1) What is InsiteTM and how can it help me improve my inventory management?
Insite™ is effectively a dedicated Brammer branch located within a customer site, geared entirely to meeting the needs of that organisation and providing onsite support for purchasing, stores, maintenance and engineering teams helping to effectively reduce product consumption for fast moving consumables and the number of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) related parts.
Each customer Insite™ is managed by experienced Brammer personnel who have first served in one of a network of nationwide branches where they’ve gained the technical product knowledge and customer service skills to represent the organisation. By consolidating spend with one supplier, Brammer Insite™ customers can reduce purchase to pay costs, reduce their vendor base and reduce the working capital tied up in inventory.
2) How do you ensure a collaborative relationship with your customers’ onsite?
Rather than being a separate ‘organisation within an organisation’, an important facet of an InsiteTM Manager’s role is to become an integral part of the customer’s team which starts right from the implementation phase. This is when Managers learn about the operations of the wider business, which provides them with the insight to work cohesively with the team and really get to grips with the needs of the business. To help meet the company’s strategic goals, Brammer regularly attends company meetings and hosts innovation days to ensure effective communication and to better understand the company’s processes, priorities and systems.
A major benefit of being based onsite is that they can develop one-to-one relationships with the team and visit key production areas, helping to develop an understanding of the products used and help them recognise opportunities for improvement and for cost savings.
3) How quickly will Insite™ generate savings once you have set up?
InsiteTM can generate savings from initial implementation, as OEM conversion and product rationalisation is often one of the first projects to be undertaken to identify where costs can be streamlined and inventory rationalised. An initial starting point for the InsiteTM team involves investigating the customer’s vendor list to remove duplicates, while cross-referencing Brammer’s extensive list of leading manufacturers – where it has access to more than five million product lines.
By dealing with one main supplier, ordering is rationalised and purchasing power is leveraged. It can also help improve productivity, as fewer invoices are received, leading to less time tied up in processing paperwork and more time available for value-adding activity.
4) How do the Brammer team shape their work around our factory KPIs and strategy? How often does the customer need to brief the team?
At the outset of an Insite™ implementation, Brammer works closely with customers to understand current engineering, maintenance and procurement strategies and goals, processes and systems as well as their MRO and industrial supplies needs. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and SMART objectives are set jointly, to an agreed timetable, with Insite™ managers working closely with in-house teams to identify and deliver MRO related efficiency and total cost of ownership improvements. As InsiteTM is managed by a dedicated Brammer manager, they essentially act as an extension of the team allowing them to provide a local service which is specific to that site. To maintain a cohesive relationship, onsite personnel are provided with a monthly KPI scorecard and Insite™ Action Plan to ensure a consistent and cohesive approach.
5) Can you offer some examples of successful Insite™ partnerships that you’ve implemented with manufacturers and why you feel they worked so well?
The Royal Mint is one example of a successful InsiteTM, which saw Brammer awarded the ‘Supplier of the Year’ accolade last year for its work, as part of the The Royal Mint’s annual supplier awards. Having worked with The Royal Mint since 2011, Brammer currently supplies around 15,000 lines per year including industrial consumables and personal protective equipment (PPE), and it has surpassed its ‘on-time-in-full’ target for these products. As well as working closely with The Royal Mint’s procurement team and setting up its own onsite PPE steering group, it has implemented more than £156,000 worth of cost saving initiatives through vendor consolidation and product rationalisation.
6) Do I need to be of a certain size as a factory or spending a certain amount on MRO to get value from Insite™?
In order to achieve real added value and cost savings, facilities that typically spend £250,000 or more per year on MRO, would be those who could benefit significantly from an InsiteTM.
