Improving supply and inventory in the districts          

Step into the typical ITD shed and you will find hundreds of tools, parts, and pieces of equipment. Staying on top of the rotating and consumable list of inventory items can be a logistical nightmare, but new business plans are finding efficiencies and improving service.

This inventory problem was handed over to a team during the 2016 Leadership Summit. One of the issues, they discovered, was the districts each had their own way of tracking inventory and ordering parts. This meant some maintenance sheds would be sending in several purchasing orders a day – slowing down administrative processing and delaying the time it took to receive replacement parts.

The Summit team put their heads together and collaborated to find a solution. To see how other industry outfits operate, they took a field trip to Western States CATERPILLAR, where they found a brilliant solution: vending machines.

Here’s the concept: install a vending machine at the shed filled with consumable items used regularly. As workers need the supplies, they get them right there by swiping their employee ID. The vendor who installed the machine makes routine checks and can fill whatever parts have been used, keeping everything stocked.

That solved part of the issue, but the problem of multiple purchasing orders persisted.

“We would be filling out 10 to 12 orders a day,” said Alicia Oakes, a Financial Services Program Specialist.

So, the team worked on solutions to streamline the process. They created standardized digital forms mechanics could fill out on a computer. These forms had some fields auto-fill and others offering drop-down menus to speed up the process.

They also found it made sense to open up the approval process. Previously, every order needed to be checked by the buyer’s supervisor. Now, only orders more than $10,000 need to be approved by a supervisor.

With a new protocol in place and vending machines getting installed across the state, this solution is on track to save thousands of labor hours.

Published 09-01-17