Case Study 2

A large electronics manufacturer was subjected to significant loss of business from a key customer - due to a combination of events that highlighted the lack of control in its Engineering stores.  With our assistance, the Company now benefits from a World Class stores operation – that has led to the recapture of the lost business.

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An electronics manufacturer based in the UK was subjected to a series of events that eventually lead to the suspension of business with a primary customer.

With sales to the customer accounting for 8% of its £300m turnover, the company was faced with dramatically cutting its overhead and replacing the lost business.

The plant was subjected to flooding which caused a line to stop.  In addition to not having appropriate containment measures for such an eventuality, there were significant discrepancies between what the system recorded as in stock and actual spares in the Engineering stores.

As a result of critical spares not being available (despite the stock management system showing these as present) the line was down for 6 days.  As a direct consequence of stopping the customer, the Company was suspended from supplying pending a review of root cause and acceptance of countermeasures.

Propeller was asked to undertake a complete review of the Engineering stores and provide a solution to guarantee critical spares availability.

Through its analysis, Propeller discovered huge gaps between physical spares and system stock levels caused primarily by users not booking out of stores.  This was compounded by poor data management discipline and the duplication of both physical and stock records leading to re-ordering of spares that already existed under a different name in a different location.

Propeller worked closely with the customer to rationalise all stock and provide a standardised format for stock record creation.  In addition the Pro-Pod radio frequency identification system was installed in order to automatically capture stock movements from the stores.

The outcomes of the project included:

 • 100% capture of stock movements out of the Engineering stores;

 • Complete system versus physical stock harmonisation;

 • Automated re-ordering of critical spares;

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The Bottom Line

The Company successfully regained the lost business within four months.

If you’re interested in achieving similar results in your company, please contact us to set up an initial telephone conversation.