BOISE CASCADE CHOSE AUTOMOD TO REFINE DISTRIBUTION CENTER

• Challenge: Boise Cascade Office Products wanted to increase its competitive edge by boosting operations efficiency at their distribution center to lower costs for customers.
• Strategy: Examine alternate designs with AutoMod simulation software to ensure the complex system would perform efficiently.
• Results: Boise Cascade used AutoMod to develop a faster conveyor system, improve the efficiency of the labor force and optimize the entire distribution warehouse.

Challenge
Boise Cascade Office Products (BCOP), a large stationary and office products retailer based in Itasca, Illinois, planned to expand and optimize its distribution system to improve the efficiency of its operations and lower the cost for customers. Engineers, knowing it would be a challenge to understand a complex system which receives around 80,000 orders a day, turned to simulation.

Strategy
BCOP managers planned to double the Itasca center's volume, creating a multi-threaded environment that is difficult to analyze with traditional engineering tools. BCOP investigated several simulation software packages before settling on AutoMod for its balance of accuracy, power, and ease-of-use.

BCOP engineers first created a model of the existing distribution center to gauge the accuracy of the results; the numbers were very close. Engineers then set about redesigning the distribution system in simulation, adjusting variables and experimenting with 60 alternative designs before making any real-world commitments.

BCOP found AutoMod particularly useful in that it quantifies improvements. A plant manager might know that increased conveyor speed will increase output, but he may not know by how much, or how much will overload the system. AutoMod will give the manager accurate, specific answers to this and similar questions.

Results
Boise Cascade Office Products used AutoMod simulation software to test, analyze, optimize and refine its distribution center without the expense of building, installing or configuring a single piece of hardware until engineers were confident they had the best system. The simulation process enabled the company to develop significant process improvements, optimize the conveyor system and improve the efficiency of its labor force.

This article was condensed from "Design Optimization Through Simulation", originally published May 1999 in Manufacturing Systems.