Organizing inventory to keep product flowing

END USER: Cameron, (713) 513-3300, www.c-a-m.com.
CHALLENGE: Improve inventory control and consolidate hundreds of cabinets and drawers for storing tooling and gages.
SOLUTION: An automated storage system integrated with inventory management software.
SOLUTION PROVIDER: Kardex Remstar, (800) 639-5805, www.kardexremstar.com.

Valves are a critical component for the oil and gas industry. The Valves & Measurement group of Houston-headquartered Cameron should know: The group’s facility in Oklahoma City, Okla., manufactures—to stringent standards—800,000 valves a year to control and direct the flow of oil and gas through many different channels.

Because of the high production volume, managing and locating the CNC tooling, gages and components required to make valves can be overwhelming. “Tools were being stored in cabinets and drawers, but it wasn’t very organized,” said Bobby Maxwell, the group’s senior tool and die maker. “It slows production when you can’t find the right tool.”

Hundreds of storage cabinets with drawers for tooling and gages were spread throughout the facility. Operators didn’t keep any records of who, where, why or when they were used, resulting in lost equipment and excess inventory. In addition, the storage areas were not secure and inventory was extremely unorganized, according to Maxwell.

With demand for its valves on the rise, the company knew it needed to improve inventory control to boost productivity. To consolidate inventory storage, Cameron purchased two Shuttle XP vertical lift modules (VLM) from Kardex Remstar, Westbrook, Maine. One automated VLM is 12 ‘ (3.6m) tall and the other is 19 ‘ (5.8m) tall and they store all the tools and gages previously held in individual cabinets. Both are integrated with inventory management software.

Before the process was automated, operators would walk through the facility and search drawers for the tools and gages they needed. On average, an operator would spend 34 minutes each day picking through drawers and an additional 48 minutes per week hunting for misplaced items. When an item couldn’t be found, a new one was added to inventory.

Courtesy of Kardex Remstar