Extended scope of MRO aids manufacturer

In recent years, Icopal, a supplier of building protection products, has been achieving substantial and consistent savings at its manufacturing plant in Manchester by using the specialist maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) service offered by Wyko, an ERIKS Company. The original service provided covered the management of Icopal’s engineering stores and dealt with all product requirements needed for maintenance purposes. This included sourcing products from companies within the Wyko organisation and from third party suppliers, as well as ensuring that stock levels were at all times adequate to meet Icopal’s needs. To operate this service effectively and efficiently, Wyko has a permanent office on the Icopal site, and provides two full time staff to manage the stores and the MRO procurement function. In order to ensure Icopal can measure the benefits of the service, Wyko agreed benchmark prices for all of the major maintenance-related items that Icopal was buying prior to outsourcing its MRO activities. On the basis of these prices, Icopal is provided with regular reports on the actual savings that have been made. Wyko is now extending its scope to cover not only the materials related to MRO activities, but also to include the activities themselves and even activities that fall into the areas of facilities management and capital investment. This includes, for example, electrical testing services and building work. “Every aspect of the Wyko MRO service, including the new extensions, is saving us money,” said Andy Hampson, operations director of Icopal, “and that’s not simply because direct costs are reduced. We no longer have to spend time finding and evaluating suppliers of components and services, which means that we make further savings on our purchasing operations. More importantly this allows our engineering department to focus on its core activities such as process improvement and preventive maintenance, whilst WYKO focus on theirs. “WYKO operate as a fully integrated part of our operation, this helps us to concentrate our efforts on what we do best – making innovative building protection products that are used all over the world. That's very good going for a service that also puts money in our pocket!”