2024 Design and Research Conference

Industrial Engineering Senior Projects

Integrated Engineering and Science Building 212.

3:00 p.m.

Optimization of Lumber Yard Warehouse Layout

Team Members: Brylie Marchand, Astrid Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, William Thompson

Sponsor: Tarver Building Materials

Advisor: Dr. Jun-Ing Ker

Tarver Lumber, located in Alexandria, Louisiana, is experiencing high shrink in inventory and longer than expected load times. This is due to not having an SOP of storing inventory in the lumber yard and having limited space available for all of the inventory. Randy Tarver is in the process of building a second warehouse shed for excess inventory which will open up space for the original warehouse that he has now. For the original warehouse, we are designing a layout that will be the most efficient in terms of inventory control and load times. The layout is based on the idea of separating the inventory into families and frequency of sales. The higher the margin is on a product, the closer it is to the load point. Usually the family members of a wood product would have similar sales to each other. Implementing a layout with these in mind will decrease fuel costs for the forklifts and decrease time to retrieve inventory.

3:30 p.m.

Establishment of Shipping Standards for SLB

Team Members: Abby Daigle, Braden Roger, Blake Sargent

Sponsor: SLB

Advisor: Dr. Jun-Ing Ker

SLB has developed a new product line that is being shipped from Asia to Houston by ship, and then from Houston to Shreveport by truck. Since this is a new product line, there are no existing shipping standards. Without appropriate standards in place, there can be excess waste, defects, and costs. The process could also be disorganized, which could then lead to safety hazards throughout the supply chain process. Our work will ultimately create standards that will decrease cost and waste and increase safety in certain aspects. Since the supply chain process will be more efficient as a result of our standards, the products will reach buyers at a faster pace, increasing product output. Once these standards are set in place, SLB will have the ability to implement them in various facilities around the world.

4:00 p.m.

Optimizing Final Assembly Process Efficiency and Organization

Team Members: Gavin Deshotel, Elizabeth Fleniken, Kristen Steelman

Sponsor: Arcosa

Advisor: Dr. Jun-Ing Ker

Arcosa specializes in infrastructure-related products with departments specializing in construction, engineered structures, and transportation markets. The Arcosa plant located in Bossier City, Louisiana is associated with the transportation sector of Arcosa. The plant is responsible for producing customer witches for barges across the world. Our project aims to enhance the efficiency and organization of the final assembly area. Our team plans to assess the current process implemented for retrieving parts for final assembly as well as the current method of part collection and organization. We also plan to reduce waste by optimizing space utilization at the plant and to reduce non-value-added time by adding a method to check parts.