by Natalie Edwards

Real Steel, Upper Hutt – Success Story

 

‘The administration staff don't spend the time raising purchase orders, talking to sales reps, waiting for things to come in from back order. The factory supervisors don't need to chase administration to organise the supplier parts. The thought in the back of your mind of 'oh have I got this?' it just doesn't exist anymore because it's in the cabinet.’

 

Grant and the team at Real Steel tell us how QUICKSTOCK has transformed their inventory management...

Tell us a bit about Real Steel…

 

‘Real Steel started 20 odd years ago. We're a plate processing factory. We import steel from Sweden. High strength steel, abrasion resistant steel, for the use in the manufacturing, quarry transport, mining, forestry industries.

We've recently grown a little bit more into the structural steel side of things. We have about 120 staff throughout the country. We have a head office in Upper Hutt and a branch in Ashburton down South.

We do everything from the design right through to the final product ready to fabricate parts together.’

Grant Webb, Factory Supervisor

How did you manage consumable inventory before QUICKSTOCK?

 

Grant: ‘Before QUICKSTOCK arrived we were reliant on staff to tell us when they were taking the last item out of the cupboard. Which didn't always happen. We had a cupboard in the smoko room which became horribly overstocked. We were managing by dealing with several supply companies. We were buying from Euromarc as well as others.’

 

‘What we tended to do is run ourselves out of whatever we needed and then urgently try and find what we needed in Upper Hutt, which is always difficult. The guys were always pretty terrible at telling us when we were running low or when we were running out. And then it was a mix of myself chasing things down, guys in the workshop, people in the office. Too many people involved and none of it going particularly well.’

Charlie Davidson, Operations Manager

How does the QUICKSTOCK system work with your operations?

 

Grant: ‘How the QUICKSTOCK solution works for us at Real Steel is that when our staff require new PPE or consumables, all of our factory supervisors have keys for the cabinets. So we just come along, open them up, everything is here, grab what they need, hand the gear out and they're back to work straight away. It's as easy as that.’

 

Charlie: ‘Supervisors out in the factory all have keys to our QUICKSTOCK cabinets, they are in charge of making sure we're not spending too much. It's easy because we used to have them communicate when they were running out. Now we can just keep track of what they're using but they also have that control.’

 

Grant: ‘The administration staff don't spend the time raising purchase orders, talking to sales reps, waiting for things to come in from back order. The factory supervisors don't need to chase administration to organise the supplier parts. The thought in the back of your mind of 'oh have I got this?' it just doesn't exist anymore because it's in the cabinet.’

Why did you decide to use QUICKSTOCK?

 

Charlie: ‘We looked at various options including having someone come in and check out stocks, what we had and then fill that. They weren't that reliable. It didn't happen regularly enough. We were still running out and things also were quite expensive.’

 

Grant: ‘And I believe it was probably from a sales rep turning up and saying 'Hey! Have I got a blue cabinet for you'. Which the more we looked at it, the more sense it made.’

 

Charlie: ‘So Grant drove a new idea using QUICKSTOCK which meant we just have what we need, on hand, when we need it, with no worries and we don't have to manage it at all, and you guys would fill it up when it ran out. It's just been incredibly easy compared to our previous solution.’

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE COSTS INVOLVED IN ORDERING BEFORE QUICKSTOCK?

 

Charlie: 'Before QUICKSTOCK I would say the biggest cost for us was probably time. Multiple people trying to keep track of all sorts of things all over the place. Post QUICKSTOCK it's just there. And it's the same system, and now it's just one place. It's exactly what we need, and it's always there.'

 

Would you say QUICKSTOCK has improved your business?

 

Charlie: 'I don't hear about consumables anymore. Grant and you guys have it all under control, so we just have what we need. And compared to what we had in the past it's just been easy.'

 

Grant: 'And it frees people up to do what they're supposed to be doing.'

 

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THE QUICKSTOCK SOLUTION TO OTHER ENGINEERING COMPANIES?

 

Charlie: ‘I would definitely recommend QUICKSTOCK to other businesses. It just makes the job so much easier. It feels like something you shouldn't have to manage. And with QUICKSTOCK you don't have to manage it. They manage it for you.

I wish we had QUICKSTOCK years ago. It would have made my life a lot easier.’

 

Grant: ‘Yes I would recommend the system for other companies to use. If you or your staff require products, you open the cabinet door and there they are. Ready to use, on time, when you need it.’