Outsourcing Industrial Services to Increase Efficiency

In recent years there has been a growing uptake in companies adopting the outsourcing route for many of their once, in-house maintenance, repairs and operations functions, simply because of the specialist and efficient services some of these companies can offer. Inline with this there is also the advantage of long term cost efficiency not only because of the obvious advantage of wholesale consumer buying power the outsource company has but also the reductions in downtime.

With an amazing amount of diminishing surplus expenditure, engineering companies in particular cannot afford the extravagance of a big maintenance in-house team, with the consequence that maintenance staff often find themselves under extreme time pressures. Outsourcing the businesses elements of maintenance, repair, operations (MRO) and stores,maintenance parts replacement processes is fast becoming the future for many companies of all sizes.

Every single maintenance person knows the typical situation. You're working away and being exceptionally busy when you’re required to attend to a breakdown on the other side of the factory. Productivity is really important, so the pressure is on to overcome the issue. Identifying that a spare part is needed, you make your way as fast as you can across to the parts department. If your fortunate, the replacement item you need is there. Of course, you’re not always in luck. The shelf may be empty, and then the fun really commences. Contacting requisitions, screaming at the purchasing guys to source the important spare part as fast as possible, and checking regularly to see if it’s delivered – how tiresome is all of this, how much work time does it take, and how much does it cost in terms of downtime? There are also less visible but equally significant consequences to this waste of manufacturing time, in that it prevents the workforce from carrying out more useful tasks. In the present work arena these, might, for example include working on energy saving suggestions, reviewing factory output with a propositions to increasing output, and undertaking pre-emptive maintenance.

But what's the solution? How can the maintenance, repair and logistics stores be revised, without it resulting in a massive investment, to avoid the waste of production time? The most effective way is to outsource the complete stores set up to a bespoke operation that has knowledgeable experience in maintenance, repair and operations. Let’s see exactly what this means, using the outsourced maintenance, repair and operations contract as an example. Essentially, the outsourced agent takes over every aspect of managing the stores. The stores operation effectively merges into a business within a business, with the service engineers as its consumers. The operation is, for all practical purposes, a hands on on-site service setup. The advantages are massive. The improved stores procedure is run not by a stores operative but by an experienced business manager who is driven on managing the stores properly and cost effectively and, above all in such a manner that the needs of the clients – the maintenance team – are given top priority.

To help meet these goals, specialised systems that have been implemented and structured over decades of experience with huge numbers of companies are introduced. These include a brand new stores management computer resolution capable of accurately keeping count of thousands of wares, and of ensuring that required orders are forever placed for stock replacement. Leading Europe in providing these exceptional services is ERIKS.

The UK arm of ERIKS was formed in April 2008 after the takeover of WYKO with its Head Office based in the West Midlands by ERIKS nv in late 2006. The acquisition is reported to have been worth approximately £139m. ERIKS now delivers an extremely extensive range of products and industrial services to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) market places.

ERIKS UK now plays a valuable role in the overall ERIKS drive to establish themselves alongside the top companies in each of its core industrial activities namely: Electrical mechanical services, flow technology, industrial plastics, power transmissions, sealing technology, specialist technology, technical and logistics solutions along with tools and maintenance products. Employing over six thousand people ERIKS is a formidable leading in the provision of  industrial services across central and Western Europe.