Good Storeroom Management Benefits Maintenance (continued)

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Choose MRO vendors wisely
It is easy for maintenance people and engineers to habitually buy from the same vendors without regard to the level of service they are getting from those vendors. Choose vendors that are willing to provide technical expertise, inventory management assistance, competitive pricing, and fewer transactions.

Technically trained sales people can be the most important reason to choose a particular vendor. Machine enhancements can help decrease downtime and increase the productivity of the machine. Commodity distributors are often unable to provide this assistance. Look for vendors that are solution providers and problem solvers.

Inventory management assistance can come in such forms as on-site consignments, dedicated off-site inventory, organizational help, obsolescence returns, over stock returns, product standardization, and equipment surveys. These are all tedious tasks that good vendors are willing to do. This assistance will help lower the overall value of your MRO inventory without sacrificing parts availability to the maintenance department.

The price paid for products should always be monitored; however, this can be done periodically instead of each time a part is purchased. Bidding each item drives transaction costs up. Set up blanket orders and negotiate those blankets periodically. Take into consideration the overall cost of procurement and do not choose a vendor on price alone. Make this a win-win relationship.

Encourage your vendors to help lower transaction costs whenever possible. Monthly or summary billing, electronic order entry, prepaid freight, and discounted payment terms are good examples of how to lower transaction costs.

The store room should be viewed as an essential asset that benefits the maintenance and engineering departments. Improvements to the storeroom should be a team effort. Everyone needs to buy in to the value a well-run storeroom brings to maintenance.

This article appeared in the January 2001 issue of Maintenance Technology and is reprinted on this site by the permission of Maintenance Technology.

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