Yamaha Breaks Ground on SMART Warehouse in Newnan, Georgia
June 13, 2022
Yamaha
Motor Manufacturing, based in Newnan, Georgia, broke ground yesterday on
a new, advanced, and innovative “SMART” Warehouse, the first-of-its-kind
for Yamaha Motor Company worldwide. Using state-of-the-art automated
storage and retrieval systems, the new 200,000 square foot facility will
be capable of reducing response time for fulfilling dealer orders for
Yamaha WaveRunners, Golf Cars, ATVs, and Side-by-Sides by more than 50
percent.
“The new Yamaha SMART Warehouse will improve our overall operational
efficiency and the velocity of material flow to our factory assembly
lines, allowing us to ultimately get product in the hands of our dealers
and customers faster,” said Mike Chrzanowski, President and CEO of
Yamaha Motor Corporation. “The demand for all our outdoor recreational
products produced at this factory continues to exceed supply and we are
pleased to bring this new warehouse facility online as soon as
possible.”

SMART is an acronym for Sequenced Material and Reduced Transportation.
The
SMART Warehouse’s automated storage and retrieval system for the medium
parts will be capable of retrieving and putting away 240 containers per
hour, compared to the current rate of 170 containers per hour. The small
part automated system will be capable of handling 2400 containers per
hour, in comparison to the current capability of 550 containers per day.
The new systems will enable Yamaha to reduce forklifts by 50 percent
using automatic conveyors and tuggers to move parts through the SMART
center to the factories.
The Newnan, Ga. community also stands to benefit from the new Yamaha
SMART Warehouse. “The significant investment Yamaha made in this new
facility underscores the company’s long-term commitment to our YMMC
employees as well as the City of Newnan and Coweta County,” Chrzanowski
continued. “This system within the SMART Warehouse will bring higher
paid and more skilled jobs into Coweta County, including robotics
experts, software developers and systems engineers.”
Designed by SSI SCHAEFER, the new Yamaha SMART Warehouse will also
include an observation platform for groups such as students from local
schools to learn more about manufacturing and automated processes.
Yamaha expects to complete the SMART Warehouse in 2024.