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Automated Materials Handling

LA County Library Materials Handling and Distribution Assessment of Facilities Services and Logistics

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Tue, 08/22/2023 - 10:16am

LA County Library provides services to over 3.5 million residents living in unincorporated areas and to residents from 49 of the 88 incorporated cities within the County,
with a service area that extends over 3,000 square miles. Library houses a collection of 7.5 million books and materials, including DVDs and CDs, with an annual circulation of 3.3 million items. Each card-holder may request and hold up to fifty (50) items, which are then delivered to the patron’s community library through interlibrary loans within the LA County Library system, resulting in a total of 1.7 million annual holds.

The Library selected Lori Ayre to complete a comprehensive business process assessment of its current materials handling and distribution process, including a cost/benefit analysis for an automated materials handling system (AMH).

Free Library of Philadelphia Logistics Consultation

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Tue, 08/22/2023 - 9:36am

The purpose of this engagement was to assist the Library in addressing the backlog of deliveries between libraries.  At the start of the engagement, the Library was backlogged by as many as 30,000 items. Over the course of the engagement, several solutions were proposed for addressing the immediate backlog and for ensuring that the status of deliveries were more closely monitored to ensure measures could be taken in advance of another backlog occuring.

Cleveland Public Library AMH Consultation

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Tue, 06/16/2020 - 9:47am

Assisting Library with planning of new central support services center that will include central sorting.  The engagement includes evaluating current workflows related to delivery of CPL material as well as sorting and distribution of material between Library and CLEVNET, a resource-sharing consortium, helping the Library plan for automating central sorting of CPL and CLEVNET material, procuring the new system and supporting them during implemention. 

Library Automated Materials Handling Consultation for Library Remodel

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Wed, 11/20/2019 - 2:01pm

Mississauga Library (Ontario) was finalizing plans for a remodel of the Central Library which was to include automated materials handling. The Library's couriers operate out of the Central Library basement, while the Circulation Dept operates on the main floor. The Library sought a thorough analysis of how best to implement materials handling for the Central Library operations as well as Courier operations. Lori Ayre provided the analysis and recommendations and worked through numerous design options with the design and Library teams.  Ayre is now working with the Library and City to procure the system.

Re-envisioning Materials Handling at Multnomah County Library

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Wed, 11/20/2019 - 1:54pm

This multi-year engagement with Multnomah County included planning for an entirely new automated material handling environment that would be rolled out as part of a capital project that would touch nearly every library in the system. It included planning a new service center that would house a 50-bin sorter and 300,000 collection and planning for the implementation of the Lyngsoe Intelligent Materials Management System (IMMS) . Multnomah County will be only the third library in the US to implement IMMS.

Library Automated Materials Handling (AMH) Consultation

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Mon, 09/10/2018 - 3:29pm

Cambridge Public Library was in the process of renovating two of their branches, Main and the Valente branch.  Lori Ayre was brought in to work with the architects on both projects to help the Library identify ways to improve the materials handling workflows at each of the libraries. In both cases the architect teams were well into the Design Development phase so the options were limited as to what could be done. Materials handling considerations especially when automated materials handling is being considered should happen early (Schematic Design) so as to provide the most affordable options for optimizing workflows.

Seattle Public Library Automated Materials Handling Consultation

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Fri, 03/02/2018 - 8:36am

The Seattle Public Library purchased a cutting edge automated materials handling system in 2004 when it opened its new main library. While the system continues to function, it has experienced substantial wear and tear of the last 13 years.  The Library decided it was time to explore the automated materials handling marketplace to evaluate whether it was time to replace the system.  

As part of the consultation, Lori Ayre evaluated the cost of ownership of the system over the years and worked with staff to understand what was working well and what wasn't working well. She worked with the SPL team to explore opportunities available from the existing AMH vendor as well as other vendors providing competitive solutions and is assisting the library throughout their evaluation of options.

Library Materials Handling Strategy Analysis

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Fri, 08/04/2017 - 4:56pm

Stark County District Library was pursuing a series of initiatives to minimize redundancy in materials handling practices and reduce the time staff spend in the back office so they can spend more time out in the library engaging with customers in a variety of ways. The Library’s strategic vision included a dramatic reduction of materials handling activities in each branch and the elimination of service desks. Instead of working behind desks, the expectation is that staff will work with patrons side-by-side in the branches and spend more time delivering high-quality programming inside and outside of the library buildings. In order to achieve this vision, the Library explored a “pure central processing” strategy in which material is returned at each library location but only checked in at a central sorter. This workflow would be supported by two times daily delivery service. The expectation is that this approach would result in material check-in within a four hour window, physical delivery turnaround times of no more than 36 hours and a traditional “bookdrop” workflow for patrons. The Library sought consulting assistance to analyze the “pure central processing” strategy and to identify critical elements of a materials handling strategy that would allow the Library to achieve their strategic vision.  

Library Automated Materials Handling (AMH) and RFID Consultation

Submitted by Lori Ayre on Fri, 08/04/2017 - 4:43pm

Engagement with Charlotte Mecklenburg as they plan their transition from barcodes to RFID and from manual processing to automated materials handling.  They Library is in the unusual position of having to renovate one of the branches and will introduce their first automated materials handling system there. In order to plan how best to transition to RFID systemwide and how best to use automated materials handling, Lori Ayre has worked with the Library to evaluate potential vendors.  With Ayre's support, the Library has selected an AMH vendor and will roll-out a longer term plan for implementing RFID in a way that will reduce the workload for Library staff throughout the transition.  The project is ongoing.