Material

Replenishment

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Work Measurement PFC
& Time Study
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 MODULE CONTENT

1 Definition

5 Material Replenishment
Constraints
2 Objectives

Kanban
6
3 Material Management

7 Layout and Material Flow

4 Supermarket
8 Rack and Trolley Design

9 Summary
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OBJECTIVES 
DEFINITION

What is Material Replenishment?

Material Replenishment is the system of moving upstream material (from the warehouse) to downstream value add
processes (our workcells).

The purpose is to keep material flowing through our value stream to feed the manufacturing lines in order to meet our
customer demand.

 Products (WIP)

 Raw Material

 Sub Assemblies

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OBJECTIVES 
OBJECTIVES

Material Replenishment
Warehouse Production Floor

Reduce Inventory Objective Reduce Cost

Free up space for production Reduce Headcount Eliminate line stoppages and production
line downtimes
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OBJECTIVES 
MATERIAL REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT

2 Common Systems
Push System Pull System
 Scheduled systematic controlled  Replenishment material as the Workcell
ordering – regardless if Workcell needs requires it
it or not
 Key principle of Lean

Every X
hours

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OBJECTIVES 
MATERIAL REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT

2 Common Systems
Push System Pull System

Warehouse
Warehouse When hit
min level

Supermarket
Workcell

Workcell
Every X
hours

When hit
min level
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OBJECTIVES 
MATERIAL REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT

Push System + Pull System

Replenish material from Warehouse to Supermarket on scheduled deliveries (push)
Replenish material from Supermarket to Workcell as needed (pull)

Warehouse Supermarket Workcell

Every X When hit

hours min level

Aim to design the most efficient & effective system that fits our needs!
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 MATERIAL REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT

Product WIP Push + Pull

 Products in WIP are material until finished
 Combination of Push & Pull

Supermarket
SMT for WIP Workcells

Every X When hit

hours min level

Must align to our customer demand, production, and material replenishment system!
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OBJECTIVES 
MATERIAL REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT

Advantages and Disadvantages

Push System Pull System
Materials are always available Material Handler only replenish when the inventory hits min level

Minimum communication required Require smaller space for material storage

Low inventory
Minimum detailed schedule planning required for every operations and
job order
Promotes First in First Out

Material Handler is required to replenish the material even the Frequent replenishment needed if the product has short cycle times and/or
material usage is low large parts
Require more space for material storage on the production Need a system of communication to replenish the material, risk of slow
floor replenishment and production interruption
High inventory
Need to create detail schedule for every operation and job
order
Missed/Forget the schedule due to no signals
Difficult to control on First in First Out
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OBJECTIVES 
MATERIAL REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT

High Mix, Low Volume

Setup up 2 or more small Supermarkets (Kit to Order), and one Common Parts supermarket. Supermarket 1 for the
first job orders, and Supermarket 2 for the next job orders.

Supermarkets
1
Every X
Warehouse hours
Non Common
Workcell

2 When hit
Every X min level
Non Common
hours

3
When hit Common
min level
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OBJECTIVES 
MATERIAL REPLENISHMENT MANAGEMENT

Low Mix, High Volume

Setup up 2 Supermarkets, one for non-common material and the other one for common parts
Replenish when it hits the minimum level

Supermarkets
Warehouse 1 Workcell
Non Common

When hit When hit

min level min level
2
Common

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OBJECTIVES 
SUPERMARKET

What is a Supermarket?
A Supermarket is not just inventory & WIP.
It is controlled inventory & organized WIP
according to a workcell’s demand consumption.

 Materials are split by part type (common vs

non-common parts, size, workcells & assembly
numbers)

 FIFO (first-in-first-out) What?

• Controled inventory & WIP
 A part leaving the supermarket gives a signal • Split by part type
for replenishment or delivery of more materials • FIFO
• Gives signal

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 SUPERMARKET

What situations require a Supermarket?

 Shared line splits into dedicated Workcells
(SMT to Backend)

 When ‘flow’ is not possible due to disconnected

processes

 High demand variability environment

 High mix lines with small batches When?

• Shared line
• Flow not possible
 Warehouse to Workcell replenishment cycle is • High demand variability
too long • High mix with small batches
• Cycle too long

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 OBJECTIVES 
SUPERMARKET

How to create a Supermarket?

Define the Lines

• Name(s) of manufacturing lines
• Assemblies that run on the lines
• Daily/weekly/monthly demand
• UPH for each assembly

Replenishment Time Physical Design

• Rate the line will need How?
• Layout location of
material
Supermarket A cross functional effort:
• Rate to restock the
Supermarket
• Rack & trolley design • Industrial Engineer
• Spaghetti mapping delivery • Line Engineer (IE/ME)
• Material Handler
route
availability
• Replenishing the • Planning
• MFG Line Leader • Inventory Control
workstation
availability
• MFG Supervisor/Leader
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OBJECTIVES 
SUPERMARKET

Supermarket Size:
Demand Rate = 40 / hour
Demand Rate (material units per hour): Rate at which inventory is
Replenishment Time = 12 hours consumed.
Replenishment Time: The initial interval time required to replenish material.
Minimum Inventory Level (MIL) = 20% Minimum Inventory Level (MIL%): The percent of inventory that exists
for material handler to kit and deliver the material and to protect against
Total number of parts/unit = 15
downtime.
Bin Capacity = 100

%)
= 40 * 12 * (1 + 20%)
= 576 (for one part)

= 8,640

Bin Quantity =

87 bins 15
OBJECTIVES 
SUPERMARKET

Workstation Supermarket

Depends on the workstation space… usually we need

to maximize the material quantity but without
compromising safety and workstation ergonomics.

Normally the initial replenishment time is every 2 – 3

hours.

It is a best practice to consider the space for material

when we design the workstation at the early stages of
line design.
Early Line Design Considerations
• Safety
• Workstation ergonomics
• Space for material

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 OBJECTIVES 
MATERIAL REPLENISHMENT CONSTRAINTS

Constraints
Large Parts Constraint
When it’s required to assemble large parts, the cycle time is usually longer, thus, it is not
possible to store material at the workstations.
To reduce waste:
1. Setup the Supermarket near the assembly stations
2. Allocate a space for the huge material nearby

Layout Space Constraint

1. Smaller supermarket design
 But this would increase the work load for material handler and we
might need to add additional headcount

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OBJECTIVES 
KANBAN

What is a Kanban?
Kanban in Material Replenishment is a tool to help to manage the supermarket and the
workstation.

A Kanban is the method of when to replenish the supermarket or workstation via use of a
visual/digital indicator. It can be traffic light system, milk run delivery method, etc, or a
combination of these systems.

Kanban method

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OBJECTIVES 
KANBAN

Kanban Method Replenish

Material

Collect
empty bin

Traffic light system: Milk run delivery method:

When material level hits the warning (yellow)
level, material handler needs to begin the
replenishment process.
Replaced empty milk bottles with full bottles during delivery.
• Replace empty material with filled material
• Collected empty bins simultaneously
• Good idea to monitor & empty de-trash baskets as well

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OBJECTIVES 
KANBAN

The previous examples are manually managed, thus, there could be a risk of communication error that could
lead to line stoppages and downtimes.

These can be improved by implementing digitalization and automation:

1. Smart bin system
2. Put To Light Stocking and Replenishment
3. Install digital system that makes communication easy between production and material handler by just
pushing a button

Target ID
Location
Time

Digitalization & Automation

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 OBJECTIVES 
LAYOUT AND MATERIAL FLOW

Warehouse

Warehouse

SMT Workcell
Supermarket
Supermarket
for Workcell Materials
(OLFS)
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 OBJECTIVES 
LAYOUT AND MATERIAL FLOW

Workstation Material Replenishment

Pros:
 Does not interrupt production builds
Assembly 4 Assembly 3 Assembly 2 Assembly 1
Cell 1  More effective for material handler to
replenish material – do not need to wait
for operator to finish

Supermarket
Cell 2 Cons:
Assembly 4 Assembly 3 Assembly 2 Assembly 1

 Requires more aisle space

 Large parts usually cannot fit from the
back
Assembly 4 Assembly 3 Assembly 2 Assembly 1
Cell 3
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OBJECTIVES 
LAYOUT AND MATERIAL FLOW

Workstation Material Replenishment

Due to constrained layout space, may have
back-to-back workstation line designs… Assembly 4 Assembly 3 Assembly 2 Assembly 1 Cell 1

Supermarket
If we must load from the front of the
workstations, then we need to factor in the
time lost for production due to material
replenishment.
Assembly 4 Assembly 3 Assembly 2 Assembly 1
Cell 2

We can have a side rack for the

Assembly 4 Assembly 3 Assembly 2 Assembly 1 Cell 3
material as to not interrupt the line.
Rac

Rac

Rac

Rac
k

k
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OBJECTIVES 
RACK AND TROLLEY DESIGN

Design

Gravity flow rack, design for good ergonomics and Multiple bin size trolleys for material
fast-speed replenishment replenishment at one go

The design is based on the Site’s needs, and engineers need to select or design
the right rack and trolley.
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OBJECTIVES 
RACK AND TROLLEY DESIGN

 Workstation design that allow to replenish and collect empty bin from the back of
the workstation with gravity rack build in

 There is a side rack for large material or for a workstation that not able to
replenish from the back 25
OBJECTIVES 
SUMMARY

Documenting Material Replenishment

Managing the Supermarket Replenishment Procedure:

 Roles & Responsibilities for Supermarket Procedure
 Demand Rate & Total Bins needed
 Operation/Material Flow Guidelines
 Supporting Bays or Workcells
 Use of Doc Control / Display on Supermarket

Workstation Material Layout:

 Workstation material layout picture
 Store as first page in Visual Aid
 Return bin instructions for operator

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 SUMMARY

Benefits of a Systematic Material Replenishment Management System

Materialist
Method

Material
Replenishment

Reduce Cost
Flow
Schedule
Better Material
Flow Eliminate
downtime

Effective Inventory
Reduce Headcount
Control

Eliminate Non-Value
Improve efficiency & added steps
Free up space
reduce fatigues
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 THANKS
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