5S Jig Storage Trolley

The Challenge:

Tools and kit material were stored loose on standard EU pallets (1200 × 800 mm) placed directly on the floor. Items had no fixed location and no vertical organization, so an operator had to search through the pallet to find the part needed for the next step. Retrieving a part meant bending down to floor level, a motion repeated on every pick across a shift. Several pallets of this kind could be in use for a single work package at the same time, occupying a large, continuous footprint on the shop floor.

Proposed Solution:

ADAPTIV proposed replacing the floor pallets with a mobile trolley system: a hanging trolley for the tools and jig components shown on the pallet, and a companion drawer trolley for the smaller material. Each item gets its own bracket, hook, or labeled drawer at a height chosen for normal reach instead of floor level. Both units run on castors, so the kit rolls to the point of use rather than a pallet that has to be moved by pallet jack or forklift.

Design Principles:

• Ergonomic height: frequently used tools are mounted between roughly knee and shoulder height, inside the normal reach zone, removing the need to bend to the ground for every pick.
• Fixed, labeled locations: each part type has one dedicated position (hooks, brackets, labeled drawers), replacing search time with direct recall.
• Mobility: the trolleys roll to the workstation and can be parked clear of the area when not needed, unlike a pallet that occupies the floor until moved by equipment.
• Visual management (5S): an on-board reference board documents the organization so any operator can find or return a part without guesswork, keeping the system self-sustaining.

Estimated Benefits:

The figures below are engineering estimates based on standard lean / ergonomics time-and-motion assumptions and the pallet and trolley dimensions involved. They are planning estimates, not a measured result at this site; ADAPTIV recommends a short time-and-motion study and a footprint check after the trolley is built and placed at the line to confirm the actual numbers.

Estimated time savings:

• Searching an unlabeled pallet for a specific part is typically estimated at 10–15 seconds per pick; with a fixed, labeled location this is estimated to drop to roughly 3–5 seconds.
• Bending to floor level and lifting a part back up is estimated to add 3–5 seconds per pick compared with retrieving it directly at reach height.
• Combined, each pick is estimated to save roughly 8–12 seconds.
• For an operator making on the order of 40–60 picks per shift from this kit, that is an estimated 6–12 minutes recovered per operator per shift, or roughly 30–60 minutes per operator per week.

Estimated space savings:

• A standard EU pallet footprint is 1.2 × 0.8 m = 0.96 m²; allowing clearance for an operator to walk around and reach it from more than one side typically brings the effective floor area to an estimated 1.5–2.0 m² per pallet.
• The photographs show more than one such pallet in use on the floor at the same time for this work package; two to three pallets of this kind can occupy an estimated 3–6 m² of continuous floor space.
• The proposed hanging trolley and drawer trolley together are estimated at a combined footprint of roughly 1.0–1.3 m², and because both are mobile, they can be wheeled clear of the work area when not staged at the station — unlike a pallet, which stays on the floor until moved by equipment.
• Taken together, this points to an estimated 60–75% reduction in the floor footprint tied up by this material at any given time.

Project Status:

This case study reflects the proposed design, based on the referenced photographs of the current pallet storage. The trolley system is at the design/build stage; measured time and footprint results, installation photos, and operator feedback can be added once the trolleys are built and in use at the line.