- Mark Smyth
How a Mining Company Cut Over $1.5M in Warehouse Inventory With Sate-Of-The-Art Reporting
Updated: Oct 17, 2021
Many organizations relying on physical assets for their operations have systems in place that capture heaps of data. These are commonly known as Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), or EAM (Enterprise Asset Management).
The primary benefit to these systems is to help asset management personnel in their day-to-day activities. However, most of them struggle to use the data to shift from operational firefighting into proactive asset management.
Eventually, something goes wrong, and they find themselves extracting loads of data from their CMMS into Excel spreadsheets to analyze the problem. The reports typically take days or weeks to put together, and many times they’re not very effective, nor do they drive lasting change. Not only that, but they also need to be recreated... Every. Single. Time.
A mine in Northern Canada was facing this exact situation with their inventory control.
Pressure from above
After 50+ years of operation, it was determined that the mine had 4-5 years of production left.
Once the upcoming closure was announced, senior management entered "cost saving mode". They began putting substantial pressure on procurement and inventory leaders to reduce stock levels. They ultimately did not want to end up with unnecessary items when closing their doors.
At that time, the warehouse inventory was valued at over $15M, and climbing!
The Inventory Team had a problem
These procurement and inventory leaders were simply not equipped with the necessary tools to answer the difficult questions coming from management:
Do we really need all that inventory?
What will be consumed by closure and what will remain?
What is our current overstock level, and when will it be eliminated?
Do you have a process in place to review stock levels periodically?
Do we have obsolete items that we can start divesting now?
This left the leaders feeling frustrated, defeated, and outright embarrassed!
No more time could be wasted with the ineffective, time consuming, resource dependent, "EXCEL-HELL" solutions... They needed a tool, and they needed it quick!
AIM to the rescue
That's when AIM came in. With in depth knowledge of inventory management within industrial sectors, and extensive experience building automated reporting solutions with direct link to CMMS/EAM software, the choice was easy!
At AIM, we develop insightful and fully automated KPI dashboards that will allow you to stop wasting time generating reports and focus on Accessing, Improving and Mastering your procurement and inventory processes!
We use a highly interactive web-based tool called Power BI. This app is a Microsoft product, guaranteeing data security and robustness for the life of your organization.
Our Power BI product is called the AIM - Asset Management Platform (APM), scalable to any department within your organization!
How we made it happen
The process was very simple and required little to no work from the leaders.
STEP 1: | We connected AMP to their CMMS. In this case it was Ellipse, but AMP can connect to most CMMS/EAMs such as SAP, Maximo, Guide TI, IFS... |
STEP 2: | We worked with the leaders to transition any legacy reports, and then built out additional KPIs that surpassed the capabilities of previous reporting solutions. |
STEP 3: | Finally, we granted access to their teams and gave them personalized training and coaching to deliver a world-class reporting solution. |
This entire process only took a few weeks!!
What we delivered
Before they knew it, the Inventory Team had a highly powerful, automated and interactive tool to analyze their processes. At the click of a button, they could instantly see all their KPIs in one convenient location.
Inventory Value
Inventory Consumption Rates
Inventory Turns Ratio
Overstock
Min & Max Recommendations
Lead Times
Service Levels
They had finally escaped Excel-Hell, and began their journey to operational excellence!
Immediate results and lasting change
Only a few weeks in with the new AMP toolset, the team was able to launch massive cost saving initiatives:
Immediate Payoff 1: | Through the inventory consumption dashboard, they were able to identify $1M worth of stock that hadn't moved in years, and was in fact obsolete. The were able to immediately begin divesting these items. |
Immediate Payoff 2: | On top of the stock elimination of Payoff 1, they used the Min/Max dashboard to identify items that could have their stock levels optimized. Once completed, they had reduced the total maximum stock value by $700K! |
Other than these immediate results amounting to $1.7M, the Inventory Team now had the tools to drive lasting change. They now have:
A significantly higher confidence level with regards to inventory (i.e. they are certain that inventory levels are adequately set to support the operation).
Accurate and timely information that the team can trust and rely on.
Greatly improved decision-making backed by the data they always needed.
Interested in getting these results for yourself?
If you're interested in transforming your reporting solutions and shifting from operational fire fighting to proactive asset management, here's how working with us contrasts with the traditional 3rd party software or business intelligence (BI) consulting firm:
Industry Experience: Unlike most BI firms, we have extensive years of experience in the industrial physical asset management industry. We've felt your pains, and we'd be thrilled to help you get rid of them. If fact, that's the exact reason Mark launched AIM!
Customization: Unlike third party software or built-in reporting within your CMMS/ERP system, AMP allows for infinite customization. This ensures that the reports fit YOUR needs, not common needs.
Scalability: Your asset management counterparts will surely want to join you on your state-of-the-art reporting journey. AMP can be scaled enterprise-wide; Maintenance, Operations, Reliability, Finance.