Manufacturing firms that invest in robust mobile procurement technology gain the potential to streamline their entire maintenance, repair, and operations source-to-pay (S2P) process, putting supply initiation and management in the hands of those closest to the front lines. Financial officers and facilities managers should investigate how mobile procurement can ease cash flows and spur productivity:
• Eliminating downtime by identifying and actively managing critical spare parts
• Informing better decisions through predictive demand and scheduled maintenance
• Improving planning through vendor consolidation and warranty management
• Enabling greater use of volume pricing
• Reducing carrying costs by right-sizing inventory and eliminating obsolete parts
• Increasing liquidity by extending payables cycles
• Lowering transaction costs by adhering to contracts and approved purchase channels
• Minimizing labor costs by focusing finance employees on the department’s core competencies
Timing and Control
COVID-19’s disruption of on-site mobilization, collaboration, and resource management accelerated the business trend toward more rapid and connected access to assets. Centralizing MRO inventory and creating the processes to mobilize it quickly is at the heart of supply chain efficiency. The pandemic also fomented technological advances that make mobile procurement more of a necessity than a luxury in most industries. To compete in the new business paradigm, companies will work to automate and digitize as much of their workflow as possible. Nimbleness and responsiveness are key. Front-line employees and managers have recognized the benefit of mobile procurement through the digital supply chain. They are now turning to online marketplaces and eCommerce catalogs to resupply consumables, obtain spare parts, and respond to critical maintenance and repair needs faster than “traditional” channels allow. Codifying mobile procurement practices and bringing them under management control harnesses business rules while giving organizations the flexibility they need to respond to supply anomalies and take advantage of price and distribution savings. This will result in greater savings, visibility, and replicable efficiencies.
Driving Success
SDI has integrated a powerful suite of mobile procurement solutions along with its other value-inducing services to give organizations a single-source for obtaining MRO supplies. When obtaining a component is critical, the platform identifies all sources immediately, saving the time and inconvenience of shopping form vendor to vendor. Our studies have shown that without access to SDI’s mobile procurement platform, technicians spend a large portion of their budget and as much as 40 percent of the time between breakdown and repair locating and driving to local suppliers, shopping for parts, or waiting for them to get to the production line. SDI’s Zeus Mobile Application provides facilities managers a portal to a consolidated, integrated catalog of lubricants, cleaning supplies, hardware, components, personal protective equipment, and other equipment critical to ongoing operations. Zeus’s integrated parts management capabilities include inventory analytics for total supply chain visibility, active, accurate supplier inventories, and assured best prices when ordering from the warehouse, factory, truck, remote jobsite, or home. Fully customizable, Zeus can incorporate supplier-specific purchase rules and OEMs and specialize accessories and tools. Zeus is ready to start work today, connecting you with SDI’s vast supplier network through their websites, via email, through text message or voice call.
Zeus’s simple, intuitive eProcurement interface extends organizations’ buying power, enforces sourcing and contractual protocols, and collects usage data that facilitate forecasting and budgeting. Specifically, Zeus users can expect a range of benefits:
• Connection to the general supplier database as well as customer-specific vendors, including punch-out to external third-party catalogs.
• Integration with procurement workflow and rules.
• Consistency of user experience across devices, platforms, and applications
• Information-packed reports and analytics
• Precise shipment tracking on deliveries from all leading less-than-truckload carriers
• Full availability of PPE, essential parts, and other critical supplies.
SDI customers routinely realize 15 percent savings on parts and supplies when upgrading to our mobile procurement application and services. They also generate efficiencies in other operational and strategic areas, including 10 to 25 percent less time retrieving needed repair and maintenance parts; 20 percent higher equipment uptime; and 30 percent more first-call completions.
If you’re ready to see results like these, fill out SDI’s request for information form. One of our experts will respond promptly.
