MRO services extend to third-party procurement

A new contract between Icopal and Wyko extends the scope of the company's MRO service to include a wider range of activities needed for the efficient operation of the site.

In recent years, Icopal, the world's foremost supplier of building protection products, has been achieving substantial and consistent savings at its manufacturing plant in Manchester by using the specialist maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) service offered by Wyko.

Now these savings are set to grow further following the signing of a new contract between Icopal and Wyko which extends the scope of the MRO service to include a wider range of activities needed for the efficient operation of the site.

The original service provided by Wyko covered the management of Icopal's engineering stores and dealt with all product requirements needed for maintenance purposes.

This included sourcing products from companies within the Wyko organisation and from third party suppliers, as well as ensuring that stock levels were at all times adequate to meet Icopal's needs.

To operate this service effectively and efficiently, Wyko has a permanent office on the Icopal site, and provides two full time staff to manage the stores and the MRO procurement function.

The key to the savings delivery to Icopal is the purchasing power and knowhow of Wyko.

As one of Europe's largest engineering groups, the organisation has immense buying power and can, therefore, negotiate discounts with suppliers that other companies cannot hope to match.

Wyko also has a team of eighty product specialists who work closely with the customer to deliver technical benefits and savings through the application of advanced engineering solutions to meet the needs of those companies like Icopal that make use of its MRO services.

Further savings are made possible by improved logistics.

Since most major engineering suppliers are already supplying material regularly to Wyko, the extra cost of delivering the products needed by Wyko's MRO service customers is negligible.

Additionally products despatched by Wyko to its customers can be consolidated into a single delivery so that, once again, costs are minimised.

In order to ensure Icopal can measure the benefits of the service, Wyko agreed benchmark prices for all of the major maintenance-related items that Icopal was buying prior to outsourcing its MRO activities.

On the basis of these prices Wyko provides Icopal with regular reports on the actual savings that have been made.

In response to requests from Icopal and other service users, Wyko is extending its scope to cover not only the materials related to MRO activities, but also to include the activities themselves and even activities that fall into the areas of facilities management and capital investment.

For example, if Icopal needs electrical testing services, the Wyko team will find and engauge a company to carry out the work.

Similarly, if Icopal needs building work, Wyko will find a suitable builder.

Although Icopal is the first company to take advantage of this new extended service, Wyko is now making it available to any company in the UK that has sizeable and regular MRO requirements.

To underpin the new aspects of its service, Wyko has made a large investment in building relationships with vendors, and compiling a register of those that can meet its demanding standards consistently and cost effectively.

Icopal and other users of the service are, therefore, not only spared the time-consuming exercise of finding their own vendors, they are also guaranteed that the vendor provided by Wyko will carry out high quality work, on time and within budget.

Once again, Wyko's expertise and purchasing power adds value to the service, as the company is well placed to negotiate the best possible prices with vendors and can also provide project management and technical support to ensure that the work runs smoothly.

"Every aspect of the Wyko MRO service, including the new extensions, is saving us money", says Andy Hampson Operations Director of Icopal, "and that's not simply because direct costs are reduced".

"We no longer have to spend time finding and evaluating suppliers of components and services, which means that we make further savings on our purchasing operations".

"More importantly this allows our engineering department to focus on its core activities such as process improvement and preventive maintenance, whilst Wyko focus on theirs".

"Wyko operate as a fully integrated part of our operation, this helps us to concentrate our efforts on what we do best - making innovative building protection products that are used all over the world".

"That's very good going for a service that also puts money in our pocket".

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