Metso Minerals Outsources European Logistics to SKF

Metso Minerals has selected SKF Logistics Services as preferred partner for their wear and spare parts warehousing logistics in Europe.

Metso Minerals and SKF Logistics Services announced their logistics partnership during a recent contract handover ceremony in Metso Minerals’ office in Tampere, Finland. A 5-year agreement has been signed.

After the European Logistics Business Case Study conducted by Metso Minerals in 2006, the Logistics Europe Project (LEP) was started in order to align the customer service, logistics and warehousing activities with the company vision and growth targets. The goal is to achieve customer satisfaction, operational excellence, speed and agility by improving parts availability and delivery reliability, by increasing operational efficiency and by reducing delivery lead-time whilst optimising the overall logistics cost.

At the same time it was decided that core functions such as order handling, inventory management and technical product support were to remain under Metso Minerals’ responsibility. Warehousing and related logistics operations on the contrary were not considered as core business and thus could be outsourced.

Lauri Nissilä, Vice President Customer Service, Inventories, Logistics & Distribution Centers Metso Minerals: ‘Metso Minerals, after analysing several potential partners, came to the conclusion that SKF Logistics Services was the ideal partner to conduct our Central European warehouse operation from Tongeren, Belgium. SKF Logistics Services was found to be a world class performer, customer oriented and with whom Metso Minerals could satisfy its own customer’s needs’.

To the SKF Group, Metso was already a strategic global customer. To date the services and products offered to Metso encompass primarily the Bearings platform but with this new logistics services agreement SKF strongly reinforces its Platform and Segment approach by adding a new dimension to their partnership with Metso.

SKF Logistics Services will provide a state-of-the-art warehousing logistics solution to Metso Minerals. The primary objective is to consolidate the main part of European inventory from both factories and sales units, to rationalise central key functions, to implement direct customer deliveries and to streamline overall supply chain processes.

Once the implementation is completed, Metso Minerals' customers will be mainly supplied from the central European Distribution Center based in Tongeren, Belgium. In this multi-client facility, hosting nearly 7,000 SKU's for Metso, SKF will manage inbound operations from Metso Minerals factories and external suppliers, quality inspection together with other value added services, diverse inside and outside storage on 9,000 sq m surface, outbound operations for spare and wear parts for destinations worldwide and extensive customer service activities. The entire operation is supported by a sophisticated and fully integrated IT solution.

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