How leveraging collaborative partnerships and tailored solutions can help you streamline MRO procurement and overcome supply chain challenges
The Customer
Philtronics is a contract electronic manufacturer based near Aberdare in South Wales. The firm provides fast turnaround PCB board, harness production and box build manufacturing services from its plant in the Rhondda Valley.
With two decades in business and a workforce of 85 people, Philtronics is a ‘one-stop shop’ for a range of customers who serve global markets. As an innovative supplier committed to excellence and flexibility in manufacturing and service, Philtronics helps customers get their products to market faster with high-precision, competitively-priced electronic assembly solutions.
To achieve its goals and meet the needs of its customers, Philtronics leveraged the decade-long collaborative partnership it has in place with RS, tapping into its extensive portfolio, added value solutions, buying power and reliability of supply.
The Challenge
Working closely with suppliers who understand your business, your end users and the markets in which you operate can transform your procurement for Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) processes and challenges and help save valuable time and money.
Strong, responsive relationships are also key to making supply chains more resilient, improving lead times and giving you easy access to high-quality, competitively-priced parts. Great news if your end customers have certain requirements when it comes to the composition of their products, such as brand-specific components.
When a customer of Philtronics specified the use of Eaton power supplies, which, like many power supplies are subject to long lead times and a high buy price for a single unit, their procurement team turned to RS for help. Without support, Philtronics would have to stop production and potentially damage the relationship they had with their end customer.
The Solution
With a portfolio of more than 750,000 products from 2,500 suppliers, RS was well placed to support Philtronics and help resolve their challenges.
Working closely with Philtronics, the RS Account Management team determined how they could best support them to deliver the right parts, at the right price, and at the right time.
RS has its own trusted and strategic relationships with many suppliers, including Eaton, which enables access to a huge range of high-quality products and technical support, as well as volume discounts, and enhanced payment terms. These partnerships enable RS to keep pricing competitive and tailor offerings to meet the exacting needs of its customers and their end users.
Though Eaton’s products sit within RS’s existing portfolio, the RS Product Plus specialist sourcing team worked with the supplier to discuss a solution that would best meet the needs of Philtronics, ensuring availability and scheduled delivery of parts at a new, lower price.
Better still, RS was able to place a single order to cover 12 months, including specified delivery dates. This further benefits Philtronics by reducing the indirect procurement costs and resources commonly tied up with ordering and reconciling stock and monthly invoices.
The Outcome
By working closely with RS, Philtronics was able to access reduced material and procurement costs and remain competitive while having the reassurance of guaranteed stock availability. Compared to the RS list price, the £73,700 product saving is substantial; a price further enhanced by the associated time and soft cost savings.
In turn, RS holds the stock and only invoices once the parts are dispatched, which gives significant cash flow advantages for the customer, as no cost is tied up in excess stock for long periods. Furthermore, Eaton Power now underpins the supply of its parts with a technical support offering through its relationship with RS.
Like many RS customers, Philtronics makes use of its RS Local branch in Wales and the bespoke delivery solutions the team based there offer. It is just another example of the tailored, omnichannel solutions RS delivers.
The solution has delighted the customer. Russell Weeks, Procurement Buyer at Philtronics says: “Having the Eaton product in stock is a massive help as it reduces lead times. The supported prices also support the Contract Electronic Manufacturer, as with the current climate the customer is not accepting price increases. With the help of RS, we can enter a two-year contractual agreement with the end customer where prices must be held.”
For more information on how RS can help support your business please click here.