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.