Indispensable dispensing: Inspection Efficiency

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END USER: Attica Hydraulic Exchange Inc., (586) 949-4240, www.atx1.com. CHALLENGE: Increase profitability by effectively managing tools and other industrial supplies. SOLUTION: A vending system. SOLUTION PROVIDER: MSC Industrial Supply Co., (800) 521-9520, www.mscdirect.com/vending

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For a company that prides itself on maintaining tight tolerances, tight control of tool inventory was quite another matter for Attica Hydraulic Exchange Inc., Chesterfield, Mich.

“Our tool management system was cabinets with small metal drawers to keep individual tools, index cards with basic tool descriptions and Excel spreadsheets,” said Jerry Kolb, tool and material manager at Attica’s manufacturing division. “We simply had no order and couldn’t really tell where anything was, at any one time, within the shop. Plus, we had workers hoarding their own supplies to ensure they’d have the necessary tools to do their work, but no one knew how much of any one item was used or by whom. Things were just scattered.”

Courtesy of MSC

The CAP tool vending system from MSC enabled Attica Hydraulic Exchange to experience an 85 percent productivity improvement for tool purchases.

Remarkably, Attica, primarily because of its bevy of skilled in-house technicians, was able to maintain its reputation for rapid turnaround times on even the most intricate pumps, motors, valves, shafts, plates and other hydraulic components it offers. The company keeps more than 10 million parts in inventory, mostly made of steel, cast iron or bronze. “To say we push our equipment to the maximum would be a major understatement,” Kolb said.

Nonetheless, overall profitability suffered because of the downtime caused by searching for tools and management’s lack of knowledge about true cost per part.

The company was already purchasing tools from Melville, N.Y.-based MSC Industrial Supply Co. when Jim Wisdom, Attica’s local MSC Industrial Supply account executive, suggested MSC’s CAP (Competitive Advantage Program) vending system as a solution. Attica installed one locker frame unit and three individual frame drawers, which come in different sizes, can be configured with a varying number of compartments and can be changed to accommodate different sizes of tools as jobs dictate.