[This article was first published in Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin, which was then called Army Logistician, volume 2, number 6 (November–December 1970), pages 16–19, 42–43. The text, including any biographical note, is reproduced as faithfully as possible to enable searchability. To view any images and charts in the article, refer to the issue itself, available on DVIDS and the bulletin’s archives at asu.army.mil/alog/.]
The future belongs to those who prepare for it. Nothing is so outdated as the past — nothing so challenging as the future.
DRAMATIC CONQUESTS in such exotic fields as travel through space attest to the ingenuity and technical capacity of man. Ventures into the seemingly unknown foreshadow other less impressive but highly important achievements that have considerable impact on the future.
One of these very important achievements is storage modernization. Devoid of acronyms, fanfare, and fancy trappings, this program represents a major breakthrough in reducing the cost of supporting our men and women in uniform and in achieving a mobilization base from which any necessary expansion can be readily achieved.
This is a dynamic program through which facilities are being modified and mechanized to achieve optimum efficiency and economy in meeting supply mission requirements. Storage and materials handling processes must keep pace with the advanced techniques employed by a modern Army. The objective is to minimize manual handling in favor of maximum mechanized handling. The ultimate goal is maximum mechanized movement of material from the time of receipt, through intermediate processing or storage functions, until it reaches the shipping consolidation point, over the most direct route possible with the fewest practicable en route handlings.
The storage modernization program at Pueblo Army Depot, Pueblo, Colorado, began in 1964. At that time, the largest part of the receiving, processing, packaging, packing, and shipping functions at the depot was being conducted in six World War II vintage warehouse buildings. The degree of mechanization was limited. Truck-tractor/semitrailer combinations were the primary means for transporting material between the various storage functions located in separate warehouses. The receiving function was split into two locations, as were the processing and packaging functions. It was difficult to schedule the movement of material without lost time. Drivers and forklift operators were idle while they waited for their vehicles to be loaded or unloaded.
The first major problem in the modernization program was to determine the most efficient flow of material throughout the depot with minimum handling and delay. A Military Construction, Army (MCA) project connecting four of the warehouses by an enclosed mechanized conveyor system was a major factor in planning the basic layout. A proposal was made to rearrange the functional areas by combining the two receiving areas and consolidating the separate processing and packaging operations. The overhead power and free (P and F) conveyor system would be the materials carrier to serve all functional areas. These plans were developed and submitted to the U.S. Army Materiel Command (USAMC). With recommendations for further improvement, USAMC gave the approval to proceed with the necessary projects.
Construction Approved
The MCA project was authorized in December 1967. In addition to providing for the connection of the four warehouses and for the future consolidation of functions, plans included enclosed steel bridges to house the P and F conveyor; power, lights, offices, and utilities for a central receiving area; and power, lights, compressed air, offices, and utilities for the processing and packaging areas. The project was completed in 1969.
Concurrently with the construction project, detailed plans were developed for the equipment needed to mechanize storage functions. The price of this equipment was placed at slightly over $800,000. Additionally, plans were made to relocate equipment already available. Considering the cost of the MCA project, the cost of equipment to be purchased, the value of equipment on hand, and the cost of relocation, the price tag for the modernization program was estimated to be slightly over one million dollars.
It was evident that the funds for purchase of equipment could not be obtained in one lump sum. Plans were revised to provide for purchase of equipment on an incremental basis. Flexibility in program planning was a necessity since the amount of funds to be allotted at any given time was unknown.
Depot modernization planners, therefore, determined the minimum needs for the main carrier system (the P and F conveyor). Then they priced all other equipment requirements and established a priority for each item. Minimum disruption of the depot workload was a prime consideration in setting priorities.
The first allocation of funds received in fiscal year 1969 provided sufficient funds for purchasing the P and F conveyor to service the four warehouses and for the power floor conveyor to handle most of the receiving, processing, and packaging functions.
While a P and F conveyor is fairly standard equipment in both industry and government operations, the equipment installed at the Pueblo Army Depot varies somewhat. Variations in the system are described below.
• Each carrier has multiple-dial selector heads that enable the carrier to travel to a preselected station.
• Placement of tote pans on the P and F conveyor is fully automated in the central receiving area.
• Each station is equipped with automatic sensor devices to prevent overloading of the station or spur with carriers instead of depending on manual control through a central console.
• Interconnecting systems are designed to permit continuance of functions in areas not affected if a malfunction occurs. For example, if a stoppage occurs in the P and F conveyor in the bin storage area, other functions, such as receiving, processing, and packaging, can continue.
• The P and F conveyor is designed to permit closure of fire doors in event of emergency or at the close of a shift.
While there is one accumulation point for carriers in central receiving, there are eight spurs or free stations: one each in incoming processing and packaging and outgoing processing and packaging, two each in rack storage in the first rack storage warehouse, the bin warehouse, and the far end rack warehouse.
Future plans call for extension of the P and F conveyor to traverse through the center of the bin warehouse. At that time, an additional five free stations will be constructed. This will minimize the travel distance to store or remove bin warehouse stocks.
The main flow of material will be from central receiving to and through any of the various functions. The ability to route material automatically from one free station to any other free station is an important advantage of a P and F system. For example, material for oversea shipment that requires special processing is selected in the bin warehouse. A warehouseman will place the tote pan on a carrier of the P and F conveyor and simply set the dial to a code for the processing and packaging station.
Each free station is equipped with sensor devices. If the station has reached its limit in carriers, the sensor device reads this and will not open the switching arrangement on the main power line. The carrier will continue on the main line to the first turnaround point where it will return to the originating free station. The automatic and manual holding devices permit the accumulation of carriers at points best suited to operational requirements. Points can be preset through the automatic devices or changed as needed, using the manual feature.
Control boxes, equipped with warning lights, have been installed at each free station to provide ready identification in the event of a malfunction. A central control console, installed in the receiving area, is wired to each free station permitting the console operator to monitor the entire system. In addition, there is an independent voice intercom system to all stations.
Areas Merge
Central receiving is the hub of the automated system. Prior to modernization, the two receiving areas were overcrowded with manual operations and there was extensive duplication of effort. Under the present system, trucks are unloaded by placing material on a portable, powered, extendible conveyor. Simultaneously, a warehouseman tallies the packages to verify the freight bill. The portable conveyor moves the material to the main line — a power roller conveyor. It is then diverted to one of four in-checking lines. ln-checkers tally each receipt and place material in a tote pan or box. One copy of DD Form 1348, DOD Single Line Item Requisition System Document (Manual), is put in the tote pan or box and the other copies are placed on a document conveyor to be moved into the debit input office for processing. The in-checker inserts an alphabetically coded card into the tote pan to indicate special action, if required. For example, if the item is to be inspected at its destination, the in-checker places a code card G in the tote pan. The item would then be shunted to the inspection line by the use of electric diverters.
Gravity lines are used for material being tallied. As soon as the in-checker completes a document, he moves the tote pan to a power roller conveyor line. The large capacity of the tally lines eliminates the congestion and disarray that existed before modernizing. In addition to the tally lines for trucks and rail cars, there is a bank of three lines for parcel post.
Controls Flow
The power conveyor at the tally lines leads into a main line that runs through the remote inquiry stations to the P and F conveyor. This main line is a pressure-sensitive conveyor. If there is a buildup of tote pans at the inquiry station, the weight inactivates the rollers of the pressure-sensitive line. The operator at each inquiry station also can control the flow of tote pans with a simple hand-operated stop. The inquiry station is connected to the computer building, a mile away from the receiving area. The operator types in the stock number of DD Form 1348 and receives a printout, AMC Form 1381, Storage Data Request, to show where the item is to be located. One copy of the form is put into suspense and the remaining copies are placed in the tote pan to designate the free station where the material is to be transported. This card provides ready data for the console operator who dials the desired free station. The operator then releases the tote pan for movement by power conveyor to the automatic tote pan loader.
Through electronic means and sensor devices, tote pans are held and release-regulated to coincide in timing with the operation of the automatic tote pan loader. There are two stop-release points in this line. The one closest to the automatic loader is “read-in” with the capacity of the loader by use of an electric eye arrangement. This is essentially a backup. There will never be more than one tote pan at this reserve point. The second stop-release device holds back any number of tote pans and releases them, one at a time, whenever the first stop-release point is clear. As a general rule the only manual effort used in central receiving is the placement of material on the power extendible conveyor when unloading a truck. Items too large for tote pans are placed on pallets for movement by forklift trucks.
Special Routing
While most incoming material will follow a straight-line flow, there are lines for special operations. As previously indicated, this is designated at the tally-in point by using a predetermined coding system. Material is shunted to the applicable operation by use of electrically operated diverter arms. An overhead document conveyor moves the necessary papers from these functional areas to the debit input activity, after inspection or other work is completed.
One of the problems in the debit input activity has been the mountain of paperwork. The solution is micromation. A small film cartridge now contains documents equivalent to the amount that formerly required four file drawers. A savings of 264 file cabinet drawers of documents has been realized through micromation.
The next functional area is processing and packaging. Two areas have been combined into one and straight-line flow of material with minimum handling has been achieved. A power floor conveyor moves material through the various functions, such as cleaning, preserving, and fingerprint removal. Air-operated diverter arms are used for mechanical shunting of material to the appropriate process station. After material is processed, it moves to the packaging tables. When work is completed, the material goes to the P and F conveyor for movement to shipping or storage.
Certain material will require special processing or packaging. This is determined when an item is initially received at the methods station. The entire packaging data sheet (PDS) file is on film cartridges. The methods card writer checks the PDS and completes a form to show the work required. On a complex item, such as an electronic chassis, the operator will reproduce a copy of the PDS using the printer-reader. This will take about six seconds. The reproduced copy will be sent to the packers with the material.
Gravity conveyor “bold lines” have been installed in the processing and packaging area in order to have a working backlog on hand at all times. These lines normally are used for material scheduled for processing, packaging, or both, before the item is returned to storage. To keep a balanced workload, the supervisor will release material from the “bold lines” onto the power floor conveyor for movement through the required functional areas.
Items to be packed or shipped are transported by an underground conveyor to the packing lines. Material then goes by inclined conveyor to an elevated sorting line. Through use of electric diverters, the console operator shunts material to any one of 18 packing lines. The workload to be accomplished is predetermined through a computer system. A numeric coding system is used to provide the console operator with ready identification as to the appropriate packing line.
After packing, material is moved by power conveyor through subsequent operations, such as binding and weighing. Depending on the type of shipment and quantity of lines, containers will move by power conveyor direct to shipment consolidation or to a unitizing area for consolidation of multiple lines within a given shipment.
In addition, there is a pack line with monorail service for large items, such as engines, transmissions, and generators. By locating this line close to the packing and shipment consolidation area for light items, shipments are readily assembled by destination.
Continuous Project
The storage modernization program is never-ending. New laborsaving equipment is constantly appearing on the market. New ideas are being generated. Any manual handling of material becomes suspect. Mechanization saves man-hours and man-hour savings result in dollar savings.
The ways in which storage operations were conducted in the past are obsolete. The future is challenging — and challenges will be met by people with ambition. Expansion of missions can no longer carry a commensurate price tag for the additional man-hours. People with vision must constantly observe operations for which they are responsible with a view toward improvement. When you're through improving — you're through.
Carl S. Multer, Jr., is deputy director for distribution and transportation at the Pueblo Army Depot. Mr. Multer has been employed at Pueblo since 1946 and has served as chief of operations, superintendent of production, and administrative supply officer. He was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
| Date Taken: | 06.17.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.17.2025 14:08 |
| Story ID: | 500846 |
| Location: | US |
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