Originally published on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) website with the help of New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP)
About
T&T Legacy Metals is a metals service center in New York that deals in many types of metals, including angle, tube, beam, square, round, plate, etc. Materials include hot rolled, cold rolled, aluminum, etc. Processing capabilities consist of miter and band saw cutting, plasma and oxygen burning, drilling, water jet cutting and sheet/ plate/tube laser cutting.
The Challenge
The company opened a facility in the WNY area in 2020, operating out of a 4,000-square-foot warehouse in Tonawanda, NY. lnsyte Consulting, part of the New York MEP and the MEP National Network™, assisted in laying out that facility. Since then, the growth of the company forced management to consider expanding or relocating to a bigger facility. It was determined that the company should find a bigger facility and relocate. Management located an appropriate facility in Grand Island, NY which has 23,500 ft2 of shop floor space.
Working with lnsyte Consulting allowed us to manage the process of moving to a new building, while also helping us to focus on our day-to-day business. Having the proper plant layout allowed us to have the necessary infrastructure in place to complete the move, including all inventory and equipment, while simultaneously adding new equipment.
— Jack Heinz, Director of Operations and Quality
MEP’s Role
T&T Legacy Metals engaged lnsyte Consulting to layout the new facility. This new layout incorporated the building constraints (i.e., docks, incoming utilities, overhead and jib cranes, etc.), existing and new processing equipment, storage equipment and working around existing building tenants. A CAD drawing of the new facility, showing existing building constraints, was completed. Working in conjunction with operational personnel, alternative layouts were developed for machine and storage placement and a final decision was made. This layout facilitates the flow of material from order to shipment and best utilizes the existing cranes and docks.