Sulzer Pumps, which specialises in pumping, agitation, mixing, separation, and purification technologies and has over 50 manufacturing sites worldwide, is saving time and money after expanding its partnership with Wednesbury-based
MSC Industrial Supply Co.
When looking for a supplier, Sulzer’s Leeds facility needed a partner that could resolve several key challenges and maximise growth opportunities. Firstly, the successful supplier needed to help the company develop new markets and provide better results for new product introductions — and optimise processes on jobs the business already had in place.
Sulzer was also looking for a business that could help identify time and cost savings resulting from how it uses tooling and consumables, and thereby reduce lead times and become leaner. The company also wanted to improve its on-site access to the industrial consumables it uses.
As a result, MSC first introduced its
ControlPoint inventory management system — a vending solution that enables Sulzer to instantly access tooling; the system also provides data that Sulzer can share with MSC to identify areas for improvement.
Steve Nash, Sulzer Pumps’ production and engineering manager, said: “The data we get from the vending machines is fed back to MSC. That information enables us to target potential savings in specific locations. For example, if we have high expenditure in certain areas, we ask MSC how they can help us to reduce total costs and time spent. For optimising those processes, MSC has been great.”
Mr Nash added: “With existing processes, MSC is always on hand to help us make sense of the data our vending machines provide. With this data we can identify problematic areas and then ask MSC what we can do to lower the cost of specific items and reduce lead times.
“For new processes and product ranges — and particularly those for which we have little experience — we consult MSC for help with developing new products. We needed a supplier that could work with us to develop our processes, not simply sell us the equipment we were asking for.”