tompkins' Role

• Identify key variables (e.g., raw materials, components, works in progress [WIP], and finished goods) that impact the amount of warehousing capacity required to support site production.
• Develop overall warehousing solution options, including reconfiguration, expansion and off-site space.
• Recommend best practices for future warehousing, manufacturing staging, site logistics, and timing.
• Identify key risk factors that influence site recommendations and capacity.

The Solution

• Identified quality and on-hand inventory lead-time issues and reduced inventory by 20%.
• Recommended multiple stage expansions and layout changes to support a 5-year planning horizon.
• Determined critical variables that impact facility requirements and provided a roadmap for continuous improvement in all areas of the facility.
• Provided a capacity model tool to understand the impact of lead time, batch size and WIP container choices.