AutoCrib Industrial Vending

Vendor Managed Programs

Toolneeds offers complete Vendor Managed Programs to help take the pressure off your staff when sourcing and purchasing commonly used MRO consumables, PPE and tooling products. Our VMI Specialists will become an extension of your staff. They will track, source, order and deliver in the products that you need. These products will then be put into our vending systems to allow your employees to issue the items they need quickly and efficiently.

The First Step

We are commonly asked "What is the first step?". The first thing we commonly do is schedule an assessment of the current situation at your facility. After this is completed we can make suggestions on how a VMI program would help. From making sure the products are kept in secure but accessible location to reducing your current inventory to a level that allows for continued production without over stocking, we will make sure to get your facility as lean as possible.

Reduce Costs 8 Ways - Using Vendor Management & Industrial Vending

AutoCrib® systems have saved millions of dollars for customers large and small worldwide. Toolneeds utilizes these systems in our VMI programs to help you realize significant control and savings with your consumables.

1. Reduce consumption — stop waste, fraud/theft and abuse.

•You control access. With AutoCrib®'s industry leading software and dispensing machine systems, you decide what items each employee can access. You can place limits on tool and supply consumption by employee, departmental budget, department, shift, job, or total dollars per employee.

•Problems with processes or employees are identified. Setting upper control limits for a specific process insures that tools are not needlessly wasted. If a user is breaking or consuming tools at a very high rate, an industrial vending machine can refuse to issue a tool, advising the user, "Sorry, you're over limit. See your supervisor." Supervision can deal with the out-of-control process now — rather than after the shop has consumed every tool in stock needed for the operation.

•You can track usage by individual employee for increased accountability. So you'll know exactly what items are being used by each employee. When employees know their usage is being tracked, they tend to become more responsible.

•Every department is accountable. By putting an automated dispensing machine at point of use, each department and work cell is accountable for tool usage. The entire automated dispensing process is recorded. And all usage data is real time and at your fingertips.

•You can dispense in the correct package quantity for less waste.

•Your indirect supplies costs are no longer invisible. Dispensing machines are powered by AutoCrib®'s state-of-the-art inventory management software, giving you real-time access to better tool consumption data.

•A "pull" system of dispensing tools and supplies is a component of Lean manufacturing. Only about 35% of the cost of ownership is the purchase price of an item. The remaining 65% is made up of receiving, counting, storage, disposal and handling costs. With automated dispensing, many of these costs are eliminated or can be shifted to the distributor.

2. Reduce Inventory Responsibility.

•Use supplier-consigned inventory. About 80% of automated tool-dispensing machines have consigned inventory from the supplier. Both the cost and responsibility of inventory are shifted to the supplier.

•Move to Demand-Based ordering. Case studies show that those who move to Demand-Based ordering over standard min- / max-based purchasing can run their tool cribs and point-of-use dispensing equipment with 20% less inventory. (AutoCrib® Software uniquely features Demand-Based ordering.)

3. Cut spend on new tools, by forcing the use of regrinds or reconditioned items.

•Industrial vending machines can force the use of regrinds and reconditioned items first, before allowing access to new items.

4. Reduce obsolete inventory by increasing visibility of slow and dead inventory.

•Use supplier-consigned inventory (your supplier is tracking inventory on a daily basis, and can more easily dispose of unused inventory with other customers before it becomes obsolete).

•Industrial vending machines can dispense the older tools and supplies first.

•Because AutoCrib® software tracks the RATE of use over time for each item, it will not automatically reorder very slow-moving items until they are needed.

5. Reduce/eliminate stock-outs — cut spend on unnecessary overnight shipments and duplicate tools and supplies.

•A real-time inventory count is always available from any AutoCrib® system.

•You can identify exactly which employees have tools outstanding.

•You can set reorder minimums, and AutoCrib® software will send an electronic purchase order to your suppliers, to automatically reorder items. Or you can use our proprietary Demand-Based Ordering system that will determine reorder points based on actual usage.

6. Remove your traditional tool cribs entirely, while making tools and supplies more available at point of use for your employees.

•Reassign tool crib attendants to more productive work.

•Make tools and supplies available 24/7 while maintaining security.

•Support increased production without adding to headcount.

7. Reduce or eliminate purchase orders.

•Supplies and tools can be automatically reordered when they fall below preset levels. A purchase order can be automatically emailed to the supplier and or your own purchasing department. No more manually preparing purchase orders for mundane items that go into the dispensing machine.

•Purchase orders to replenish a tool crib are no longer needed. One consolidated invoice is mailed to you at the end of the month.

•Paperwork is substantially reduced, which often allows a purchasing employee or two to be reassigned to more productive tasks.

8. Reduce support staff costs.

•Cut inventory management time with AutoCrib®’s Demand-Based ordering feature which eliminates the time spent managing min/max.

•Reduce receiving, accounting, and inventory control staff costs. Receiving, accounts payable and inventory control staff can be reduced or reassigned because the supplier absorbs those responsibilities and restocks the machines.