Warehouse Design Layout - FDA Regulated Medical Manufacturer

L

LGDeneault

Greeting Fellow Eslmar Cove-ers!

We are in the midst of *COMPLETELY* re-doing our FDA Regulated, medical device warehouse and I would like to know if anyone out there has or knows of a really great way to layout a warehouse to incorporate Receiving/Holding/Accepted/Rejected Areas. Also, what is the best way to distinguish these areas and segregation (colored tape on floor, cages, etc.).

We are also using this time to do an accurate inventory audit, since this has NEVER been done quite accurately... Won't it be nice to be able to give the President an answer, "Yes Sir, we can easily build 1000 of the Model #1234!"...

I would really hate to get ALL of the way thru this process and discover a really great and cool way to organize this warehouse...

Thanks, in advance, for your time and consideration!

Best!

LEE

A bit...

:topic:
 

Scott Catron

True Artisan
Super Moderator
LGDeneault said:
Greeting Fellow Eslmar Cove-ers!
We are in the midst of *COMPLETELY* re-doing our FDA Regulated, medical device warehouse and I would like to know if anyone out there has or knows of a really great way to layout a warehouse to incorporate Receiving/Holding/Accepted/Rejected Areas.
We have warehousing and production all in one building - the incoming hold area is just off the receiving dock on the west side of the building, approved components on the north side, production is on the east, product waiting approval is SW and approved product is SE.

Our space is small so there's not much else we can do - not sure it qualifies as a "great way" to do things, but it's simple and easy to explain to visitors/auditors.
LGDeneault said:
Also, what is the best way to distinguish these areas and segregation (colored tape on floor, cages, etc.).
We use signs on the pallet racks to lable the various areas. For areas where we don't have racks (and because volume can be variable), we use portable plastic chains attached to stands (with signs as appropriate) to divide areas as the situation warrents on the floor - mostly in the receiving/hold and the finished products hold/approved areas.

Hope that helps.
 
J

jmp4429

I can't really give you much help with the layout. It depends on the shape and size of the space you have to work with. You might try doing a spaghetti diagram to see if material and people are travelling an inordinate amount.

LGDeneault said:
Also, what is the best way to distinguish these areas and segregation (colored tape on floor, cages, etc.).

I always like cages for stuff that people shouldn't be getting into - i.e. nonconforming or suspect material, or even parts awaiting incoming inspection. It prevents un-inspected or suspect parts from accidentally finding their way into the product. In my experience, without a locked cage, material with unknown status will *always* find its way into production.
Then again, if access is limited enough and your people are conscientious enough to prevent this, I don't see why color coded taped off areas wouldn't suffice. I'm only vaguely familiar with FDA regs, though.

If you are going to use floor tape to mark aisles, different product areas, or whatever in an area with heavy fork truck traffic, I recommend DuraStripe tape over vinyl tape. (No, I don't have any affiliation with them). It's a good bit more expensive than vinyl tape, but lasts so much longer that it ended up being a cost savings. In our shipping and receiving areas, we used to have to pull up and replace all our tape every two weeks. The new DuraStripe stuff has lasted 6 months so far. We've not only saved money on the cost of tape (the sheer volume of the vinyl stuff we went through was incredible) but also the labor to pull up and replace tape. A word of caution with the DuraStripe is that you have to get the floor good and clean before you lay it down.

Hope someone else can better help you with the layout!
 
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