Being the "Continuous Improvement" guy which is a new position within our facility, I have an issue that I'm trying to address. Our maintenance department and consumable goods (Gloves, grinding discs, earplugs, etc...) are a mess.:mg:

The rooms that these are located look like Fibber Magee's closet (showing my age). Reordering was/is a joke. Hunt and peck, can't find so order then find we had 10 after getting the order in.

I have taken our Continuous Improvement team and started performing 5S in both rooms. We even created a "tool room" which was originally a cabinet in the Plant Manager's office (tools are provided to our operators who number about 20).

We are nearing completing the organization of the rooms. We have labeled shelves and bins.

What I need to do now is get some kind of card system or kanban cards made up (in house of course). I want to include vendor(s), order quantities, minimum stock before reorder, etc...

I know this is an age old type of system but we do not have the capability to manage through our computer system now.

Does anyone have samples of cards and/or suggestions/ideas as to how to monitor and make it work? I know that it depends on those who pull items to look at the minimum and turn in a card when necessary but that is part of the growing pains we need to endure to improve on the mess we currently have.

We will have samples attached to bins and shelves and a description that we use for the item on the labels and cards but the cards will have the vendor # and description as reference for ordering.

:topic:

What really bothers me is that I don't think those that will benefit from this won't realize how much better it will be for them and how much money this will save the company..... (the tool boards saved almost $30,000/yr).

Rant is over....any help would be greatly appreciated.:thanx:

Should this be posted in another thread?:confused:

I think this will do fine here in the Lean thread.

First, the products you write of are referred to in the purchasing suite as "MRO" (Maintenance, Repair & Operations) products. Larger companies have purchasing agents and clerks who do nothing but MRO purchases. Smaller companies have wasted a lot of time, money, and energy by letting different departments order such stuff willy nilly without going through a central purchasing function.

I don't want to go into a long song and dance about that - suffice to say you are on the right track in wanting to streamline this aspect of your supply chain.

I've been away from this aspect too long to give viable references for software or firms to help, but the main things you should look for in any solution are


MRO Supply Chain Management practices to include strategic sourcing.
Inventory Management practices to include stocking and inventory replenishment protocols.
warehouse management practices to include how to design and operate multiple stocking locations.

I am aware many organizations find a net savings (including the soft costs of overhead in ordering, stocking, tracking) with their MRO products by outsourcing their operation to one source like a big supply house (McMaster Carr or Grainger or the like) where products are costed [priced] at a yearly rate of consumption, but not billed or delivered until either regular schedules or unusual demand triggers the requirement. Inventory and warehousing is done at the supply house, billing can be done by monthly statement (no separate purchase orders - everything is released from a blanket purchase order including special one-time items.)

Perhaps some of our readers are already using something like this and can comment. Especially helpful might be folks who are current holders of APICS certifications (www.apics.org/)

For my part, I have worked with the card system you suggest and I found it ate up a lot of overhead in time maintaining the system and being stuck with worthless inventory when our needs changed. I was never able to make up the cost of maintaining the system no matter how much I searched and negotiated for best price and value on MRO products.

One advantage of working with a big supply house is being able to include office and shipping consumables (paper, ink, pens, paper clips, boxes, packing tape, etc.) as part of the operations costs.

I agree that an outside supply house works well for an organization that is strapped for people to begin with.

I would like to caution you that involvement of the people who consume these goods is a must if you plan to be successful with any kind of inventory program - regardless of what you use.

I agree that an outside supply house works well for an organization that is strapped for people to begin with.

I would like to caution you that involvement of the people who consume these goods is a must if you plan to be successful with any kind of inventory program - regardless of what you use.Trainerbob makes an excellent point - this is like any other change management initiative - folks have to agree the current system "stinks" enough to warrant a change, then the change manager helps the troops agree on a system that provides benefit to employees AND the organization.

One little tidbit to watch out for - employees "squirreling away" supplies because your system is too convoluted for easy access to replacement goods. Worst of all are the locked cages with only one person with a key, so he either sits locked in a jail cell all day, regardless of whether there is a call for goods or the other employees have to go on a search and retrieval mission to get someone to open the cage - wasting the time of at least two people.

I recall visiting a plant in the 60s where employees had to walk a quarter mile to the far end of the campus to then wait for 10 or 15 minutes while the supply clerk filled out paperwork and then went looking for the replacement item in his storeroom. To replace a simple caliper might take up as much as an hour of an employee's time if the clerk had to challenge the employee whether the replacement was really necessary. In the meantime, no one else could get a replacement tool or supply. (bottlenecks and funnels are the curse of supply chains!)

Something similar took place in the office for replacement ribbons for typewriters, typing paper, pens, forms, etc. with the added snag the supply room was only open from 1 pm to 4 pm - no exceptions, except the office manager who also had a key and would frequently remove inventory without recording its removal, causing no end of hassle at quarterly audits.

Should this be posted in another thread?:confused:I didn't read this thread until your second post - I was involved in a whirlwind speaking tour this past week and probably didn't sense an urgency to your query when I saw the title last week.

I definitely feel Supply Chain Management is a crucial part of a Lean operation.

We keep supplies in room in the office where 2 office personnel help an employee who wants something. Most of what is at this location is PPE supplies. Some items an employee purchases, they fill out a form for payroll deduction.

When this room runs out, someone is sent to the main storage to replenish. If that location is out, they tell the office personnel and they say "Ohhhhh, we'll have to order some more.":mad::mad::mad::mad: This is soooo irritating.

If it is only kept in the main storage, supervisors have access to it and send employees to retrieve an MRO. That employee may or may not tell the supervisor we are out. ( we run 24/5 but the office is only 7-5 days).

These are the areas where there is a breakdown and we run out of MRO's.:nope:

Without putting someone in charge of checking periodically, what other way is there besides a card system?

All of these items are kept locked or under supervision (office personnel) because the MRO's disappear too fast otherwise.

Are there samples of cards available?

We used to have an outside vendor replenish stock of nuts, bolts, and washers. It was felt that we were paying to much and getting too much replenishment so it was stopped. Our costs dropped dramatically when this was stopped and we ordered when needed. Same with first aid supplies.:frust::frust::frust::frust::frust::frust::frust:

Sounds like your wrestling with disciplines rather then the hows.
Your methods attempted/tried are ones I have used with success. You just have to stick with them and improve incrementally. If your a CI guy, how much are the management team helping with the training and coaching?

Whoever is appointed (internal or external) in replenishment, needs to replenish to an agreed amount (a maximum).
The amount needs to be established by the demand pull and how often you want checked. The rules need to be posted and trained.

If your home for the items in 5S'd properly, this will be easy. In most cases I would use a shelf label with description, supplier name (with contact info), item/stock/UPC, and Min / Max inventory. Fancy cards are not always needed.
I have done this many times in different companies... the greatest struggle is discipline. Once they get it.... well even now, I am amazed when we set up something how much quicker people own it.

In the company I am with now, we are currently getting all of our consumables from stationary to toilet paper to PPE to misc production equipment handled by suppliers who restock every week. It works, but again, a small team of people need to coach and work on the improvements. Not just management, but also the general population to create a positive pear-pressure and expectations.