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South Side's Asset reorganizes warehouse of school equipment [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette](Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 14--After second graders in a suburban Pittsburgh school delve into the life cycle of butterflies through hands-on investigations that include touching the real creatures, some of the lab equipment they used will be boxed up and returned to a warehouse on the city's South Side. There it will be cleaned, sanitized, repackaged and shipped to a school district across the state so another class full of young learners can start the experiments all over again. With new insects, of course. The warehouse where these school "modules" are assembled and refurbished is operated by Asset STEM Education, a nonprofit that provides hands-on learning materials in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. In addition to the hands-on student lessons it leases to about 100 school districts in Pennsylvania, Asset offers professional development for teachers and other educational organizations nationwide. But until this past summer, Asset's sprawling warehouse in the River Park Commons on Sidney Street was a mishmash of inventory where workers frequently weren't sure where to find the plastic cups, tape measures, rocks and minerals they needed to rebuild the science kits that had come in from one school and were going out to another. With just under 10,000 orders to ship last year, the process was far from efficient. "You would go beg, borrow and steal from another box" before sending out a fresh order, said Cynthia Pulkowski, Asset's executive director. "I wanted to know what went out; what came back in." Since June, the organization has been saving time, money and space with a software-based tracking system developed by DMLogic, a Green Tree company that specializes in warehouse management and supply chain solutions. Now workers at Asset wear wireless devices that let them scan inventory as it enters and leaves the warehouse. They also can view orders and inventory on desktop screens around the facility to determine how many more bags of bean seeds are required for an elementary-school kit or where to locate the jugs of white vinegar needed for a box going to a middle school. The warehouse layout has been redesigned to save space and boost productivity. Instead of storing assembled modules whose contents constantly needed to be reconfigured, now the shelves are stacked with supply bins grouped by components. The new design separates "consumable" components like straws, crayons, salt and sugar that are not returned, from "durables" such as funnels and plastic trays that are washed and sanitized in an industrial dishwasher before being shipped out again. Since installing the new system, Asset has been able to save $96,000 in rent by consolidating space, Ms. Pulkowski said. The warehouse attached to its offices has been trimmed to 30,000 square feet from 40,000, and Asset plans to terminate its lease for 7,000 square feet in an annex in West Mifflin. "We have 3,000 components and we now have a location for each one. It's improved our confidence about what was on the shelf," said Frank Arzenti, director of the materials support center. Like many nonprofits, Asset's mission is to provide a service. It had little expertise in issues like inventory and logistics. "Their inventory got out of whack. And if you're not tracking inventory efficiently in a warehouse, you have problems," said Thomas Lee, president and a co-founder of DMLogic. His 5-year-old company, whose core managers have decades of experience in the warehouse solutions sector, has developed systems for clients including Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Advance Auto Parts and Penguin Random House Publishing. Asset was able to upgrade its warehouse using funds awarded in 2010 by the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation initiative. It was one of 49 nonprofits, school districts and higher education institutions that received a share of $650 million in grants included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Because the initiative stipulates grant recipients receive private sector matches, DMLogic donated part of its services as in-kind support. Asset is also using the grant funds to train teachers and administrators in rural school districts in Pennsylvania and to partner with the National Science Resources Center for professional development programs in New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas. "An important factor for a nonprofit like Asset to carry out its mission is that in some ways they have to think more and more like a business," said Ted Frick, vice president, application development for Bayer MaterialScience and a member of Asset's board of directors. "To think more like a business, nonprofits have to network and partner with businesses." Bayer, in fact, provided startup capital to create Asset in 1994. The German drug and chemicals company with a large presence in Robinson was exploring ways to better equip young students with the skills necessary to fill science and engineering jobs. "You need to capture the attention of kids by third grade," to get them engaged in science and thinking about careers in the field, said Ms. Pulkowski. But a big challenge, she said, was that most elementary school teachers are "generalists ... and you had to see teachers as the change agent." Using a model from the National Science Resources Center, two area school districts -- Quaker Valley and Montour -- signed on to pilot the program. With $5 million in funding collected in 1995 and 1998 from the National Science Foundation, Asset expanded to 30 districts. It became a fee-based program in 2001 and now provides learning modules for students from pre-K through high school. Schools pay an average $250 to lease a kit for nine to 12 weeks. A typical module has enough materials for a class of 30 students. Asset currently provides materials for about 100 school districts in Pennsylvania and professional development for teachers and educational organizations nationwide including YWCAs, the Boy Scouts and the Carnegie Science Center. While it buys many basic components for its modules from Carolina Biological in Burlington, N.C., and Delta Education in Nashua, N.H., some materials in bulk come locally from Giant Eagle and Office Depot. According to its 2013 federal tax filing, the nonprofit had assets of $4.5 million and revenues of $7.8 million including product sales, fees and government grants. The organization employs 54 full-time and part-time workers, including about 15 in inventory and shipping. In addition, it relies on the help of thousands of volunteers from local corporations, including Westinghouse, Google, Bayer, American Eagle Outfitters, Fifth Third Bank and Dollar Bank, said Ms. Pulkowski. As part of freshman orientation, Carnegie Mellon University sends students to work at Asset. Asset provides materials and professional development for the CreateLab at CMU's Robotics Institute and is in conversations with other universities including Duquesne to supply STEM programming, said Ms. Pulkowski. "We can look at doing it now because we have such a good handle on [our warehouse]," she said. "We can look at new opportunities." Joyce Gannon: [email protected] or 412-263-1580. ___ (c)2014 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |