Barloworld Optimus

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Inventory Optimization for Mining & Heavy Industries

Barloworld Optimus has extensive experience in the mining and heavy industry sector, boasting a lengthy list of prestigious customers.

It is imperative that companies working within this sector possess detailed knowledge of the industry because there are major implications due to health & safety, environmental considerations, increased global demand and legislation. All these factors have an impact on the business risk, with the result of exceptionally high downtime costs.

It differs from traditional inbound logistics in that demand is not dependent on the ultimate market requirement for the manufactured product, but on the maintenance and consumption needs of the end-users (plant maintenance engineers and production).

Maintenance and Repair Operations (MRO) management is a highly sophisticated process and due to the high risk of breakdowns and work stoppages, stockholders often keep more inventory than is necessary. This leads to unbalanced inventories and high levels of obsolescence and poor service to end-users.

 

Operational Downtime - Not an Option!

 

There are many issues which contribute to operational downtime within the mining & heavy industry which, if addressed and managed correctly, can actually be kept to a minimum or removed from the equation. Inadequate material management is an important one encompassing the following three elements:

Warehouse Management – This can lead to operational downtime due to capacity and sub-optimal levels of stock requiring storage at various warehouses and thus indicating mismanagement of materials. This then affects lead times and has a knock on effect resulting in negative productivity.

Procurement - Problems also occur when procurement is decentralised and duplicate orders are made causing excess and redundant stock issues.

Inventory management –Unless inventory management of item classification, forecasting, stock holding policy and lead times is vigilant, critical item availability will be complicated and have a huge effect on the overall materials management and thus the operational downtime.

In addition to these factors, lack of Management Information can mislead management decisions which will also then have an impact on Operational downtime.

   

 Optimiza - Digs Deep

 

Barloworld Optimus is a world leader in the provision and management of inventory and service optimization solutions in the MRO arena. This stature comes from being one of the few solutions to have combined the world-class skill to build MRO solutions with the business experience necessary to implement and operate them.

Through our extensive experience and knowledge of the environment and using the Optimiza software, we have helped our customers to accurately classify and manage critical items, through an in depth criticality and item identification process. However, without adequate material management put in place this would not be sustainable, so we have worked with our clients in designing, implementing and entrenching material management programmes that have minimised inefficiencies and increased productivity.

 

 Customer Comment

Hennie Kaltwasser, Manager Engineering at Ticor Empangeni, points out the main advantage of outsourcing critical materials management functions.

“To implement modern good management practices in our company’s line of business, such as just-in-time inventory, total quality management and end-to-end supply chain management, needs certain business dynamics in the company as well as the flexibility to adapt rapidly to changing conditions and business processes. Our relationship with Barloworld Optimus has demonstrated that the outsourcing of materials management functions gives a flexibility far greater than that which can be achieved with in-house resources.
 
“To enter into this type of business relationship – which is based on trust – requires maturity and team work from both partners, if it is to succeed. Barloworld Optimus has offered our company both those qualities, as well as their depth of expertise within our industry. What is more, Barloworld Optimus flat management structure gave us the added advantage of easy access, quick decision making and the flexibility needed in this critical area of Ticor’s operations.”
  
Current Customers:
                                               
  • Anglo Platinum
  • Sasol
  • Sasol Secunda Shared Services
  • Sasol Syn Fuels
  • Sasol Nitro
  • Eskom
  • Harmony Gold Mining
  • Kumba Resources Grootegeluk
  • Kumba Resources HQ
  • Exxaro
  • PetroSA
  • Billiton Alluminium Smelters
  • Billiton Hillside
  • Drake & Scull

 

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