Analys och implementering av ett lagerhanteringssystem : Thule Sweden AB

Sammanfattning: Three students with two different theoretical focuses have worked together to develop our examination thesis. This thesis is a requirement of the curriculum at the School of Engineering in Jönköping. The School of Engineering’s programs include Industrial engineering and management, with a focus on logistics and management and mechanical engineering. This exam thesis was implemented at Thule’s plant in Hillerstorp, Sweden. Thule is a world-leading company offering transport solutions in a safe, simple and elegant way for cars (Thule 2007). The project objective was to analyze and to implement a fully functional inventory system for one of Thule’s average stock items and to address meeting capacity requirements of 2 268 stores. In this inventory, attention is paid to tracking product labels and their assembly instructions. These two article groups are important for Thule’s material management. The output of data related to these two article groups are included with each end product that is to be delivered from Thule’s factory in Hillerstorp. Thule was having problems managing stock/inventory. Employees found it difficult to locate articles that were required for production and manufacturing due to inadequate labeling of stock and inventory. This problem was caused by insufficiently labeled storage areas and inadequate information of what inventory was being stored. The group performed an analysis comprised of a comparison between four different inventory management systems: a system with permanent stores, one paternoster inventory management system, a management system for delivery direct to the production groups and a system with dynamic stores. A decision was made choosing a dynamic system; which was chosen because of Thule’s requirement to address seasonal variations. A dynamic management system has the advantage that the articles that belong to various summer and winter products can” borrow” stores of each other when one of them are not in production. After the analysis, a dynamic system was implemented. The system design decisions were made with input from employees that work with Thule’s inventory. This was important from the examination group’s point of view because the employees will work with whatever future inventory management system would be implemented. In addition, they contributed with knowledge that would be difficultly to see for as an outsider. After the implementation was made, various proposals have been presented in order to further develop Thule’s material management system. These proposals comprise measures to improve the dynamic supply system further, and in conjunction with Thule’s business model works to further develop supplier collaboration with the company’s production requirements.