How intelligent systems and technology keep warehouses and distribution center stocked

Being an Australian owned and run manufacturer has always given MASPRO an advantage over global players in terms of innovation, speed and quality control, however the global pandemic has accelerated its commitment to using technology to guarantee quality, on-time delivery and minimise downtime in any conditions.

Matching supply with demand

The biggest obstacle for getting parts on site on time is lack of information. When will parts be needed and where? What raw materials are needed? How long does each part take to manufacture and deliver?

As MASPRO grew over the years, some of their systems became disconnected across new locations and departments, which made these answers harder to pin down. Roman Urmanov, MASPRO’s National Warehouse Manager, has been working with the team on a solution.

“This year we accelerated our digital transformation, implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to consolidate our headquarters in Condobolin with all our warehouses across Australia and manage our customers and suppliers globally.”

The goal is to help MASPRO forecast demand accurately and scale up our supply to match by:

• Ensuring regular parts are stocked and ready to ship at all times
• Enabling rapid supply and support for critical or emergency parts
• Minimising client downtime by stocking parts closer to where they are needed
• Forecasting client demand so we can manufacture ahead of demand
• Streamlining supplier relationships to guarantee raw materials and components availability

Predicting the future

Having also integrated their processes from sales and procurement to production and warehousing, the business now has accurate lead times for every part and service from ordering materials and manufacturing to quality testing, packaging and delivery on site.

“On top of a clear view of our internal sales data and global supply processes, we’re layering this with customer usage data so we can forecast trends and demand by location and stock our warehouses to match local demand. In this way we share the responsibility of ensuring we have quality parts on hand and become a business partner more than a parts supplier,” explains Urmanov.

“This not only means we know when a part will arrive after an order, but more importantly we can forecast manufacturing in advance so that we have stock in the closest warehouse before the order arrives!”

Managing emergencies

No matter how smoothly oiled the supply chain is, mining is unpredictable so we have to be ready to react, says Urmanov.

“For example, a mine in South Australia sent us a rotational unit for repair. Unfortunately, in a rare case, the spare unit failed almost immediately, bringing their drill to a costly standstill.”

“With a multidisciplinary local team of local engineers and well-stocked parts, we were able to repair the part in a few hours, arrange an urgent hotshot delivery by 5pm and have the repaired rotational unit installed and back on the drill that night!”

Procurement in a pandemic

MASPRO prides itself on sourcing top quality raw materials from Australia and globally, but the global pandemic put them to the test. In the same way they’re getting closer to customers, the team is integrating with suppliers and putting back up plans in place.

With the ability to forecast demand and lead times, and factor in major delays in shipments proactively, MASPRO has been able to adjust our order lead times and volumes to stay a step ahead.

Continual improvement 

Urmanov is just getting started. “Quality is our mantra at MASPRO, and from here we plan to collaborate even more closely with customers to integrate their usage data and business information to enhance forecasting and inventory management.”

“We also have a project underway to allow our partners to login to our system in real time and see what parts are in stock in each warehouse and calculate delivery times. We’ll also incorporate online ordering or picking up parts from the warehouse straight away.”

“We appreciate the support, feedback and loyalty of our clients who have helped us get to this point and continually improve in partnership with them.