Milk run: 5 mistakes that make it fail

A milk run replaces forklift trips with a round on a fixed schedule: the logistics train passes the same stops, delivers full containers and collects empties. On paper it is simple. On the shop floor it almost always fails for one of these five reasons.

1 · The round starts "on call"

If the train leaves when someone phones, it is just a forklift with several trailers. A milk run works with a rhythm the line knows: same stops, same times. The mizusumashi, the operator who drives it, reads the kanban cards and reorders only what has been consumed.

2 · Loading and unloading still need a forklift

If at the line side the cart has to be lifted with a forklift, the round stops at every stop. Carts must enter and leave the train without tools. LiftLiner® lifts the carts in the bay and sets them down on the floor: up to 8 carts per round, 1000 kg per bay, lifting in less than 3 seconds.

LiftLinerPatented logistics train

LL cartPushed into the bay, used as a push cart outside the train

3 · The stops are not marked

Carts parked crosswise, full and empty mixed up, picks that skip the order of arrival: the round slows down and the line does not know what to use first. Every load needs a fixed place. Park Stations hold the cart wheels always in the same spot; FIFO rails guide the dollies from the loading side to the picking side.

Aluminium Park StationThe cart always stops there

FIFO Station railLoad on one side, pick from the other

4 · Empties do not return in the same round

If empty containers stay on the line, at the next round there is no room for the full ones and the operator stacks them wherever he can. The train that delivers must also collect: dollies coupled in a convoy return to the supermarket with the empties, without transferring loads.

Dolly Type VII BSliding drawbar and Easy Lock hook

Taxi Liner3 bays for 600×400 dollies

5 · The route changes every week

A round that changes every time cannot be standardised or measured. When stops, carts and times are stable, the milk run is improved with kaizen and can even become autonomous: an AMR does the round instead of the operator, who goes back to managing the kanban.

Want to set up or review a milk run? Write to us: we start from the real stops and loads.