Proceedings of the KGCOE Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference Page 7

Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference Kate Gleason College of Engineering Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, New York 14623 May 19, 2006

Project Number: 06207

ABVI WORKCELL ADAPTATION

Industrial Engineer: David Netti Industrial Engineer: Jeffrey Sweet

Project Mentor: Team Leader: Project Coordinator: Matthew Marshall Adam J. Kelchlin Elizabeth DeBartolo

Mechanical Engineer: Christopher Sinclair Mechanical Engineer: Daniel Braucksieck

ABSTRACT management software, ACCPAC. Picking slips are then printed and sent to Drop Shipment. Once these picking slips The Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) - are received in Drop Shipment, the order picker gathers the Goodwill mission is to assist people who are blind or visually necessary products to fill the order. Information such as the impaired to achieve their highest level of independence in all order number, package weight, and customer address are aspects of their lives. Current process restrictions with regards entered into the ACCPAC software by the order picker and to the drop shipment of sticky notepads are inhibiting optimal shipping labels are printed. Once shipping labels have been work conditions for the visually impaired employee. Orders affixed to all of the product cases the order is shipped and the are being filled incorrectly, and the tasks necessary to complete process is repeated for the next order. an order are taxing on the visually impaired employee. To solve these problems, the senior design team redesigned the drop PROBLEM STATEMENT shipment layout, and established a standard operating procedure that allowed the visually impaired employee to work Currently, ABVI-Goodwill is having difficulty filling orders for more efficiently. Improvements yielded a 28% reduction in notepads accurately. Products are being delivered to customers walking distance and a 13% reduction in time spent to complete that are of both the wrong type and quantity. The design team an order. Reductions were all proven to be statistically developed objectives to meet ABVI’s goals of satisfying their significant. Employee feedback has been extremely positive customers and providing an atmosphere that allows a visually with regards to the improvements made to the work area, and impaired employee to work efficiently. The design teams’ order filling errors have been minimized. objectives are as follows:

INTRODUCTION 1. Reduce number of errors to improve customer satisfaction ABVI-Goodwill is a non-profit organization that strives to a. Ship the correct notepads to the correct customers. provide rehabilitation programs and employment for people b. Ship the correct quantity of notepads to the with vision disabilities. Services provided by ABVI include customer. manufacturing, food service, retail, and a call center. The c. Ship notepads to customers on time. downtown Rochester location is home to an adhesive note pad 2. Improve Drop Shipment Process for blind and visually manufacturing center marketed under the Skilcraft brand. impaired a. More efficient layout design The current process used to fill orders for these adhesive notes b. More efficient order filling process involves two departments, Order Entry and Drop Shipment. c. Provide ABVI with the tools necessary to convert Once orders are received in Order Entry, they are assigned an the Drop Shipment order-filling process to meet order number and entered into the company’s inventory the needs of a completely blind worker.

NOMENCLATURE Table 1.1 Selected Concepts Weighted Concept ABVI – Refers to the Association for the Blind and Visually Total Impaired – Goodwill Order Entry CA-Plus – Consulting firm who is contractually responsible for Eliminate Conversions 4.2 ACCPAC Software Scan Bar on Order From 4.2 ACCPAC – Software application that generates order slips Drop Ship Layout based off of customer orders Centralize Workstation 3.9 MEETING DESIGN OBJECTIVES Optimize Layout 4.5 Flow Through Racks 3.9 Having established the design objectives, it was then necessary Drop Ship Process to develop a detailed design which will satisfy these objectives. Develop SOP 4.1 For improvement to begin, the design team first broke down the Use of Desktop Barcode Scanner 4.1 Drop Shipment order filling process into two stages: "Talk Man" Unit 3.8 Provide Optimal Picking Order 4.1 1. Order Entry: The area in which orders are received then entered into the computer. An order slip is generated based Order Entry / Drop Ship Interface on this information and sent down to the Drop Shipment Improve Packing Slip Readability 4.0 Area. Shipping Stickers as Packing Slip 4.1 2. Drop Shipment Area: The area in which the order slips are received by the worker who is visually impaired, Upon completion of the weighted factor analysis it is necessary notepads are picked, and subsequently shipped to the to examine the results to ensure that the concepts generated are customer. feasible and that each concept should in fact be implemented. Since the weighted factor analysis does not consider issues such Selection of design concepts consisted of brainstorming many as time to implement and cost, it is necessary to examine the different design ideas and then selecting the best and most results of the analysis to make sure that the concepts are viable feasible concepts. A number of tools were implemented in solutions. This synthesis exercise eliminated the Talk Man order to assist in selecting design concepts. It is important to Unit, which was far outside the teams’ budget. Additionally, use a formal tool so that the best design concepts are selected the Paperless System, which required a complete overhaul of for further development. Since this project did not focus on the way ABVI does business, was also eliminated. The building one design, but rather incorporating multiple remaining design concepts were developed into the final improvement ideas, it was necessary to use a tool that was complete design. See table 1.2 below for the complete final capable of dealing with this modular design approach. As design. previously mentioned, design concepts were created to satisfy specific design objectives in certain areas. While it is important Table 1.2 Selected Concepts to consider how the various design concepts will interface with Concept Final Design each other and the current process, it is not necessary to Order Entry develop a single design concept which will satisfy each design Use ACCPAC to properly Eliminate Conversions objective. Instead, many concepts were developed that format picking slip satisfied multiple design objectives. Scan Bar on Order Use ACCPAC module to put From bar code on picking slip The main design concept selection tool that was used was the Drop Ship Layout weighted factor analysis. A weighted factor analysis is capable Centralize Workstation Incorporate in new layout of handling the modular design approach; however, its main Optimize Layout Based on sales volume benefit is that for each design objective, design concepts can be Flow Through Racks Incorporate in new layout compared on a single metric. This is done by first developing Drop Ship Process and ranking a list of required attributes that each design concept Develop SOP Standardize process should possess. After the attribute list has been generated and Use of Desktop Interface with bar code on weighted, each concept is scored, on a Likert scale, as to how Barcode Scanner picking slip well it satisfies each attribute. The score the attribute receives Provide Optimal Use ACCPAC to properly is multiplied by the attribute’s weight. Finally, the products of Picking Order format picking slip the concepts’ Likert score and attribute are added to create a Order Entry / Drop single value which can be used to compare concepts. The Ship Interface concepts with the highest score are selected for further Improve Packing Slip Use ACCPAC to properly Readability format picking slip development. See Table 1.1 for the concepts selected by this Use ACCPAC to check Pick and Scan System technique. correct order was picked It should be noted that all of the selected concepts in table 1.2 will be explained in depth later on within this report. It should

Paper Number 06207 Proceedings of the KGCOE Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference Page 3 also be mentioned that ABVI purchased their ACCPAC orders should be picked. Therefore, often times the worker will software through a consulting company named CA-Plus. ABVI not take the most efficient path when picking an order. Finally, still has a service contract with CA-Plus and as such any not all of the notepad products are incorporated within this changes that are made to the ACCPAC software need to be layout. performed by CA-Plus. CA-Plus was consulted by the design team, and verified that all ACCPAC software updates were Through simulation analysis, the design team was able to feasible. analyze the current layout and make changes to it without hindering day to day operations at ABVI. The final design IMPLEMENTATION OF DESIGN CONCEPTS layout implemented can be seen below in figure 2.

A two phase implementation plan was scheduled to implement Figure 2: Redesigned ABVI Drop Shipment Layout the final design concepts. The first phase would be completed by the design team directly. The second phase dealing with ACCPAC software modifications will be completed later by CA-Plus due to contractual obligations. The challenges and successes faced during the implementation phase of this project are described in this section.

Phase 1 Implementation:

Implement New Layout

The following figure 1 is a snapshot of the baseline layout at ABVI:

Figure 1: ABVI Drop Shipment Layout

The new layout established by the design team incorporates the needs of ABVI to improve customer satisfaction, while at the same time conforming to the abilities of a worker who is visually impaired. The benefits of the new layout in comparison to the old are as follows:

1. Reduced Walking Distance: The worker’s desk was moved into the inventory area, effectively reducing the distance walked to collect an order. Additionally, the most frequently ordered products were moved closer to the worker’s desk, while less frequently ordered products were The visually impaired worker's desk is in the top left corner of moved away from the worker’s desk, reducing walking the layout, and is the place where orders are processed for distance even further. shipping. The right half of the design is where the boxes of 2. Standardized Layout Orientation: Large signs were put notepads are picked from. There are various inefficiencies in place in addition to standardized product inventory floor within this design, making it challenging for a worker who is spaces to make sure pallets would always be placed in the visually impaired to complete order filling. First, for every correct spot. The standardized floor spaces are the numbers order, the worker has to walk 33 feet to the inventory notepad 1 through 22 of inventory labeled in figure 2. Also, all area, pick the correct amount of notepads, and then walk 33 feet products were grouped functionally allowing the worker to back to the desk to process the order. Second, there is no have familiarity of where products are each time an order standardized orientation of the layout, and thus it changes is picked. almost daily depending on where the material handler places 3. Standardized Pick Order: The team worked with Order the product. Third, there is no standardized order into which Entry personnel to develop order slips to allow the worker

to pick orders in a standardized path. The path is labeled in The benefits of new operating procedure are as follows: figure 2. 4. Decreased Floor Space: The design team implemented a 1. Reduced time to input order number: Currently, it is flow through rack to decrease the floor space within the difficult for the visually impaired worker to type in the ten Drop Shipment Area. The slowest moving products were digit order number, because it is in small print and hard to placed within this flow through rack. This created see on the order slip and on the UPS Software Entry additional floor space that allowed the design team to add Screen. Scanning the order number makes it easier for the new products such as Easel Pads and Memo Books within worker, and more accurate. the layout. The rack implemented by the team can be seen 2. Reduced number of order picking errors: The pick and below in Figure 3. scan system allows the worker to verify through scanning the notepad box to the order slip an immediate check that Figure 3: Flow Through Rack the correct notepads were picked. This increases accuracy, and effectively improves customer satisfaction. 3. Reduced time to input weight of packaging: Currently, the visually impaired worker has to enter the weight of each package into the computer manually. Now, these weights will be electronically entered into the computer when the worker scans the boxes picked. Again, this saves time in entering in this information, and reduces the potential for mistakes.

Phase II Implementation:

Due to time and budget limitations outside the scope of the design project, Phase II implementation was modified. More specifically, ACCPAC software updates have not yet been implemented due to schedule limitations of CA-Plus, and budget limitations of ABVI. Implementation of these concepts will take place this summer.

For each ACCPAC design concept that was not implemented Standardized Operating Procedure (SOP) within the time frame of Senior Design II, the design team provided ABVI with documentation of what each concept Currently, there is no documented operating procedure for the entailed. Additionally, the team brainstormed and implemented Drop Shipment order-filling process at ABVI. The design team other concepts that would help the visually impaired ABVI spent numerous days with the visually impaired worker to get a worker complete order filling tasks until the software updates feel for how orders are typically complete. What the design could be implemented. team noticed was that the ABVI worker’s visual impairments hindered order filling efficiency and accuracy. Based on these In this section, the ACCPAC design concepts will be outlined, visual impairments, a new operating procedure was developed and the alternative designs (if applicable) implemented will be and provided to ABVI, as seen in figure 4 below. detailed.

Figure 4: Established SOP Eliminate Conversions

1. Scan in order number via Currently, customers are ordering notepads in quantities of barcode cases, dozens, and single units. Orders must be processed in the 2. Pick Order based on order qty . Drop Shipment Area in terms of cases. Furthermore, each on order slip notepad variety has different case quantities. Therefore, the 3. Bring filled order back to production supervisor makes these changes by looking up the computer Receive 4. Scan barcode to verify correct case quantity for each variety of notepad ordered, and then Worker Order order was picked . This also fills order Load boxes converts the order quantity manually on the order slip for the Slips enters in weight of packaging and onto pallet prints stickers order to be processed by the worker. The design team developed the concept for the ACCPAC software to make these 5. Place Stickers on packaging conversions automatically, and CA-Plus verified that this can 6. Place last sticker on order slip and will be done. and attach to packaging

7. Write order # on all the boxes In the interim, the design team developed an Excel Spreadsheet that will make these conversions simply by entering in the type of notepad and the quantity ordered. Simplifying this manual

Paper Number 06207 Proceedings of the KGCOE Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference Page 5 process has allowed ABVI to shift this task to Order Entry Pick and Scan System personnel, effectively eliminating the production supervisor from the Drop Shipment process altogether. The interface can The design team worked directly with CA-Plus and ABVI to be seen in figure 5 below: develop a feasible pick and scan system for the visually impaired worker. Under this system, the worker will be Figure 5: Conversion Spreadsheet equipped with an omni-directional scanner, making it easier to scan the order slip and packaging. The worker will scan the ID Packs Cases Loose order number into the computer, collect the order, and then 1 7867 182 10 2 scan each package. The ACCPAC software will only allow for 2 103 55 4 7 the shipping stickers to be printed if all the correct notepad 3 7866 71 1 35 packages were picked. Thereafter, the stickers will be printed, 4 placed on the packaging by the worker, and the packages will 5 be shipped to the customer. Under this new system developed 6 by the design team, errors will be eliminated from the drop 7 shipment process. 8 PROVING DESIGN CONCEPTS 9 10 It is important to use engineering analysis to prove that the design teams’ objectives of reducing the number of errors made Scan Bar on Order Slip in the Drop Shipment Process and developing a process that meets the needs of a blind and visually impaired workforce Implementing a scan bar on the order form would allow the were met. visually impaired worker to scan order numbers into the computer accurately and efficiently. CA-Plus personnel verified To prove that the design team met the needs of a blind and that this can be implemented within ACCPAC. For the short- visually impaired workforce, the team must demonstrate a more term, the design team has implemented bar code stickers onto efficient layout, a more efficient process, and guidelines for the order forms. This allows for improvements in accuracy and ABVI to implement a Drop Shipment process that can be efficiency, while at the same time allowing the design team to completed by a completely blind worker. verify its design. A picture of the order slip with the addition of a scan bar sticker (top left corner) can be seen below in figure More Efficient Layout: 6. Validating the design teams’ layout required an extensive Figure 6: Order Slip with scan bar. simulation and statistical analysis. Through this analysis the design team was able to prove that the new layout effectively reduces the distance traveled by the worker, and effectively reduces the floor space in the Drop Shipment Area.

Reduction in Distance Traveled

In order to validate a reduction in distance traveled, the team went to ABVI and measured distances in the old and new layouts. This required measuring the distance from the ABVI worker’s desk to every pallet of inventory, and every pallet of inventory to every other pallet of inventory. This information for the old layout as well as the new layout was entered into simulation models, one for the old layout and one for the design teams’ new layout.

Additionally, the team collected data on how many orders were Improve Readability of Order Slip being processed in the Drop Shipment Area on a day to day basis. This data was fit to a distribution that was uniform The design team made recommendations to CA-Plus personnel between 70 and 120 orders processed daily. Within each to increase the size of the font on the order slip. In doing so, the simulation model, each of the processing steps was laid out, worker who is visually impaired will be able to process an and the thirty replications under the old vs. new layout were order more efficiently and accurately. run. The results of the simulation can be seen in figure 7.

Figure 7: Daily Walking Distance For each of these eight steps, thirty times were taken under old conditions and new conditions, and each step was fit to a distribution using the Arena Software Input Analyzer. Figure 8 Daily Walking Distance (miles) is an example of the output given by the Input Analyzer for the task of ‘Entering Package Weight’ under the old Drop 4 Shipment Process. 3.5 3.28 Figure 8: Input Analyzer Distribution Fitting ) 3 s e

l 2.37 i 2.5 m (

e 2 c n a

t 1.5 s i

D 1 0.5 0 Old Layout Distance New Layout Distance

Under the old Drop Shipment layout, the average distance Distribution Summary traveled by the ABVI worker to complete his daily customer Distribution: Triangular orders was 3.28 miles. Under the design team’s new layout, the Expression: TRIA(9.5, 11.8, 17.5) average distance traveled was 2.36 miles. Square Error: 0.030312

The design team performed a two sample t-test that proved the The design team repeated these actions for all eight of the distance reduction was significant (T-Value = 5.06, P-Value = different steps in the Drop Shipment process, and was able to 0). obtain a distribution for each to be modeled in the simulation.

Reduction in Floor Space The results of the simulation for order process time are shown in figure 9. Through implementation of a flow through rack, and 5S (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain) initiatives, the Figure 9: Order Fill Time team was able to create floor space for four extra pallets within the Drop Shipment Area. These additional floor spaces are now being utilized by the memo books, and an additional Easel pad Mean Time to Fill an Order location as shown in figure 2. In moving these pallets into the Drop Shipment Inventory Area, it allows for all of the ABVI 6 notepad products to be centralized in one area. Whereas before 5 4.71 4.01

the layout redesign, the memo books and easel pads were )

. 4 n located in an overflow area, and thus required the worker who i m (

3 is visually impaired to walk over to this overflow area to pick e m i these customer orders as needed. T 2

1 More Efficient Process: 0 Process Time (Old Layout) Process Time (New Layout) The redesigned layout coupled with process redesign has allowed for a more efficient order filling process. To prove this, thirty time studies were taken under the previous process and A 2 sample t-test was performed that proved that the mean time layout, and then an additional thirty time studies were taken to complete an order under the old layout of 4.71 minutes was under the new process and layout. Within the process, there statistically different from the 4.01 minutes needed to complete were eight key steps necessary to complete an order, and they an order under the new layout (T-value = 7, P-Value = 0). are as follows: 1. Enter Order Number Validating Simulation Results 2. Enter Reference Number 3. Enter Package Weight In order to validate the simulation results, the design team had 4. Collect Order to make sure that the simulation models produced order 5. File Papers – Create Shipment processing times that were statistically the same as real life 6. Print Labels order processing times. A two sample t-test was performed for 7. Write Order Number on Boxes both the old and new processes, comparing the simulation 8. Place boxes on skids

Paper Number 06207 Proceedings of the KGCOE Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference Page 7 process times to the real life time study process times collected devices and design team ideas were documented and presented as seen in figures 10 and 11 below. to ABVI.

Figure 10: Old Layout Process Time Validation Improving Customer Satisfaction:

To show that the teams’ design improves ABVI customer Mean Time to Fill an Order satisfaction, the design must show a reduction in errors made

6 within the process. Customer complaints are measured on a monthly basis at ABVI. Therefore, the design team did not 5 4.71 4.64 have enough time to collect months and months of data to ) . 4 prove a statistical reduction in the number of complaints. For n i m

( each of the three design objectives of shipping the correct 3 e m

i notepads to the correct customers, shipping the correct quantity T 2 of notepads to the customer, and shipping the notepads to the 1 customers on time, the design team made strides that have

0 reduced errors within the Drop Shipment process. Process Time (Old Layout) Process Time Simulation Ship the correct notepads to the correct customers

Figure 11: New Layout Process Time Validation Within the old process and layout at ABVI, the visually impaired worker would often pick the wrong box of notepads Mean Time to Fill an Order due to the fact that the notepads were not always placed in a standardized area, and were not labeled. Within the new layout, 5 the design team established a standardized area where each 4.5 4.01 pallet of inventory must be placed. This was done by putting up 4 3.83 3.5 large signs and marking off the areas in which the pallets need ) . n

i 3 to be placed. m (

m 2 i Another source of error within the previous process occurred in T 1.5 typing in the order number. Often times the worker who is 1 0.5 visually impaired would type in the wrong order number, thus 0 shipping the correct amount of notepads to the wrong customer. Process Time (New Layout) Process Time Simulation By allowing the order number to be scanned into the computer, the design team eliminated this error from further occurring. As seen in the graphs, the two sample t-tests prove that the old Ship the correct quantity of notepads to the customer layout simulation statistically represents real life process times (T-Value = -1.23, P-Value = .228), and so does the new layout Under current conditions, especially for larger orders, the simulation (T-Value = 1.72, P-Value = .097). Since the ABVI worker will occasionally pick a smaller amount of simulation models are statistical representations of real life, the notepads than the order slip specifies. Through implementation conclusions and actions taken as a result of the simulations are of the pick and scan system designed by the senior design team, validated. there will be a check in place that the order is completely full before it is shipped out. Therefore, customers will receive the Make Recommendations for completely blind employee: correct quantity of notepads each time. In researching opportunities for process improvement for the Ship notepads to customers on time blind and visually impaired, the design team discovered many useful technological devices that would allow a completely Before the design team began this project, ABVI was already blind person to complete the Drop Shipment order filling tasks. meeting its lead time quota of 5 days. The design team wanted These devices far exceeded the design teams’ budget, but the to make sure that any changes made would not affect meeting team documented these devices along the way in order to allow this time frame. Through the new process and layout ABVI to take the next step in converting the Drop Shipment implementation, the design team reduced the average time to process to meet the needs of a blind worker. One such device, complete an order by 42 seconds. Therefore, ABVI should still the Talk-man Unit, plays an auditory recording to the user have no problem meeting the lead time of 5 days, and has not telling the user which product to pick next. In implementing since implementation took place. this device with some training, a completely blind person could complete the order filling tasks. Other devices, such as an omni-directional scanner and JAWS Software which reads back to the user what was just typed into the computer, would aide a blind person in completing Drop Shipment tasks. All of these

CONCLUSIONS

Through an extensive needs assessment and execution of engineering techniques to meet these needs, the senior design team has been able to meet both design objectives of improving customer satisfaction and limiting the stress of day-to-day tasks on the worker who is visually impaired. Throughout this process, it was important to gain the buy-in of the ABVI project sponsor, the ABVI production supervisor, and ABVI Drop Shipment worker especially. The design team has succeeded in obtaining this buy in, and achieving its goal of providing independence for a person who is visually impaired.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The design team would like to thank ABVI-Goodwill and all the employees for their support of this project, especially Joyel Bennett, John Ross, and Jerry.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. BES- 0527358. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

REFERENCES

Haik, Y. (2003). Engineering Design Process. Brooks/Cole Pacific Grove, CA.

Kelton, W., Sadowski, R. and Sturrock, D. (2004) Simulation with Arena (3rd Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill

Montgomery, D. (2005). Statistical Quality Control (5th Edition). John Wiley and Sons Inc.: Hoboken, NJ.

Neibal, B. and Freivalds, A. (1999). Methods Standards & Work Design (10th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill

Wickens, C.D., Lee, J. D., Liu, Y., and Becker, S.E.G. (2004). Human Factors Engineering. (2nd Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Paper Number 06207