Improvement of the Warehouse Storage System of a Biotechnology Products Importing Company Through the Application of Lean Manufacturing

This document presents an analysis of the processes of reception, storage, preparation, and dispatch of orders in the warehouse of an importer of products for biotechnology and biogenetics, a selection of perishable and non-perishable products representing 88% of sales was made using ABC analysis. The elaboration of the value flow map was executed from the time and movement data obtained from direct observations and interviews, determining the activities that generate and do not generate value with a total cycle time of 280.89 min and a process efficiency of 29%. The fishbone diagram and the prioritization matrix allowed establishing the causes that increase the time to activities that do not generate value being the lack of shelf identification, movement routes, product location maps, non-standardized processes, and material elaboration the main factors with the highest score of 4.6. Subsequently, the future state VSM proposes the application of Lean tools such as Kaisen and 5S considering non-value-added times and cycle efficiency as metrics. The proposed improvement decreases 45% in TVNA and increases 13% in warehouse operations.