Implementing supermarkets in your plant can be a useful tool for transforming a manufacturing plant from a traditional operation to a pull system. In the traditional operation, raw materials are stored in a warehouse and issued to the floor per an MRP-generated schedule. In essence, a supermarket is a central storage location where raw materials are stored near their point-of-use, so customers can pull them as needed. It works just like the supermarket where you buy your groceries hence the name. This system can help:

1. Minimize transaction costs

2. Facilitate visual management

3. Establish the framework to switch to a point-of-use kanban system

It can also be useful in overcoming resistance to a pull system, since it requires the production cells to obtain their own materials versus the materials department delivering it to them in large batches.

The first step in setting up a supermarket is to find a central location to hold the material. If the plant is large, several small supermarkets may be needed. The idea is to set up locations where all of the materials can be stored for easy retrieval as needed. In order to ensure proper stock rotation, the area needs to facilitate the proper flow of materials. Rotation is very important, since production employees will be pulling their own materials from the supermarket, and inventory rotation is not one of their primary concerns.

A simple way to accomplish this rotation is by installing flow lanes (using gravity-fed conveyor racks, if possible). The flow lanes work like this...