Abstract:
Loading, unloading and warehousing are three critical processes for a manufacturing
organization. Therefore, reducing cycle and waiting times related to those are vital in improving its
performance. This study aimed to investigate such bottlenecks in a loading, unloading and
warehousing system in an apparel manufacturer in Sri Lanka to provide necessary solutions for
them. The selected system included two bays entirely dedicated for unloading and one bay also for
loading processes. After the eighth hour of a 12 hour working day, the loading process was done
for finished products. Also this was given the priority when hefty waiting times in the unloading
process were existed in simultaneous running of both processes. The study observed arrival and
service times of each container and its batch for three consecutive weeks. The inter-arrival times
were then calculated and two possible were identified to optimize the efficiencies of the processes.
Accordingly, the study suggested an addition of loading process and more resources for the bay
dedicated for loading process. Thus both alternatives were simulated using Rockwell ARENA and
performance was analyzed. The results showed percent of reductions in unloading waiting times to
be 57.5, 79.6 and 90.2 respectively in bay one, two and three with the addition of more resources for
the existing bays. Correspondingly, the warehousing times were reduced from 69.88, 72.90 and
42.45 percent. The loading waiting times reduces up to 100 percent in the same simulated model
development while the addition of another bay does not. Thus, the findings of the study selected the
resources addition to be the optimum of the two alternatives.
