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Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is part of the Freudenberg group. It is based in Weinheim, Germany, employing approximately 50,000 people worldwide in over 60 countries. Freudenberg is a family company founded in 1849. Today, the company is owned by about 320 people, all descendants of its founder. FST specialises in sophisticated and innovative applications for sealing technology and electrical mobility solutions.
FST S.L.U. at Parets del Vallès, Catalonia, is an associate producer of the Damper&Steering division, that specialises in waterproof joints for engine seals.
Following its primary objective, to contribute to the success of its customers, ELEKTRES analysed, studied and finally provided information about the status of the catalogue of available products. It also reported on their mean time to failure (MTTF) while informing about the difficulty of their supply. Upon receipt of this information, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies processed the first orders of spare parts for particular products. In specific and isolated cases where it was impossible to replace the product, the itsme ELEKTRES team offered alternatives for repair or migration of complete units.
As a result of this successfully developed contact, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies entrusted the itsme ELEKTRES team to supply all low-turnover, difficult-to-obtain products beyond the ABC classification supplied by conventional distributors. FST, like all automotive companies, has their processes and equipment audited and validated in order to produce a series of highly specific machines. That’s why spare parts are often very select and obtained from unusual manufacturers, who may be the only ones that can be contacted for repairs.
In view of the positive experience with long tail management and because FST also needs partners who can efficiently manage the higher-turnover spare parts, it was decided to go one step further. Another differential feature of itsme ELEKTRES is that it provides practical solutions tailored for each type of customer. Indeed, to be true to this motto, the implementation of a Vendor Managed Inventory, VMI, system in the Spare Parts Maintenance warehouse was proposed. This tailormade solution helps keep stock levels of higher-turnover products controlled, using very few resources to do so. Ultimately, a VMI is a warehouse managed by itsme at the customer’s premises.
To start this project, it was necessary to identify the products with the highest turnover and their supply with the minimum stock levels defined to start working. From there, itsme ELEKTRES developed the VMI system by looking to optimise management in order to know how much material remained in stock at all times while always ensuring the lowest cost to the customer: shelves, storage boxes and the software needed for their control were installed. Thus, this material is always available and in stock. At the same time, both its storage and future supply can be effectively managed.
Thanks to this intervention, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has increased the efficiency of managing its materials significantly, also using a very agile and fast computing system for consulting purposes. Operating times have been reduced by simplifying stock control processes. The time spent on managing the acquisition of urgent spare parts has also been reduced, since they are practically no longer required.
The VMI system has led Freudenberg Sealing Technologies to have a competitive advantage against other companies in the industry.
Not all companies suffer from long tail supply chain: the FREUDENBERG case
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is part of the Freudenberg group. It is based in Weinheim, Germany, employing approximately 50,000 people worldwide in over 60 countries. Freudenberg is a family company founded in 1849. Today, the company is owned by about 320 people, all descendants of its founder. FST specialises in sophisticated and innovative applications for sealing technology and electrical mobility solutions.
FST S.L.U. at Parets del Vallès, Catalonia, is an associate producer of the Damper&Steering division, that specialises in waterproof joints for engine seals.
From obsolescence status assessment to long tail management
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ first contact with the itsme ELEKTRES team took place with the aim of conducting an open and impartial analysis of the obsolescence of automation devices in their machine park. “ELEKTRES visited us and presented examples of obsolescence studies just at the time when we were creating our Machine Health Check” - which is a document that graphically shows the obsolescence status and risk of failure of production equipment - and so we hired them to conduct the study of the main PLCs [Programmable Logic Controllers] of the equipment”, says Álex Trilles, Chief Maintenance Officer. Consequently, this enhanced the work that Freudenberg was carrying out.Following its primary objective, to contribute to the success of its customers, ELEKTRES analysed, studied and finally provided information about the status of the catalogue of available products. It also reported on their mean time to failure (MTTF) while informing about the difficulty of their supply. Upon receipt of this information, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies processed the first orders of spare parts for particular products. In specific and isolated cases where it was impossible to replace the product, the itsme ELEKTRES team offered alternatives for repair or migration of complete units.
As a result of this successfully developed contact, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies entrusted the itsme ELEKTRES team to supply all low-turnover, difficult-to-obtain products beyond the ABC classification supplied by conventional distributors. FST, like all automotive companies, has their processes and equipment audited and validated in order to produce a series of highly specific machines. That’s why spare parts are often very select and obtained from unusual manufacturers, who may be the only ones that can be contacted for repairs.
Life beyond long tail
In view of the positive experience with long tail management and because FST also needs partners who can efficiently manage the higher-turnover spare parts, it was decided to go one step further. Another differential feature of itsme ELEKTRES is that it provides practical solutions tailored for each type of customer. Indeed, to be true to this motto, the implementation of a Vendor Managed Inventory, VMI, system in the Spare Parts Maintenance warehouse was proposed. This tailormade solution helps keep stock levels of higher-turnover products controlled, using very few resources to do so. Ultimately, a VMI is a warehouse managed by itsme at the customer’s premises.To start this project, it was necessary to identify the products with the highest turnover and their supply with the minimum stock levels defined to start working. From there, itsme ELEKTRES developed the VMI system by looking to optimise management in order to know how much material remained in stock at all times while always ensuring the lowest cost to the customer: shelves, storage boxes and the software needed for their control were installed. Thus, this material is always available and in stock. At the same time, both its storage and future supply can be effectively managed.
Thanks to this intervention, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has increased the efficiency of managing its materials significantly, also using a very agile and fast computing system for consulting purposes. Operating times have been reduced by simplifying stock control processes. The time spent on managing the acquisition of urgent spare parts has also been reduced, since they are practically no longer required.
The VMI system has led Freudenberg Sealing Technologies to have a competitive advantage against other companies in the industry.
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