The best maintenance, repair, and operations supply chains employ holistic approaches to monitoring, ordering, staging, and analyzing inventory. Such high-level integration often requires a commitment of purpose and resources not always available to manufacturing firms. In many cases, however, organizations can take incremental steps to streamline tasks and process information in ways that create sustainable efficiencies in their supply chains.
SDI offers several fundamental MRO services that translate to cost savings and profitability while placing little stress on limited resources and managerial commitment. These “easy wins” involve automating routine activities and organizing assets so they can be accessed and utilized more efficiently.
If you’re not ready to implement a comprehensive overhaul of your MRO supply chain, consider these MRO quick fixes available from SDI:
1. Data Capture
Strong business decisions start with correct and complete information. In the manufacturing environment, data comes in dozens of formats, from hundreds of sources. Scanning, inputting, verifying, and compiling pertinent MRO data requires a significant investment in labor and expertise that many firms just cannot afford.
By capturing clean, accurate MRO data, SDI gives companies visibility into part locations, quantities, and consumption, information they can use to realize an abundance of productivity-enhancing and cost-cutting efficiencies including:
• Supplier reduction
• SKU standardization and consolidation
• Inventory reduction and optimization
• Increased parts availability and fewer stockouts
• Benchmarked pricing and market intelligence
SDI’s data capture service employs complex algorithms, processes, and software to collect information on every SKU throughout the procurement process. SDI not only captures and compiles data from printed documents, digital sources, machine sensors, and other sources, but also standardizes it and classifies it for easy retrieval and use.
2. Storeroom Set Up
When mechanics and maintenance employees know exactly where each replacement is kept, they spend less time searching and more time being productive. Designating exact storage locations for consumables and housekeeping supplies makes them easier to find when needed most. Misplaced inventory often results in unnecessary and expensive redundant orders. Finally, storeroom set up services from SDI helps companies identify and eliminate slow-moving and obsolete inventory, opening warehouse space and reducing carrying costs.
SDI is the industry leader in storeroom set up and organization services. Our MRO services include a variety of options for building storeroom layouts tailored to the firm’s specific SKU demand and criticality:
- Security – SDI implements controls to limit storeroom access. Proper controls guard against shrinkage and ensure only trained employees manage and move MRO supplies.
- Layout – SDI’s experts will design storeroom workflow, ensuring aisles are wide enough to accommodate handling equipment, frequently accessed bins are easy to reach, and receiving tasks do not conflict with distribution tasks.
- Standardization – SDI can establish intuitive, easily navigable nomenclature and organizational standards. This includes aisle and rack numbering conventions, bin labeling systems, and directional signage to make part picking easy.
3. Storeroom Maintenance
Adding, expanding, moving, or retooling production lines bring additional storeroom challenges. As production needs change and companies add SKUs, additional monitoring demands emerge.
Companies whose storerooms have been optimized through SDI’s set up service can call on us to establish optimal minimum and maximum inventory levels and reorder points while aiding in supplier identification and management. In just two weeks, SDI’s consultants can realign a company’s storeroom priorities based on these projections. This service builds lists of newly required SKUs, but also designates critical components so sufficient spares are on hand to avoid significant production down time.
By engaging SDI to prepare their storerooms for production shifts, organizations can expect lower carrying costs, reduced freight charges, and greater insight into parts usage. Read our latest article on how to gain employee compliance for successful change management in the storeroom.
SDI offers a range of storeroom and other MRO services. Click here to learn more about the variety of solutions SDI has to offer. Whether you need us to engineer a synchronized supply chain or implement a few quick fixes, contact SDI’s experts today.
