The small-refuse-body market is a niche that Wayne will continue to fill throughout the world. They currently export products to over 30 countries. In the early 1970s Wayne Engineering pioneered the first automated side loader called the Curbtender. By 1991, a study showed this product line was not profitable so they redesigned and expanded the line and stepped up the marketing effort. As a result they were able to form a key strategic alliance with a larger company and began gaining a significant and increasing share of the automated side-loader market. The Curbtender is now their biggest seller.

Sales had grown so much that by the fall of 1994 Wayne had outgrown their 30,000 sq. ft. facility and had begun looking at various expansion options. At that time CIRAS was conducting a layout study of their machine shop which showed that parts moved a total of 90,299 feet through that department alone. Through that winter Wayne evaluated the option of expanding their existing facilities but found several expensive obstacles that made this difficult.

In the spring of 1995 the city of Cedar Falls offered the option of moving into the new industrial park, providing not only economic incentives but also introducing a buyer for the existing facility. Wayne also looked at other cities including out-of-state locations. They narrowed the choices down to three locations and surveyed employees about their preferences. They chose to stay in Cedar Falls.

Because of ClRAS's previous work, Wayne contacted us about assistance in designing a new facility. A fee-for-service project utilizing a team of several students and staff members was initiated in dune of 1995. The original proposal was to provide a layout designed to handle three times the current volume in a new facility that would also minimize material handling and maximize labor utilization and efficiency.

The project consisted of four key steps:

• documentation of existing facility capacities and cycle times
• utilization and guidance of employee teams to develop layout alternatives
• assistance in the selection of appropriate material handling equipment
• development and analysis of a proposed new layout using input from the first three steps.

The first step involved constructing a model of their current facility to use as a baseline in evaluating layout alternatives. This is a crucial step because it is easy to improve a layout design but difficult to compare alternatives without factual performance indicators.  Employee teams were then formed and coached to develop ultimate performance cells without consideration to size and shape.  CIRAS arranged tours at other companies handling similar large products to give Wayne ideas to improve material handling.  Information on material handling equipment was worked into the employee cell designs.  Cells were then combined to determine overall layout options.   Preliminary designs were then evaluated using simulation modeling and systematically reduced to one 60,000 sp. ft. facility.  By late summer they had enough information on the plant layout to begin negotiating with architects and builders.   They broke ground in January of 1996 and moved in October of 1996.  Within four months they were up to full utilization.

The new layout has doubled the size of the facility but increased the output from 1.5 vehicles a day operating three shifts to five vehicles a day with just two shifts.   It was also designed to easily accommodate future expansions as volume demands increase.  They recently received the Cedar Falls Chamber of Commerce 1997 Development Partner Award.  President Cynthia Goro says, "The professionals at CIRAS developed a plant layout that, after six months of operation, we cannot improve upon."

If you are currently considering a relocation or expansion project, please give your local CIRAS/MTC field staff a call to find out more about how we can assist you.