SDI has always taken the lead in integrating supply chain management systems and aligning processes to make sourcing, storing, moving, and accessing critical maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supplies more efficient. To help manufacturing organizations streamline their entire supply chain, SDI has invested in a suite of mobile procurement tools. These applications, analytics, and services make parts, consumables, protective equipment, and upkeep supplies readily available with just a few keystrokes.
Advantages of SDI’s Mobile Procurement Platform
Our mobile procurement tools empower front-line personnel—those most familiar with supply status—to control orders, staging, and management. This generates significant time and money savings for manufacturers, including:
- Task Automation – SDI’s mobile procurement platform handles purchase order creation, supplier selection, discounts, contract administration tasks, and more, freeing employees and budget dollars for value-added tasks and speeding the source-to-pay process.
- Workflow Improvement – Allowing on-site workers to make pre-authorized MRO supply decisions based on negotiated contracts and approved supplier e-catalogs, ensures critical spares and consumables arrive on time.
- Spend Transparency – Linking ERP systems to SDI’s mobile procurement technology reins in rogue spend, enforces on-contract purchases and pricing, and highlights outlier spend categories, projects, and departments.
SDI’s Mobile Procurement Technology and Software
On-site supply mobilization, communication, and inventory tracking had grown complicated enough even before COVID-19 overturned the whole process. The pandemic highlighted the need to move quickly to connect parts access, technician workflow, and maintenance scheduling.
It is our experience that when technicians are not actively maintaining or repairing equipment, they spend one-third or more of their time and a big chunk of their budgets trying to get their hands on the supplies they need. SDI’s robust eProcurement software, ZEUS minimizes shopping and wait time by forming a conduit with the general supplier and customer-specific supplier databases ,with seamless gateways to catalogs and punch-outs. Our clients can easily achieve savings of 15% on parts and gain 20% more equipment uptime by purchasing through our mobile procurement technology. Users love our intuitive software’s features:
- Customized workflow and rules-based automation
- Consistent controls and experiences across platforms, devices, and applications
- Full catalog access to parts, components, and other supplies
- Context-based reports and comparison tools
- End-to-end tracking of deliveries from all leading last-mile carriers
SDI’s Mobile Procurement Platform
Our cloud-based technology platform, Zeus, drives SDI’s mobile procurement service as part of an interactive B2B marketplace that includes:
Zeus boats a user-friendly mobile procurement interface that informs the software’s key benefits including:
- Item Categorization
- Parts Recognition
- Buying Automation
- Contract Enforcement
- Sourcing Controls
- Data-driven Forecasting
Zeus connects this parts management functionality with inventory analytics so organizations can view up-to-the-minute warehouse and supplier inventories. Deployed on the cloud, Zeus is plug-and-play, giving clients immediate access to SDI’s vast supplier networks and communications modules through email, text, or voice that enables parts monitoring and ordering from the factory, work truck, construction site, or home.
SDI’s Mobile Procurement Field Tools
Integrated parts management loaded into our mobile field eprocurement applications enables facilities managers, warehouse technicians, and maintenance teams to maximize wrench time and optimize maintenance scheduling. They can set reorder points for commonly used materials to reduce the storeroom space required or manually order from our Mobile Custom Catalog while maintaining the peace of mind that comes with knowing new supplies will arrive before stocks run out. Unusual, non-catalog, or custom items can be obtained just as easily with our mobile procurement tools’ upload feature. Upload photos, SKUs, model numbers, or other identifying machine features while onsite. Maintenance teams can use the application to refer to manuals housed in SDI TechVault, and warehouse intake workers can compare bills of materials to incoming shipments.
The application fills gaps in supply chain visibility by connecting orders, receipts, computerized maintenance management system data, work tickets, and other information for use in downstream financial, production, and scheduling platforms.
SDI offers the most comprehensive mobile procurement solution on the market. Our suite manages all aspects of material sourcing, identification, ordering, shipment, and implementation, all for a surprisingly reasonable fee. The money manufacturing companies save in purchase costs, administrative time, and management resources can easily cover the cost of an integrated eprocurement system. Ready to get started? Contact SDI for a consultation with a member of our customer service team.
