Wyeth Plant Reduces Costs While Increasing Production
Case study: Next-generation industrial vending saves hundreds of thousands annually in downtime, inventory costs and labor
Mason, OH - Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is a world leader in pharmaceutical and health care products.
It was already one of the world's largest drug companies before its recent purchase by Pfizer, the world's largest.
But while Wyeth is known as a top producer of health care products, it's also demonstrating that it's an innovator in how those products are manufactured.
One seemingly small innovation in just two of the company's huge production facilities is saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars - and that innovation is only the size of a vending machine.
As a matter of fact, it is a vending machine.
But instead of soda and chips, this machine dispenses everything from personal protection equipment to mission-critical replacement machine parts. The results? According to Wyeth in a new case study by Apex Industrial Technologies:
o Decreased spending
o Decreased downtime
o No more stockouts
o Lower labor costs
o Increased production
o Increased inventory control and management
"They've been great," Wyeth Manager of Process Engineering Michael Collorafi said of Wyeth's first five industrial vending machines and accompanying tracking software at Wyeth's 2.9 million square-foot Pearl River, N.Y. plant. "They keep production up and save time and money."
"We've gained much more than we thought we would at the beginning," he added.
Collorafi is referring to industrial distributor Fastenal's Fast 5000 vending machines and Auto SmartStore locker systems at the plant, which employs 4,000 workers. The systems incorporate Apex Industrial Technologies' Connect n' Go(TM) software into Fastenal's SmartStore program, which provides technology and stocking services at the point-of-work.
Collorafi explained that having needed items at the point-of-work saves up to an hour-and-a-half of down time per transaction. Employees no longer have to de-gown, walk to a tool crib, try to locate a common inventory items, return to their work stations, and re-gown.
Now, a worker simply swipes his or her badge, dispenses the part, and within minutes that employee - and production line - is up and running within minutes. And items are no longer "disappearing" because the automatic tracking capabilities include real-time transaction reports showing who dispensed what items and when. Managers can put restrictions on what items are vended to whom.
The tracking reports take care of re-ordering, eliminating both stockouts and overstock.
And Wyeth only pays only for what the workers use. Items are consigned by Fastenal, and Fastenal benefits by strengthening its relationship with Wyeth and ensuring that the items are purchased through Fastenal.
The Fast 5000 machines at Wyeth stock smaller, mostly repair parts, while the larger Auto SmartStore lockers hold larger items. The C3i Hub alerts managers when stock levels are low, orders are late, or usage patterns change.
Collorafi cited how small, inexpensive parts that often wear or break can costs thousands of dollars in downtime. But placing those parts at the point-of-use brings great reduction of downtime.
Prior to the machines, Collorafi estimates that, in his manufacturing area of about 100,000 square feet, retrieving needed parts was costing up to $6,000 per month just in labor; that doesn't include the cost of production.
After installing the machines, in the most recent month reported, Wyeth saved an estimated $13,000 in labor costs alone.
Wyeth had previously tried another supplier's industrial vending machines, which proved unreliable and would crash. The next-generation Fast 5000s are Internet-based (no MS Windows).
Saving $25K per month
Collorafi noted that Wyeth in Pearl River is exploring adding even more machines, due to the demonstrated cost savings there as well as Wyeth's plant in Puerto Rico.
Wyeth's Guayama facility - which employs about 900 people - uses the machines to stock and dispense personal protection equipment, as well as spare parts for machines and electrical items, from cover plates to tape.
The plant is already documenting savings of more than $25,000 per month. Previously, there was little inventory tracking and workers had to walk up to 10 minutes away to retrieve a needed item. The machines also eliminate the tradition "standing and handing" of items at tool cribs.
Wyeth has estimated the cost of each such transaction - in inventory, loss of production, and downtime - at $42 per transaction. Now Wyeth credits Fastenal with that per-transaction savings.
In a recent three-month period, there were 1,781 transactions made at the Fast 5000 machines - a Wyeth-documented savings of $74,802.
To read the complete case study, go to: http://apexindustrial.com/images/casestudy/WyethCaseStudy.pdf
About Apex Industrial Technologies
Apex Industrial Technologies is the leader in next-generation, Connect n' Go(TM) industrial vending technology. Apex provides lean, value-driven industrial vending solutions at the point-of-work for a wide range of MRO materials, PPE, high-cost, high-use, and mission-critical parts and supplies.
Companies recently added to Apex's rapidly growing list of customers include Procter & Gamble, GE, Kraft Foods, General Dynamics, Nestle, Wal-Mart, Caterpillar, PepsiCo, Del Monte, Alcoa, 3M, U.S. Steel, Boise Cascade, Nike, BAE Systems, City of Sacramento, MeadWestvaco, Pratt & Whitney, Daimler, Owens-Corning, General Mills, Waste Management, Toro, Johnson Controls, AstraZeneca, ConAgra Foods, Cargill, Mitsubishi, Detroit Diesel, Post, M&M Mars, L'Oreal, ITT Goulds Pumps, Eaton, Parker-Hannifin, Xcel Energy, Valspar, Dover, Republic Services, and Sulzer.
For more information, go to www.apexindustrial.com or call 1-800-229-7912.
Industrial vending at Wyeth brings tools, supplies, replacement parts and other mission-critical items to the point-of-work at plants in Puerto Rico and New York.
Point-of-work dispensing has eliminated about 1.5 hours of downtime per transaction at Wyeth's Pearl River, N.Y. plant. Employees no longer have to de-gown, walk to a tool crib, find a common inventory item, return to a work station and re-gown.
Case study: Wyeth is saving costs and increasing production with industrial vending.
Contact:
Thomas Barr
Director of Corporate Communications
Apex Industrial Technologies
Phone: (513) 204-2117
E-Mail: thomas.barr@apexindustrial.com
