For any UK business which undertakes lean manufacturing or just-in-time (JIT) processes, you will know the acute pressures faced by your industry. Namely, being highly sensitive to disruption, inconsistency or poor execution.
In any production environment where space is limited, these challenges are often present.
That’s why business owners are turning to mezzanine floors as an essential strategy to improve flow and efficiency. Additionally, a mezzanine floor reduces bottlenecks in a way which also avoids the need for major capital investment or building expansion.
The Mezzanine Company installs mezzanines across the UK, including for the manufacturing and warehousing sectors.
If you are looking to solve challenges related to lean manufacturing or just-in-time processes, here is how installing a mezzanine floor can help.
Unlocking Space Without Expanding The Building
What might present itself as a lack of space, unorganised storage, or long journeys within warehouses and industrial environments often comes down to poor design of the building.
Even if your existing setup worked at first, many pressures, including peak demand or expansion, can mean your commercial premises no longer work for your team.
With lean manufacturing, it’s built around efficiency. But when floor space is limited, redesign becomes difficult, costly, or even impossible.
A mezzanine floor solves this by unlocking vertical space, creating new operational areas without expanding the building. This additional level can be used for storage, workstations, offices, kitting areas or quality zones. In doing so, this frees up valuable ground-level space for value-adding processes.
The result of adding functional space upstairs is a slick, organised ground floor that supports continuous flow and helps eliminate bottlenecks.
Enabling Just-In-Time Storage Strategies
Turning our attention back to JIT strategies, and it requires holding only the inventory you need, exactly when you need it. Mezzanines help organisations position inventory closer to the production point, but in a way which avoids cluttering the floor.
Once a mezzanine floor is up and running, it can provide:
- Point-of-use storage directly above or adjacent to production lines
- Faster retrieval of parts and materials with shorter travel distances
- Reduced stockouts and overstocking as storage is more visible and easily accessible
- Space for kanban systems, small buffer areas or sequencing shelves
In short, a mezzanine floor supports a smoother just-in-time cycle by ensuring parts flow into production with minimal delay.
Separating Lean Support Functions Without Expanding the Building
As we’ve touched on many times before in our blog posts, opting for a mezzanine floor avoids the costs and hassle involved in expanding your building through the traditional means (i.e. extending).
When lean efficiency is a priority, the extra space gained with a mezzanine floor can prove invaluable. That’s especially true since to achieve lean efficiency, non-value-adding activities should not interfere with value-adding ones.
Mezzanine floors provide a practical way to reposition secondary functions such as:
- Maintenance areas
- Tooling and jigs storage
- Quality inspection stations
- Administrative or planning offices
- Training or meeting rooms
With all of these functions relocated to the mezzanine, the factory floor can be kept clear for value-adding operations.
Minimising Waste
Mezzanine floors directly target several of the seven wastes, which are also referred to as ‘Muda’. They include motion, waiting, transport, inventory, over-processing, over-production and defects.
In terms of how mezzanines reduce waste, they enable tools and materials to be stored closer to operators. They also allow for shorter journey times, streamlined layouts, and support JIT systems to balance supply and demand.
All in all, mezzanine floors offer the most logical solution for lean manufacturing and just-in-time (JIT) processes across endless aspects.
Get A Free Quote For A Manufacturing Mezzanine Floor Installation
If you can relate to any of the challenges we’ve mentioned above, then a mezzanine floor could provide the solution you’re looking for.
At The Mezzanine Company, we work with businesses across the UK to solve specific issues relating to a lack of commercial space, including poor layouts and flow.
As mezzanine experts, we can come up with intuitive design and layout ideas. Our aim is to ease pressures and improve the flow of goods or materials through your facility.
Let us know how we can help by giving us a call on 0115 647 7140.
You can also get in touch to send us details about your project.
