MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. -- Since Sept. 26, 2010, Warehouse 405 located on the Yermo Annex of Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow has been undergoing many changes to make sure that their job is done in a more efficient manner.
Warehouse 405 receives supplies and manages parts that are used throughout Maintenance Center Barstow. When the Defense Logistics Agency took over the storage and distribution functions from the Marine Corps, there were significant changes required to make the warehouse a smoother running operation.
When the project started in late September, there were parts scattered throughout MCB with very little organization, said Edgar Thomas, warehouse supervisor. The goal became to have a more efficient flow of material and a more effective workplace. Parts throughout the warehouse were moved into individual bins, organized and consolidated into specific locations to make tracking and finding the parts easier.
“Imagine pulling 100 different items all from different trays,” Thomas said. “Now instead, we can pull them all from one location, significantly increasing our efficiency at getting everything together and out the door. We have also increased our floor and shelving space by almost 25 percent,” he explained.
The warehouse used to be a place where an employee would simply come in, find the needed part and take it. The new system requires workers to sign for the parts and note where they are going so that better accountability can be achieved.
“There has been a lot of cleanup,” said Janice Diaz, material handler. “Random bulk locations put into cubes to save space and labels put up to help us transfer into our new system. We are always striving for ways to improve ourselves. All of this work that’s being done has made everything that we do here more efficient, including the time it takes us to get the materials to where they are going,” Diaz explained.
The massive changes are only in the early stages at the warehouse. More consolidation, cleaning and organizing, along with a new system of dealing with how the parts are managed is also going to be integrated in the near future, Thomas explained.
“Our job is to support the war fighter. Everything starts here. We are the heartbeat of MCB. We make sure that they have what they need. We can’t just think outside of the box, we have to build new boxes,” Thomas concluded.