The ten minute conversation that saved £100,000

(See Cees Fasteners at MachineBuilding.Live, 2 October 2024, on stand 44)

The sub-assembly supplier, itself a relatively small enterprise operating in a specialist field, had previously been outsourcing around 70 different products, mainly small, fastening/assembly or C type products, across almost a dozen different suppliers dotted around the UK, some of whom were importing products from overseas to add to their UK inventory.

Having experienced one too many unforecast delivery delays from two of these suppliers and having production halted, the manufacturer was open to suggestion when approached by Cees with an alternative.

Using a combination of its own stock items plus others sourced from reputable and reliable UK channel partners, Cees now manages the inventory on these 70-odd parts for its customer and has been able to provide a rare combination of improved product quality on some items with guaranteed delivery on the required dates and a sizeable reduction in overall cost.

"Basically we use our own facilities as the stockroom for our customer," says Petts. "So they no longer have either supply or delivery issues to concern them, and nor do they need to invest ahead in order to have stocks on their own shelves. And because we usually have multiple sources of quality products, any potential interruptions to our own supply chain are readily overcome and have no effect whatsoever on our customer."