bespoke managed inventory solution from Brammer, the UK’s leading supplier of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products and services, has helped deliver improved maintenance efficiencies and working capital reductions at the Alstom’s West Coast Traincare Centre at Wembley in London.
The depot, which maintains the Virgin fleet of 52 nine-coach Pendolino tilting trains, operates around a ‘pitstop’ strategy, with maintenance jobs planned one or two days in advance and a team ensuring all materials likely to be needed are in position at trackside in advance of the train arriving. The pitstop strategy was introduced following changes to timetables which meant less time available for maintenance, creating the need to optimise efficiency and turnaround.
The main spares storage system for the depot was sourced by Alstom who required a robust but easily accessible storage system for issuing fasteners to lineside. Brammer then implemented its bar-coded Managed Inventory Service to manage both range and stock levels for routine maintenance.
This is based on a ‘two-bin flag system’, with two containers of each component held lineside and a red flag automatically appearing when the first bin is emptied. Brammer representatives come to the site twice weekly - the first time to check stock levels and order new items, and the second to check deliveries and decant the new stock into the bins.
Chris Parr of Alstom commented: “The implementation of the managed inventory system has resulted in reduced turnaround times on train maintenance, with the right parts available at the right location within the depot.
“The success of the pitstop strategy has been such that it is set to be rolled out to other Alstom depots around the UK, where we propose to implement similar systems for parts storage and ordering in conjunction with Brammer.”
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