Juzo Medical Compression Therapy Garments
When this eco-conscious, international leader in medical compression therapy garments faced space constraints and efficiency issues, SSI designed a system to increase throughput while maximizing working safety.
The Who
Juzo has been family-owned and operated since 1912. They’re committed to providing quality medical compression garments to Pharmacies and Home Health Care Stores. In keeping in that pursuit of quality, it’s critical that Juzo’s manufacturing environment remain dust-free as well as efficient and safe for its workers.
Juzo was running out of space and out of answers.
Walter Zorn, the VP of Operations, learned about SSI from a business acquaintance and reached out to us for a customized solution for their challenge.
The Challenge
Juzo’s challenge was multifaceted but their main concerns were two-fold:
- Consolidate picking areas from multiple floors/areas to a single floor
- Design an efficient area to support future growth driven by expanding product lines
With Juzo’s warehouse existing on two different floors, their efficiency suffered.
The inventory space became unorganized and products had too many touch points in the process. The area was cramped and small. There was concern over employees having to work on ladders. Workers were wasting time going up and down between the two floors and the existing conveyor system consisted of a single belt incline conveyor.
The root cause? Juzo was out of space.
The Results
Through its collaborative efforts, and attention to being eco-friendly and ergonomically-conscious, SSI’s manufacturing solution for Juzo has:
- increased picking efficiencies
- decreased touches in packing area
- designed for 100% of product to go onto a conveyor
- created a professional and modern working environment
- increased visibility and made workers happier with plenty of windows and natural light
Proposed Plans of Attack
SSI is solutions-oriented and we were resolute in creating a better-suited plan for Juzo than their current one. During our initial development phases, we proposed several configurations and analyzed with Juzo.
Upon assessing Juzo’s current manufacturing arrangement, the initial solution was to design a mezzanine to relieve the bottleneck at the warehouse. We found, however, that wasn’t at all feasible.
Juzo ended up designing a new building, allowing for additional room for us to plan and place the right types of equipment to maximize their footprint and production potential.
What Made SSI the Best Choice?
When Juzo approached SSI, we began with a blank sheet of paper. We put our creative feet forward, took stock of the pieces they had, added a few and put the puzzle back together better than it was before.
Through simplification, collaboration and integration, we were able to give Juzo what they really needed: the perfect fit.
Implementing the Solution
Since SSI collaborated with Juzo throughout the process, there were no surprises.
To properly implement Juzo’s plan, several things had to happen:
- during the Discovery phase, the logistics of moving product and installing equipment were always considered.
- a training and testing phase that, for Juzo, was looking specifically at how to handle product in storage and transfer situations to maximize space and work efficiently.
- we presented Juzo with several options (around 8-10 different designs).
How It Works Now
Juzo’s workers and product reap the benefits of:
- custom shelving, built to accommodate their product lines
- a vertical reciprocating lift to move finished good to the picking floor
- an expanded warehouse footprint
The product is picked on the 2nd level, many times directly to its shipping container, delivered to a staging area and manifested on a workbench. From there, the packed product goes onto another conveyor to semi-automatic case sealer before shipping out via ground carriers.
No wasted movement from floor to floor. Fewer touches. No more cramped conditions.
And at SSI, we’re never a one-and-done provider.
Our plan is always to keep servicing our customers. We provide maintenance to the equipment we installed. And we’re ready for whatever Juzo needs when their success requires another solution.
