Title: CK's Reflection on ALB
Date: Friday, December 19, 2008
CK's Reflection on ALBWe visited the Army Logistic Base (ALB), Singapore first centralized warehouse. The ALB is an efficient and technological advanced logistic base that acts as a military warehouse for Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). It is really a memorable experience for me to have such an eye opener at the ALB.
The ALB adopts a "Through flow" system as their unloading and loading bays are at opposite ends of the building. They have a total of 14 unloading bays to cope with fast and high demand of goods flowing through the warehouse.
The estimated height of each warehousing floor is approximately around 30 metres. It is essential for them to have various storage systems to handle the goods. They are the Very Narrow Aisle (VNA), Mobile Racking System, Vertical Carousel System and the Pallet / Bin Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS).
The mobile racking system is situated at the main storage area and has excellent utilization of floor space. It is used for storing homogenous items. It is able to ensure the safety of the workers as it is slow moving and will immediately come to a halt when there is an obstacle in the way.
The estimated height of each warehousing floor is approximately around 30 metres. It is essential for them to have various storage systems to handle the goods. They are the Very Narrow Aisle (VNA), Mobile Racking System, Vertical Carousel System and the Pallet / Bin Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS).
The mobile racking system is situated at the main storage area and has excellent utilization of floor space. It is used for storing homogenous items. It is able to ensure the safety of the workers as it is slow moving and will immediately come to a halt when there is an obstacle in the way.
The vertical carousel system (VCS) is located at air-conditioned rooms within the warehouse to control the temperature and humidity level. It is used for storing medical supplies and other small items. The VCS is the ideal choice for storing small items as there is a total of 74 layers and multiple bins on each layer. It has a high utilization of cubic capacity and enhanced safety protection over goods and workers.
It is linked up with the Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Sub Issue Voucher (SIV) and uses an item-to-picker concept to shorten the overall time taken to retrieve the required items.
There are different kinds of Material Handling Equipments (MHEs) used in the ALB. They are the forklift, pallet jack and laser guided vehicle. The laser guided vehicle is located at the marshalling area where it is able to pick up goods with accuracy and pack them up nicely. The path of the vehicle and the human's path is separated to ensure the safety of the people moving about.The enlistees in the past are required to collect their items at the counter, whereas in the current state, there are e-marts available for the army enlistees to order and purchase their items. Their ordered goods will be packed and delivered to them in the shortest time possible, this clearly indicate that the current logistic industry has improved greatly.
Overall, i think that this is a trip worthwhile for us to experience the local logistic environment. I had been amazed at those equipments and systems as i am able to take a close look at them. This is definitely beyond classroom teaching and an eye opener.
Title: It's CK Time!
Date:
Hi everyone! My name is Chiam Chin Kwang Aka CK( most people think that it's Calvin Klein on first impression =.=)
Now my friends have given me a new nickname, "Kim Moh" =(
I am a Libra!
Currently studying in Temasek Polytechnic, pursuing a diploma in Logistics & Operations Management.
I am a friendly and outgoing person, with a smile on my face everywhere i go. =D
I was in concert band during my secondary school days, playing tuba as my instrument.
From my tanned look, you should be able to know that I am quite a sporty person.
I like to play many kinds of sports such as badminton, basketball, soccer, pool, bowling and etc.
My favourite pastimes are GOING KTV, surfing web, playing games, watching animes, listening to music and stayovers.
Title: An eye opener trip to ALB
Date: Thursday, December 18, 2008
MENG YEE's REFLECTION on ALB
In the past, I've never seen or heard any advertisement about Army Logistics Base. I've always thought that anything that has to do with the army like their weapons and general supplies are all being handled by the army guys, not the special department, ALB. But a recent trip to there changes all my views.
ALB adopts a 'through flow' system where the loading and unloading bay are just at the opposite ends of each other. Also, ALB has shown a great real life example to the five main operations that was taught through the textbook to me only. In the five main operations, the system, pallet ASRS situated in the receiving bay, impressed me the most as it is one of the largest system used in ALB. It can managed 13, 500 pallets with 6 cranes and 18 racks with the height of 30m to 35m. Example of the advantage of this system are being showed by the guide person like goods not placed properly will be rejected. This additional information given did help me in interpreting and getting known to the system that the textbook does not have. In addition to that, the tour guide exhibited the new army uniform to us and introduced the new system that the army backpacks are now pre-packed and sent to the enlistees instead of having them to collect at the counter.
Overall, the whole trip has given me an overview of how the five main operations should look like in real life instead of just looking at the pictures given from the textbook. Though its a pity that no photo taking is allowed in ALB, it is definitely an eye opener and great help to me.
ALB adopts a 'through flow' system where the loading and unloading bay are just at the opposite ends of each other. Also, ALB has shown a great real life example to the five main operations that was taught through the textbook to me only. In the five main operations, the system, pallet ASRS situated in the receiving bay, impressed me the most as it is one of the largest system used in ALB. It can managed 13, 500 pallets with 6 cranes and 18 racks with the height of 30m to 35m. Example of the advantage of this system are being showed by the guide person like goods not placed properly will be rejected. This additional information given did help me in interpreting and getting known to the system that the textbook does not have. In addition to that, the tour guide exhibited the new army uniform to us and introduced the new system that the army backpacks are now pre-packed and sent to the enlistees instead of having them to collect at the counter.
Overall, the whole trip has given me an overview of how the five main operations should look like in real life instead of just looking at the pictures given from the textbook. Though its a pity that no photo taking is allowed in ALB, it is definitely an eye opener and great help to me.
Title: [ Self-Intro ]
Date:
HELLO EVERYONE !! (:Yes! The above is ME, Chua Meng Yee! (:
DOB: 11-05-1990
Horoscope: Taurus
Gender: Female
Characteristics: - tall and skinny
- enjoys being taking long bus rides (:
- likes to do silly stuffs *like the above* (:
- stubborn
- newest idol *A MEI ZHANG HUI MEI!* (:
Title: ALB trip on 28 Nov 08
Date:
CHLOE's REFLECTION on ALB
We visited the Army Logistics Base (ALB) and was given the chance to match the details given in our textbook with real-life examples. Through the experience, I was able to understand better on the through flow adopted and the various storage systems used.One of the storage systems is the Mobile Racking system which stores homogenous product and can be adjusted to any height requirement. Another will be the Very Narrow Aisle (VNA), as hinted by the name itself, there is very little aisle space, increasing the storage space utilisation. Special guiding equipment, that is the turrent truck, is needed for this system.
The Bin Automated Storage and Retrieval System (Bin ASRS) in ALB uses 29000 bins and 5 cranes. Each crane can take 60 bins per hour, hence, it can take a total of 300 bins per hour. There are 5 very narrow aisles and the whole system is 84 metres long, 13 metres wide and 9 metre tall.
Vertical carousel was also used to contain small items, it has a total of 74 layers and equipped with humidity control. Other than that, it is linked to WMS which shows item location through Sub Issue Voucher (SIV) slip and it is believed to be a full-proof system. The guide also mentioned that in the unlikeliness that the machine was to break down, the technician will be bind by the contract to come down in within an hour. Lastly, I realise throughout the whole walk around, safety precautions are strictly practised. For example, the staffs that operate the equipments are expected to wear safety harness before doing the storing. The various systems also have in-built sensors that will stop the machines if they were to detect movements, such as a hand sticking in.
Title: My name is.. *drumrolls*
Date:
Tan Shu Chun.CHLOE.
(yes, same as that dog in Beverly Hills Chihuahua)
likes BLUE a lot.
(colour of the endless sky and sea)
a typical Sagittarius.
often with many questions.
easy-going. optimistic.
straightforward else blunt and tactless.
child-like. playful. freedom-loving.
eccentric at times.
"do things cause you want to and not cause you have to"