By Bill Elenbark on May 12, 2008 in Publish | 0 Comments

On April 29, TranSystems and Gross & Associates, consultants in material handling logistics focusing on operations design, management and distribution, closed on the merger of the two firms. The combined strength of the integrated companies results in a national powerhouse of nearly 1,500 professionals in 46 offices.
Gross & Associates continues to operate out of our Woodbridge, NJ, offices, with the same people and services our clients have learned to appreciate for over 40 years. We will be able to now offer a wider array of services using Transystems’ expertise in transportation and logistics. TranSystems provides engineering, architecture and planning; management and supply chain consulting; real estate consulting; and security services. The shippers and distributors sector is one among many dynamic transportation markets TranSystems serves, crossing public and private, passenger and freight, and land, sea and air.
Scott Pribula, Market Sector Leader for the Shippers & Distributors Market Sector and President of the Management and Supply Chain Consulting Line of Business said, “The reputation of this firm, now under the TranSystems umbrella, further enhances our drive to have TranSystems become a household name in the supply chain management field. Gross & Associates’ expertise in optimizing operations “inside the box” and its broad resume in consumer goods will provide new revenue streams for our clients and widen our current client base.”
Gross & Associates specializes in designing material handling operations in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, filling an important link between TranSystems’ work in facility design and management and supply chain consulting. Strategic services offered by the merged firm encompass warehouse management systems integration, material handling, simulation analysis, analytical modeling, market demand analysis and forecasting, bulk ocean carrier economics and site selection assistance.
President Brian Larson said “we couldn’t be prouder to bring this fine firm into the TranSystems family. Our growth in the supply chain and goods movement side of the world, already impressive under Scott’s leadership, can only be enhanced with the addition of the expertise and client list that Don [Derewecki], Jack [Kuchta] and Geoff [Sisko] have nurtured.”
Visit Transystems website and check back for updates on the Gross & Associates website, which will remain fully functional, including the Rules of Thumb calculator.
By Bill Elenbark on Mar 25, 2008 in Publish | 0 Comments
In February’s Logistics Management, senior Gross & Associates engineer Maida Napolitano wrote a featured article on distribution network modeling, the first in a two-part series titled “Locating Your Distribution Centers: Re-Engineering Your Distribution Network.” In this article, Maida describes the use of network modeling software to optimize a distribution network by reducing transportation and warehousing costs or improving service levels, or both.
This article features interviews with two Gross & Associates staff members who specialize in network modeling, Jack Kuchta and Bill Elenbark, along with two clients who worked with them on an engineering effort to optimize their own networks.
The most common driver for distribution center (DC) network re-engineering, says Kuchta, has been the realization that freight costs have a significant dollar impact on the bottom line. “With today’s rising energy costs, reducing transportation costs across the network has certainly become more pervasive and cannot be ignored,” he says. A network study may simply stem from operational growth resulting in a need for an additional warehouse in a different geographic area.
“Opening more stores in the West Coast, for example, may trigger a need to add a West Coast distribution center (DC),” adds Elenbark. Other reasons for studying your network may include mergers or acquisitions resulting in overlapping or excess warehouse space, new company policies and buying incentives forcing a shift in freight modes, or a need to reduce warehouse costs by investigating other areas with more affordable labor pools.
John Goione, who oversees the distribution of service parts and accessories to BMW’s retail group of car dealers and showrooms, found that transportation costs were just part of his bigger concern. “In 1999, we had two distribution centers, one in the East Coast and another in the West Coast,” recalls Goione. “But continued growth volumes, a hypercompetitive premium luxury automotive market, and rising transportation costs all compelled us to revisit our network.”
Click here to read the entire article. Click here to learn more about distribution network modeling.
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By Bill Elenbark on Feb 25, 2008 in Publish | 0 Comments
In the November issue of Logistics Management, Gross & Associates senior engineer Maida Napolitano published an article concerning Value Added Services in warehousing operations. Don Derewecki, president of Gross & Associates, is featured in the article, which includes the results of the 2nd annual Warehouse Operations Survey. An excerpt appears below.
“Eighty percent of respondents are currently dealing with some form of value-added services (VAS) in their DCs,” observes Don Derewecki, president of Gross & Associates (G&A), a logistics consulting firm based in Woodbridge, N.J., and Logistics Management’s partner for the survey. VAS is a collection of specific requirements mandated by customers, involving additional processing of a product or an order, above and beyond the simple picking of the product for an order. The survey shows VAS is rapidly becoming the norm rather than exception. Case in point: Wal-Mart is requiring RFID tags on supplier pallets; Home Depot and Lowe’s are calling for special labels on their products; other mass merchandisers and groceries are demanding display-ready promotional packs. With the rise of VAS, small manufacturing cells are inevitably making their way into the layout of what were once pure storage and distribution operations. “To cope,” adds Derewecki, “warehouse managers have been forced to adopt ‘production tools’ specifically in areas of workstation design and labor planning/balancing.”
Click on this link to read the entire article.
By Bill Elenbark on Feb 18, 2008 in Announcement | 0 Comments
Gross & Associates would like to welcome you to our newly revised and updated web site, featuring a new format, new content updates, and helpful information to assist visitors with their material handling needs. On the front page, we will have news, articles, case studies, and other information in a blog format that will be constantly updated. On the interior pages, you will find the many resources that GrossAssociates.com has long been known for, including the recently revised Online Rules of Thumb for warehousing costs.
Follow this link to request literature from our office, peruse our Knowledgebase for additional articles, and participate in the Project Management Forums. Feel free to subscribe to the website by placing your email address in the space to the right, so that you will receive updates to the site in a convenient email format.
Thank you for visiting and come back often.
By Fernando Gonzalez on Feb 8, 2008 in Case Study | 1 Comment
Due to a merger between our client and a competitor consumer electronics company, Gross & Associates was tasked with determining the future distribution network for the combined entities. Our client was in the midst of constructing a new warehouse in the Southwest, while the merging company had two distribution centers, one in the Midwest, the other on the East Coast. Both facilities were relatively new and could handle increases in inventory and volume. The new Southwest warehouse was also being built to handle significant expansion, with the possibility of a merger contingent on the construction. Due to the time sensitivity of new product releases to company-owned stores, a majority of orders were sent via UPS or FedEx overnight or 2-day shipments. Each company had negotiated discounts rates with their respective shipping carrier.
Gross & Associates was retained to develop a network model based analysis to determine the least cost distribution network that could service each company’s store sales requirements, including the location of each facility, the size requirements, and the suitability and cost savings in using one or more of the existing warehouse locations.
Read the rest
By Todd Richter on Feb 7, 2008 in Case Study | 0 Comments
A building materials manufacturer with nationwide manufacturing locations had to replace an aging fork lift truck fleet and upgrade its material handling methods.
The company manufactures materials which are shipped to customers within the service region of each of its sixteen plants. Finished goods are stored both indoors and outdoors. The putaway operation began at the end of the manufacturing line from a palletizing station and finished at an outdoor storage area, nearly ¼ of a mile away. Management knew that a better method was needed.
Gross & Associates, the leading material handling consultant in the industry, with over 40 years of experience designing operations for warehousing, distribution, and manufacturing facilities, was asked to develop recommendations to improve the putaway operation and model the new process using computer simulation to help management with the decision process. Management needed to be convinced that changes to the current methods and equipment would improve productivity and reduce staffing requirements.
After an extensive review of the operation, Gross & Associates recommended that finished goods pallets be transported on trains of carts towed by propane counterbalanced fork lift trucks and unloaded by the same trucks at the storage area.
The existing operations were measured and benchmarked against industry standards. The information and data were compiled to model the output of the manufacturing line and putaway process. A computer simulation model was used to test alternatives to determine the equipment and staffing limits of the system at different levels of production.
The results of the simulation model showed that two forklift trucks working at 67% of their maximum capacity could handle the production rate of two simultaneously running production lines.
As a result of the analysis and conclusions drawn from the simulation model, the company implemented the recommendations. They were able to re-use a total of 24 fork lift trucks from its aging fleet significantly reducing capital expenditures. Equally as important, staffing was reduced by 25% as a result of process improvement recommendations. In addition to these cost savings, tighter control over the operation, improved safety and greater throughput capacity were achieved.