Rowlec expands its mechanical and power transmission range

Rowlec has expanded its mechanical and power transmission offer, so that maintenance and engineering teams can source the mechanical side of a job through the same people who already supply their electrical products.

It is a change that reflects how our customers actually work. A conveyor drive that fails at six in the morning is not an electrical problem or a mechanical problem. It is a stopped line. The engineer dealing with it needs a contactor, a bearing, a taper lock bush and a length of chain, and they do not want to make three phone calls to three suppliers to get them.

What has changed

Rowlec started in 2010 as an electrical wholesaler, and the electrical range remains central to what we do: control gear, distribution, cable and containment, motors, drives and automation, industrial control components and site electrical supplies.

Alongside that, the mechanical and power transmission range has grown considerably and now covers:

• Bearings and housed units. Ball, roller, taper and thrust bearings, plummer blocks, flanged and take-up units, bearing accessories and fitting tools.
• Power transmission. V belts, wedge and timing belts, pulleys, taper lock bushes, roller chain, sprockets, gearboxes and geared motors, couplings and shaft locking devices.
• Seals and gaskets. Rotary shaft seals, O rings, hydraulic seals, sealing compounds and gasket materials.
• Pneumatics. Cylinders, valves, fittings, tubing, air preparation and vacuum components.
• Adhesives, lubricants and chemicals. Threadlockers, retaining compounds, industrial greases and oils, cleaners and specialist maintenance chemicals.
• MRO and general industrial supplies. Hand and power tools, abrasives, fixings, PPE, workshop and site consumables.

Why we did it

The request came from customers. Engineering teams have been consolidating their supply base for years, and being asked to deal with a long list of specialist suppliers for a single repair is exactly the kind of friction that costs time when a line is down.

Bringing electrical and mechanical together under one account also makes everything else we do more useful. Stock rationalisation is far more effective when it can look across the whole consumable and spares list rather than one half of it. A managed stores works better when one supplier is responsible for the shelves rather than several. Critical spares are easier to protect when the same team understands the drive, the motor and the gearbox that sit behind the same fault.

The support that comes with it

The products are only part of it. The services we have built around them apply across the full range:

• Inventory and stores management, including managed stores, vendor managed inventory, min and max replenishment, Kanban, engineering consumable stations, product labelling and inventory audits.
• Critical spare management, holding long-lead-time items on your behalf so that capital and shelf space stay on our side until you need them.
• Worldwide sourcing for specialist, discontinued and hard-to-find components.
• Service level agreements covering rapid response, emergency deliveries, scheduled deliveries and around-the-clock cover for SLA customers.
• Engineering support to standardise products, reduce stockholding, resolve sourcing challenges and improve the reliability of the equipment that keeps causing problems.

What it means day to day

For most customers the practical difference is straightforward. One account, one point of contact, one delivery and one invoice, covering both sides of the plant. Fewer suppliers to chase, less time spent on procurement admin, and a supplier who knows the site, the equipment and what is already held on the shelves.

Our aim has not changed since 2010. Keep industry moving, and take work off the engineering team rather than adding to it.

If you would like to review your current supply arrangement, walk your stores with us or discuss which spares are worth holding, the team in Blackburn is ready to help.