Tooling costs cut
January 1st 2006

Yorkshire Fittings has more than halved its monthly tooling costs since installing a tool management system from Burcas.

The system holds 580 different tooling items and consists of a series of metal cabinets. These are close to where the tooling will be used and each contains a set of numbered drawers.

Each drawer is given a reference number relating to a particular tool item, such as a drill bit of a particular size, and contains space for the required number of those items. At Yorkshire Fittings, this varies between five and 100, including safety stock. Each week a Burcas representative checks and replenishes the tools.

Implementation of the new system was smooth, with the Burcas cabinets at first being filled with stock already held by Yorkshire Fittings and being replenished from that stock until it was exhausted, after which it was replaced by new stock from Burcas.

During this time, Burcas provided a reporting facility, enabling Yorkshire Fittings to make an accurate assessment of tooling use.