Finning sells, rents, finances and provides customer support services for Caterpillar and complementary equipment. Finning’s customers operate across immense areas of Canada rich in oil and gas, minerals, forests, and fertile land.

        Additional sales are generated from a steady demand for repair parts because Caterpillar equipment often operates 24 hours a day under very harsh conditions. High demand for parts, coupled with the distances that these parts often must be shipped, means that quick response to customer orders is vital.

        Finning maintains on hand within its single parts distribution center some 55,000 line items — tiny nuts and bolts to heavy diesel engines — that typically cover 92 percent of customer requests off-the-shelf. Additional SKUs are available within 24 hours from Caterpillar depots in Spokane and Denver .

        The distribution center is comprised of a 96,000 square foot heated warehouse (plus a 12,000 square foot mezzanine), a 12,000 square foot cold storage building, and a yard. Until recently, many small parts were maintained within the heated building on a manned, 8-lane, rail-guided mini-load AS/RS. In order to meet growing sales, Finning turned to Remstar International’s horizontal carousel system to improve customer service and operating efficiencies.

            “Components for the mini-load had become scarce and expensive, and two lanes had been removed due to their age,” reported Lynn Stonehouse, distribution center manager. “As picking volume increased over the years, productivity fell because too many man-hours were being wasted waiting to retrieve and replenish parts. Parts also couldn’t be ...  

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