Assessment Cover Sheet
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Assessment Title
Assignment 1
Programme Title:
Bachelor of International Logistics Management
Course No.:
TLB6301
Course Title:
Inventory and Warehouse Management
Student Name:
Aysha Asheer
Student ID:
201000373
Tutor:
Ronald Welsh
Due Date:
19th of Apr 2014
Date submitted:
19th of Apr 2014
By submitting this assessment for marking, either electronically or as hard copy, I confirm the
following:
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This assignment is my own work
Any information used has been properly referenced.
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Table of Contents
Excutive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 4
Olayan Kimberly-Clark Company ...................................................................................................................... 4
Kleenex Company .................................................................................................................................................... 4
Product Specification.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Findings ......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Kiva System ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Kiva Software .................................................................................................................................................... 6
Advantages of Kiva System ......................................................................................................................... 7
Examples of Automated Warehouses .............................................................................................................. 8
Diapers.com ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
Amazon ............................................................................................................................................................... 8
Types of Aisles........................................................................................................................................................... 9
Wide Aisle .......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Narrow Aisle ..................................................................................................................................................... 9
Very Narrow Aisle ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Recommendations ...................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................14
Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................................15
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Excutive Summary
This report will introduce recently adopted system and how successful it is, which is Kiva
system along with examples of two warehouses that use it to illustrate the effectiveness of it.
Beside that, the advantages and software that operate the system will be discussed in specific
details. However, recommendations based on the findings will be outlined of what are the
best solutions to design a warehouse for Olayan Kimberly-Clark Company that will be
introduced for Kleenex products in Bahrain. In more details, this report will decide the best
aisle type after recognizing the different of each. Which leads to best practice of racking
system that will help in minimizing the capacity of storage and increasing the storage density,
along with the most suitable equipment that cope with the technology.
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Introduction
 Olayan Kimberly-Clark Company
Olayan Kimberly-Clark Company is based in Saudi Arabia and recently introduced in Bahrain
as the manufactures in both countries produce kids diapers, tissues and feminine pads. In
more details the company sells various types of brands for household purposes such as
Kleenex, Pull Ups, Kotex, Scott and Huggies. All of these brands are widely known and have
the best selling points in the market, in which they have many demanding consumers. (Olayan
Kimberly-Clark's Overview, 2014)
 Kleenex Company
Kleenex that is an American Company, which was the first introduced the facial tissues in
1920, and targeted American women, as this company also produced the first scented tissues.
Furthermore, the history of Kleenex Company in the Arabian Gulf was first launched in 1955
as the products were imported to Saudi Arabia from the Untied States. This process was done
through two companies in USA and KSA, Kimberly-Clark that exports from US and Olayan that
imports to KSA. Years later the industry spread to all GCC countries when the partnership of
Olayan Kimberly-Clark Company occurred, as a brunch was opened in Bahrain that was
managed by the same company that sells Kleenex products. And now it is being produced
locally and not exported from the United States. Kleenex Company offers products that
became necessary and essential for each house to be used on a regular basis since the day
launched. (Brand Story, 2012)
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 Product Specification:
These products are various types of tissues that are being used for different purposes such
as; facial tissues, wet wipes, hand towels, household towels and toilet rolls (Brand Story,
2012). Main product specifications are facial tissue size: 216mmX216mm (Facial Tissues,
2012), wet wipes size: 200mmX200mm (Wet Wipes, 2012), household towels size:
244mmX276mm (Household Towels, 2012) and toilet rolls size: 122mm X 106mm (Toilet
Rolls, 2012). This reveals that the dimension of the products is small as well as the weight, as
the goods are made from tissues only.
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Findings
 Kiva System
In the Kiva system the products are stored in moving racks, as Kiva robot delivers the
products on the shelves directly to the picking area. In more details, the workers stand in
their places and robots do the work in taking the products to them, and then workers pick the
right product (System Overview). While Kiva robots are in the picking area with the racks, a
laser sign points to the required product to be picked. So the worker then scans the products
and places them in a box, as the robot will deliver it to the shipping area (Eddy, 2012). On the
other hand, Kiva robots can be charged for five minutes and rest, while another one do the
work instead (System Overview).
How this work is that is has a main computer in the warehouse, which orders robots to go and
pick the required shelving and deliver them to the picking area, so the workers choose the
right product (Wagstaff, 2012). This technology allows the safety of the robots as it prevents
them from colliding with each other, so it guides robots to which path to take and when by
tracking them and scanning the floor (Wagstaff, 2012). In more details, how robots can flow
in the warehouse is that they have navigation system that makes them move under standing
shelves, to make the path clear if one robot is carrying a rack. This would increase the
speediness of the robots and prevents a collision (Eddy, 2012).
Kiva Software
Kiva system is integrated with other software, such as order management systems, enterprise
resource planning systems and warehouse management systems. In more details, it works
closely with what the customer demands and order, then it sets the procedures and
commands robots to pick the required products that are being ordered. An advantage of the
software is that it can identify a problem in the warehouse and notify the workers. For
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example, if products are facing shortage or another order is important than others due to time
of delivery, the system informs the supervisors about the issue in order to prevent errors.
(Software)
Advantages of Kiva System: (System Overview)
1. Kiva system takes less period of time to be built over another automated system
because it is not complicated, and it has the lowest cost for an automated
warehouse system. Because it does not need new infrastructure, as the system is
mobile so robots are bought and then placed in the warehouse.
2. Kiva robots double the work that man labor cannot do, as it reduces the time of the
work and increases productivity.
3. Accuracy of picking is high in this system, whereas each product is identified
through scanning code. So this prevents errors in picking the wrong product and
reducing time of correcting mistakes.
4. The system consumes time whereas picking is fast and workers can pick more than
one item at one time when the robot comes with the shelves. So an easy and
smooth process is handled in such system.
5. Benefit of robots over human is that they do not need to have a lunch break nor
resting time, only charging time for few minutes. The advantage here is that it will
reduce human labor, so as the cost of salaries, but this will come on the cost of
buying robots and having an efficient system.
6. Monitoring procedure is efficient, whereas measuring the output for each robot is
easy as they operate individually.
7. The company can reduce some expenses in installing air conditioners, as the
pickers are robots and cannot feel the temperature. So in the area of picking for
Kiva robots, it will not be useful to have air conditioners, but installed only in the
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places where the human labor are working. This will reduce some of the cost to
build an expensive warehouse with such system. (Eddy, 2012)
On the other hand, an estimation cost of the system is $15 to $20 million for 1,000 robots, so
the system is really expensive but it worth it, because it will be replaced with human labor
and will increase productivity as consuming the time and having an efficient procedure
through Kiva robots. Therefore, Kiva system will gain more profits than another system to the
business despite the capital cost. (Wagstaff, 2012)
 Examples of Automated Warehouses
Diapers.com
The company changed its system after seeing the effectiveness of kiva system in other
warehouse, as they have fast procedures and deliveries. Kiva system can cope with many
orders for a better performance and productivity, as this system allows labors to work
together with Kiva robots. (Saenz, 2010)
Amazon
Kiva system increased the worker’s output, as they have a specific mission that is to take the
products and dispatch them on vehicles to their final destination, while rest of the work is
done by Kiva robots (Banker, 2012). Also, it reduced the time consumed, whereas picking rate
is boosted that 200 items could be picked in one hour (Banker, 2012). Furthermore, this
system can save huge in Amazon Company it is an estimation of $450-900 million annually
(Graham, 2013).
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 Types of Aisles
Wide Aisle, the aisle width is estimated as 4 meters (Session 5. Aisle Width and Equipment
selection, 2010).
Wide aisle racking system dose not need specialized equipment, as any forklift is suitable for
the work. Therefore, the cost of starting the warehouse is lower than other aisle type. Further
more, it allows storing different type of products in weight and size, in one location so the
advantage is to have various types of products in one location for easy picking. On the other
hand, it could take time if products all stored in one place, as goods will not be organized so
pickers will consume time in knowing where the required product is. (Wide Aisle Racking,
2011). Another advantage is that is allows many trucks to be working in the wide aisle, also in
wide aisle manual picking can be done at lowest shelving on ground, as the huge space allows
that (Wide aisle warehouse, 2014).
Narrow Aisle, the narrow aisle’s width is 3 meters (Session 5. Aisle Width and Equipment
selection, 2010).
Narrow aisle have similar feature of very narrow aisles, as it utilizes the maximum use of
space in the warehouse and allows high density of storage. So this will save the cost in which
increasing the storage area that many products will be stowed. Also, increases safety and
security whereas, only specialized equipment will do the picking so they will have special
handling and not be damaged. So this will not cause human injuries, as the manual picking is
replaced with special equipment. Narrow aisle cuts the risks of damaging while picking, and
this reduces the repairing cost if damage occurs. (Narrow Aisle Racking, 2011)
On the other hand, narrow aisle has disadvantages of its forklift, whereas they have slow
travel speed because the forklifts turn the whole vehicle in order to move as this takes time.
Also, the forklifts cannot reach high level of the racks, as products stored in the upper shelves
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will be stuck. So there is no use in having high racking system in narrow aisles, as it will be
difficult to pick products in that high and the person picking is down. (Piasecki, 2012)
Very Narrow Aisle, the width of very narrow aisle is between 1.2 and 1.8 meters, the
advantage is that it can save 25% of space in the warehouse, which might be used for other
purposes either new products can be added or used for storage. (Atlet)
Very narrow aisles have more security, as the forklifts require special guidance in order to
operate safely in the warehouse. Another advantage of the equipment used is that it only
rotates the carried product not the entire vehicle, and they can reach up to 10 meters. It can
saves up to 50% and more of space and the cost will be only for the specialized equipment,
the height is also an advantage in very narrow aisles system. (Session 5. Aisle Width and
Equipment selection, 2010)
Despite that the cost of equipment handling is high for the very narrow aisle, but this will be
covered through the cost of saving the space and productivity. The forklifts here use a guiding
system on the floor, as they only need to move in a straight path. (Piasecki, 2012)
On the other hand, the disadvantage is the cost for the forklifts is expensive as one is
estimated in $100,000; so considering having more than one will be expensive. Also, very
narrow aisle requires specialized forklifts, this lead to a proper maintenance as it cost ore
than other regular forklifts. In order to prevent the maintenance cost it can be replaced with
the rail cost, as the forklift might require preventing incidents. This cost is considers being
included with the infrastructure’s, as it cannot be changed so an early decision before building
should be taken. An additional cost is the floor, whereas the forklifts require special floor in
order to move efficiently. F-Min is a term that means having a smooth floor for VNA forklifts,
for easy turns and moving. (Very Narrow Aisles in a Warehouse, 2011)
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Recommendations

The warehouse is all about the space of storage and how much products it can handle,
so this is the main reason to best recommend very narrow aisles for the warehouse
design as it has a greater density that the other aisles.

Kleenex Company as outlined earlier that it is one of the top sellers in the region and
the products have the highest demand by the customers, so the best solution to cope
with the customer’s demand is to install a Kiva system. Reasons are because it can
reduce picking time so this affects the whole procedure in the warehouse and it works
more efficiently than human labor.

An estimation cost of the recommended system if 20 robots will be enough figures to
handle the picking in the warehouse depending on the land space. In more details,
doing the math if the cost for 1,000 robots is $20 billion (Wagstaff, 2012), then each is
robot is $20,000. So the estimation cost of having 20 robots could be $400.000 in total.

Very narrow aisles is the best suitable for Kiva system, as this does not require forklifts
so the aisles will not be crowded with trucks, and it cannot be too long because the
products while moving might fall. As disadvantages of very narrow aisle will be vanish
when the forklifts are, because mainly issues are associated with the forklifts concerns.

To reduce the cost along with the risks of having fully Kiva system in the warehouse, it
is recommended to have two systems because as discussed earlier that kiva robot
cannot handle long shelves, so on the sides of the warehouse it is better to have
forklifts doing the picking procedure in very narrow aisles to utilize the space as
shows in figure 1. So this might increase the storage density, as more products will be
stored in the shelving up to 40 feet and the products will palletized on that racking
system (Very Narrow Aisle Rack, 2014). Picking in that area could be for big quantities
as the forklifts can handle and deliver to the dispatch area, on the other hand, kiva
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robot can deliver the products in smaller quantities as the consumer demand. For
example, retailers may require more products in bulk sizes, and direct customers will
demand less quantity.

For the Kiva system racking system it is recommended to have mezzanine that dose
not cost more than installing other racking system (System Overview). Which has gaps
between the racks that allow the picker to take products from the shelving, it is steel
so it can handle goods without falling while moving.

As safety matters, smoking in the warehouse should not be allowed, incidents may
occur while smoking and the employees should already know that, so workers can
smoke outside the warehouse.

Turret truck is a specialized forklift for very narrow aisles, as it can reach up to 14
meters high. It operates on batteries, which means that it does not affect the
environment in consuming oil, whereas it only needs to be charged or to change the
batteries. This vehicle is accurate that allows the driver to be moved into the higher
racks as he can see what products being picked precisely. One safety precaution that
the man driving the vehicle should wear the seatbelt to prevent from falling in
dangerous height. (Reynolds, 2012)
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Kiva System (Robots)
VNA Forklifts
VNA Forklifts
Pushback Racking System
Figure 1 of the aisles
This figure is a simple illustration of the system that is discussed earlier, as the red columns
represent the mobile shelving of the kiva system. And the blue columns represent the racking
system that is handled by the specialized forklifts, which could be a pushback racking system.
As the height can be up to 13 meters, but for the safety of labor and products it is
recommended to be 10 meters as it is not too high or short. Pushback racking system is best
suitable to save an extra space in the warehouse, whereas to utilize the space in which Kiva
robots could not handle as products as the pushback. (Very Narrow Aisle Pallet Racking)
Furthermore, different types of products can be stored in pushback racking in each level, as it
increases the density of storage in the warehouse and allows for all sort of tissues stored
there (Push Back Racking).
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Conclusion
Two of the best automated warehouses were discussed briefly that showed how it reduced
time and increased productivity in the warehouse under Kiva system. Which is one of the best
automated system that might cost much but on the other hand it could gain more profit and
success to the company. In order to have an efficient and productive warehouse it is best to
take the outlined recommendations into consideration, to have a successful operating
warehouse with smoothly flowing goods.
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Bibliography
Atlet. (n.d.). Very Narrow Aisle Warehouses . Retrieved from Baltexim:
http://www.baltexim.lv/get.php?i.621689:v.1
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http://logisticsviewpoints.com/2012/08/06/the-new-amazon-distribution-model/
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Eddy, M. (2012, March 20). Here’s How Kiva Systems, Amazon’s Latest Acquisition, Makes Robotic
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Facial Tissues. (2012). Retrieved from Kleenex: http://www.kleenexarabia.com/products/hand-and-facecare/facial-tissues/classic.aspx
Graham, C. (2013, December 9). How Kiva Systems Is Changing the Future of Warehouse Work. Retrieved
from Technology Advice: http://technologyadvice.com/business-intelligence/blog/kiva-systems-changingfuture-warehouse-work/
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Piasecki, D. (2012). The Aisle Width Decision. Retrieved from Inventoryops:
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Push Back Racking. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ssi-schaefer.ae/storage-distribution/pallet-rackingsystems/push-back-racking.html
Reynolds, S. (2012, March 6). What is a Turret Truck (VNA)? Retrieved from
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Saenz, A. (2010, October 6). What’s The Secret Behind Diapers.com Success? A Kiva Robot Warehouse.
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(2010). Session 5. Aisle Width and Equipment selection. In Inventory and Warehouse Management (pp. 38). The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.
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Software. (n.d.). Retrieved from Kiva Systems: http://www.kivasystems.com/solutions/software/
System Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved from Kiva Systems: http://www.kivasystems.com/solutions/systemoverview/
Toilet Rolls. (2012). Retrieved from Kleenex: http://www.kleenexarabia.com/products/perineal-care/toiletrolls/2rolls.aspx
Very Narrow Aisle Pallet Racking. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ssi-schaefer.ae/storagedistribution/pallet-racking-systems/very-narrow-aisle-vna-pallet-racking.html
Very Narrow Aisle Rack. (2014). Retrieved from Ridgurak: http://www.ridgurak.com/products/highdensity/very-narrow-aisle-rack/
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http://www.warehouseiq.com/turret_truck_very_narrow_aisle/
Wagstaff, K. (2012, March 21). Amazon’s $775 Million Acquisition of Kiva Systems Could Shift How
Businesses See Robots. Retrieved from Techland Time: http://techland.time.com/2012/03/21/amazons775-million-acquisition-of-kiva-systems-could-shift-how-businesses-see-robots/
Wet Wipes. (2012). Retrieved from Kleenex: http://www.kleenexarabia.com/products/hand-and-facecare/wet-wipes/chamomile.aspx
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