In 1992, Libertyville, Ill., was Motorola's primary cellular telephone manufacturing facility in the United States. With cellular telephone sales climbing rapidly and strong projections for future growth, the decision was made to break ground on a new state-of-the-art, highly automated manufacturing, storage and distribution facility in Harvard, Ill.

Phase one at the Harvard site was the construction of a 50-foot high, 5,000 square-foot, automated "lights out" storage facility for stocking pallet load quantities of raw material inventory. The Harvard facility is more than 30 percent larger than the Libertyville facility and is outfitted with more than 5.5 miles of conveyors,10 production pods, six automated packaging lines and one of the largest transceiver carousels in North America.

The Problem

As construction was underway in late 1996, it became obvious that the work-in-process trays used during the manufacture and assembly of cellular telephones at the Libertyville facility would not work with the automation equipment being employed at the new Harvard facility. The Libertyville facility used a five-inch corrugated container with a thin gauge thermoformed tray to hold assembled telephones.

Unfortunately, the design lacked the strength and durability required on the new conveyor system and did not offer the precision necessary for accurate picking with Motorola's robotic systems. There was also the issue of dust and contaminants that are inevitable when using corrugated containers.

Initial plans required each telephone model to have a uniquely designed, high strength plastic tray to cushion and protect the telephone while maintaining consistent part orientation for automated picking. After exploring this specification with numerous vendors, it became apparent that this type of solution was prohibitively expensive due to the relatively low volume required for each tray design and the high fixed cost to manufacture a different mold required for each tray. Using unique tray designs for each telephone also increased the complexity of the operation by requiring increased storage space for the empty trays and adding the task of coordinating and tracking more than one dozen different trays.

Other issues arose when attempting to integrate trays with the new conveyor equipment. Due to steep grades in certain conveyor areas, stacked trays could become unstable and individual trays had a tendency to slide into each other.

ORBIS is consulted

Based on its relationship of more than 50 years, it was natural for Motorola to give ORBIS the opportunity to create a solution. When the problem was described to ORBIS Sales Representative Todd Norman, he suggested that Motorola meet with an ORBIS engineer.   In mid-1996, ORBIS Sales Engineer Martin Lira made his first of many trips to the Motorola facility and was given the basic requirements for a work-in-process/storage tray. Motorola required that the solution be:

• Inexpensive
• Durable - the trays should last five years under normal use
• Compatible with picking robots
• Compatible with the conveyors - multiple automation interface areas
• Able to provide superior parts protection
• Trackable
• Stable when stacked

After analyzing the situation, Lira determined that the best solution to fit Motorola's price point and simplify the process would be to design a single tray that fit numerous telephone styles. Initially, Lira worked with two or three telephones to identify possible solutions that would meet Motorola's requirements. Soon the first prototypes were developed and issues including bar code location, automation interface requirements, material selection, load distribution, parts orientation, pressure points and maximizing the number of telephones per tray were resolved.

After addressing these issues and evaluating the first prototypes, the concept of fitting several telephone styles into a single tray design became even more appealing. Eventually, Motorola just set a stack of telephones on the desk and said, "make them all fit." In June 1997, after 12 months, 28 versions, numerous material trials and uncountable transit tests, the "Richards" tray was completed. The initial order of 60,000 trays was delivered on time and moved immediately into production. This order was soon followed by an order for 40,000 more. The new tray met all requirements and securely stored and transported any of six unique Motorola telephones. And since the tray facilitated more accurate picking, cycle times in both assembly and packaging improved considerably.

Although the trays are easily stacked and can be used by themselves, they are designed to fit into a standard ORBIS 24" x 20" x 10" automated systems tote (AST) which is compatible with Motorola's transceiver carousel. Bar coded totes filled with five layers of trays are conveyed from manufacturing to the storage, packaging and distribution areas.

The experience with ORBIS was so positive that Motorola partnered again with them to design and manufacture a custom AST 32" x 20" x 12" automation compatible picking tote. To date, the Harvard facility has purchased more than 30,000 standard totes, 6,500 custom totes and Motorola has worked with ORBIS to custom design six additional color-coded trays, with two more planned for 1999. Because of increased efficiencies and reduced product damage related to the use of the trays, Motorola has also converted its Libertyville facility to a similar packaging program.