Aerials DC Makeover: Its a Beautiful Thing

The strategic plan of a firm is a statement of the major

goals and objectives the company expects to achieve
over the next 2 to 10 years or more. It is a statement of
the broad direction of the firm and shows the kind of
business-product lines, markets, and so on-the firm wants
to do in the future. The company roots trace back to
1912, as the years rolled on, Aerial began diversifying its
wares, and started providing razors, shears, and others
supplies to barbershops. By 1960, Aerial made a decision
to move exclusively into beauty and barber supplies, and
todays Aerial reflects that move.
Often people consider risk to be a negative issue, and of
course that is partially correct. Risk reflecting problems
from some sort of failure of systems, people, or external
events can result in loss of money, productivity, legal
problems, and a reduction in the probability of successful
implementation of the strategic plan. Aerial was face with
risk as the company continues to grow. Aerials DC began
to experience a space crunch. So, Aerial hired a
consultant that was familiar with beauty supply business
to help them. Not knowing if the company Remstar
International an automated storage and retrieval
solutions manufacture would be the right fit or not. They
took on some risk of their own.
After deciding to partner, the two companies began a
nine -month DC capacity planning session.
Production planners must devise a plan to satisfy market
demand within the resources available to the company.
This will involve determining the resource needed to meet
market demand, comparing
the results to the resources available, and devising a plan
to balance requirements and availability.
I think the most important part of this plan was the
collecting of data and formulating plans, so that they
could provide the right mix of technology. After months of
analyzing inventory, data, and space constraints, the two
companies settled on a plan. But before moving forward,
Aerial asked Remstar to provide validation that the
technology would work. Then we ran a simulation, and
together decided to move forward.
Engineering is responsible for research, development, and
design of new products or modification to existing ones.
The implementation was also carried out in phases-
carousels first, followed by the pick modules and RF
picking. The efficient now that the new equipment and
systems are in place. Where picking used to require as
many as 28 employees, the same job today is
accomplished with just 12. And the productivity has also
improved dramatically. They used to pick 70 lines per
hour; that has increased to 200 lines per hour. The teams
advance planning help make this possible.