| The Company
J. G. Edelen Company, Inc. is a diversified operation including
manufacturing, importing, and distribution of hardware to furniture,
cabinet, and related industries. Edelen's primary goal is to provide
customers with quality hardware products at competitive prices,
backed by superior customer service. The 85-year-old company operates
from two locations on the east coast. Baltimore, Maryland is headquarters
for manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, while its Martinsville,
Virginia facility is a satellite warehouse/distribution center with
approximately 12 employees.
The Problem
In recent years Edelen has undergone tremendous change by overcoming
tough challenges. Edelen's business was negatively impacted by the
closures of many U.S. based furniture manufacturers, their traditional
customer base. Declining orders forced Edelen to overcome such challenges
by embracing the Internet for creating a new retail business.
Edelen’s new enterprise was marketed as CoolKnobsandPulls.com
(CKP) which began selling directly to consumers through its website.
The growth of CKP was so enormous that Edelen was finding itself
rapidly running out of warehousing space to satisfy the growing
client base. This rapid growth was not only impacting warehouse
space, but was also affecting order fulfillment and logistic processes.
CKP now represents about 20 percent of Edelen's total business.
To address Edelen's growing challenges GENEDGE ALLIANCE, a NIST
MEP network affiliate, was engaged to assist in a warehouse layout
and order fulfillment improvement project at the Martinsville, Virginia
location. Mark Oakes was the project manager assigned from GENEDGE
ALLIANCE to lead this project based on his expertise.
The Response
This project required a team effort with active participation by
both Edelen staff and GENEDGE ALLIANCE. Project manager Mark Oakes
worked with the employees of Edelen to capture or create data that
would provide the basis upon which to formulate new strategies for
improvement. GENEDGE ALLIANCE delivered the following as a result
of the project:
- An analysis of the material storage data and present order picking
strategy.
- A CAD drawing with the outline of the new building 120’
x 240’ identifying the placement of racks and other areas
such as bulk storage, shipping, receiving and office areas. Note
that prior to GENEDGE ALLIANCE's engagement, Edelen had identified
an existing building that was expandable to provide the basic
parameters of this project.
- A list of the general type of equipment required to operate
in the new building consistent with the storage and order picking
requirements.
The analysis of data collected provided a quantitative-based solution
to the existing situation in the warehouse. Project manager Mark
Oakes presented his analysis with recommendations to Edelen's management
which proceeded with implementation of the overall improvements
in the new warehouse layout and order picking process.
The Results
Edelen opened a new 28,000-square-foot, $2 million distribution
center in an industrial park near its former Martinsville facility.
It contains office and showroom space, along with warehousing space
which allows for additional expansion. While Edelen probably could
have expanded anywhere to serve its growing business, they chose
to remain in Martinsville.
As a result of implementing improvement strategies, overall improvements
in the new warehouse layout and order picking processes have resulted
in:
- Retained sales by $5,000
- Labor cost savings by $25,000
- Invested $1.8 Million in plant, equipment and training
Management’s Comment
"When we made the decision to build a new distribution facility,
one of our primary goals was to achieve maximum efficiency from
our physical warehouse layout and order picking processes. GENEDGE
ALLIANCE was recommended to us as a valuable resource with expertise
in this area and we soon made the decision to utilize their services.
Our project manager was professional and responsive. He made numerous
visits to our site and arranged visits for us to look at other facilities,
plus he also sat in on meetings with equipment suppliers. In the
end, we got a product from GENEDGE ALLIANCE that helped us to vastly
improve the operating efficiency in our new warehouse operations.
This was done in a timely manner and at a very reasonable price.
We were very satisfied with their performance and services."
-Jay Edelen, Vice President
View their site! http://www.jgedelen.com/
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