Automotive
Critical spares on the shelf before they fail
A tier one automotive supplier could not risk a press line waiting months for a long-lead-time drive. Rowlec now holds the critical spares, called off against an agreed stock profile.
What changed
Same day
Replacement press feed drive on site, against a lead time in months
Consignment
Critical spares held by Rowlec until the customer calls them off
One shift
Recovery the maintenance team reported, rather than a shutdown
We keep our customers anonymous, so sites are described by sector and region rather than by name. Every figure and outcome on this page is as reported to us by the customer, not measured independently by Rowlec.
The full story
What happened
and what we did.
- The site
- Press lines feeding a just in time customer schedule
- Where it started
- Servo drives, a gearbox and safety controllers quoted in months
- What was at stake
- One failure taking a line down for most of a quarter
The challenge
The plant supplies sub assemblies into a just in time schedule, so an unplanned stop travels straight down the customer's line and gets noticed within the hour. The risk sat in a handful of components: servo drives on the press feeds, a gearbox on the main conveyor, and two safety controllers with quoted lead times running into months. Holding them outright meant tying up capital in parts that might sit for years. Not holding them meant accepting that a single failure could take the line down for an entire quarter.
Our approach
Rowlec worked through the asset list with the maintenance team, scoring each item on lead time, failure history and the cost of an hour lost on that line. That produced a short critical spares register rather than a wish list. Rowlec then holds the agreed items in Blackburn on the customer's behalf, under a consignment arrangement that keeps them off the plant's balance sheet until they are called off. Rotable items are checked and rotated on a schedule so nothing degrades in storage, and the register is reviewed whenever the asset base changes.
The outcome
When a servo drive on a press feed failed, the replacement was on site the same working day instead of waiting on a manufacturer lead time measured in months. The maintenance manager described the recovery as a shift, not a shutdown. Just as usefully, the register gave the plant a defensible answer for its own customer audits about how single points of failure are covered. Capital stays with Rowlec until a part is drawn, so the site carries the protection without carrying the stock, and the review cycle keeps the register honest as assets change.
We were one drive failure away from a very bad quarter. Knowing that part sits in Blackburn with our name on it changes how we sleep.
What we used
The solutions behind this.
Critical Spare Management
We work out which parts would stop your line, then hold them on your behalf so a long lead time never becomes lost production.
Read moreInventory Management
We put structure behind your stores so the right part is there in the right quantity, without tying up cash.
Read moreService Level Agreements
A written agreement covering response times, deliveries and out of hours support, so you know what happens when a line stops.
Read moreKeep reading
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