Using Data to Build Your Business

Using data to measure your business's success helps you see a clear picture of where your business stands. Numbers don't lie -- you can tell how your business is doing and set goals based on past and present metrics. These Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help your business stay on track to goals, quotas and let you know where you stand. Austin Hardware® covers this more in-depth here.

Aren't you ready to stop focusing on the small things like purchase orders, supply chain headaches, too many vendors, etc.? It's time to start focusing on what really matters – what new product improvements are needed to drive sales, how vendors can align with you to exceed your corporate or department goals, what manufacturing processes need revisiting. It's time to start building business relationships, setting long-term goals, growing your business, and preparing for future growth.

Austin Hardware's team of experts can help take your business to the next level. If staying on track for your future goals is your concern, keep reading to see how Austin Hardware's use of data analytics and solutions can help your business stay on track this year.

One of the best parts of partnering with Austin Hardware® is that we are a complete one-stop shop. With Austin Hardware®, you get it all, a convenient solution for both our new and our existing customers. We not only have the parts in stock; our engineering team can work with you to custom design parts for your specific applications. We can also reduce the links in your supply chain with our expert sourcing capabilities, and vendor-managed inventory capabilities. It may sound too good to be true, but for the last 60 years, we’ve learned a thing or two about businesses just like yours. 

If you’re in the construction or woodworking business, you’re using nails every day. Homeowners often find themselves looking for just the right nail for their DIY projects. Even the core customers of Austin Hardware®, which are in the transportation and metal fabrication businesses, industries in which nails are not a predominant fastener, find the occasional need for nails for different projects such as constructing shipping containers for their products. 

How does custom kitting work?

Inventory kitting, custom kitting or bundling products together is a strategy that allows businesses to save time and money. Instead of buying products one by one, kitting is a way to buy all the parts and products you need – say for manufacturing a good – therefore cutting out unnecessary purchasing steps. Seems simple, yet many businesses do not offer or utilize this type of service. Essentially everything you or your customers need are grouped and supplied together to make things easier for you. There are different ways that custom kitting works, and different ways that businesses can use this service to their advantage.

If you run a business, you know how busy your day can be. There’s a lot to do, and a lot of hats you must wear throughout the day. Having one less thing on your to-do list can make your day run smoother, as well as give you a chance to focus on something else that is equally as important. One way to simplify your tasks is custom kitting. Basically, if you’re receiving parts and products from different vendors you’re spending time sourcing, price checking, and selecting these products. After that, your team then must sort and organize all the different parts. Sounds like a lot of work. That’s because it is. Kitting basically cuts this process in half. Everything you need arrives in one convenient package from ONE supplier.

Reducing Lead Times

Why should you focus on your business' lead times? It's important to ask yourself this question, especially if your business is serious about getting things done. When it comes to your supply chain, reducing lead times is essential if you want real performance for your business. If you want to increase efficiency in your business and focus on long-term growth strategies keep reading below.

Lead Time Factors

Many things can hurt your company's lead times. For example, if you are outsourcing products from overseas, these often have an extended shipping time, this could play a significant factor in your supply chain's performance. This may seem like a good alternative, but it could be costing you more money in the long run. Are you factoring this time into your sales, production and other important metrics? Shipping delays can often turn into months instead of weeks, causing slowdowns in production and ultimately hurting your bottom line.

For many companies, a Vendor Managed Inventory program is a better way to handle replenishment.

The natural question for you to ask now is … why? What are the benefits of having a supplier manage MY inventory?  In a word … MONEY.

Now that’s obviously an oversimplification. But when you break it down and look at all the different parts of the replenishment cycle a VMI program can impact, it becomes easy to see the benefits.  

Let’s take a more detailed look.

There are a number of options, and plenty of decisions to make for companies considering a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) program. Depending on a company’s goals, budget, and available resources they’ll have to decide on the type of VMI program, to what extent the VMI provider’s personnel will be used, how products in your program are going to be replenished and accessed, and more.

We’ll look at a few of these options in this post.

There are essentially two types of VMI programs

• Non-Consignment
• Consignment.

Both Non-Consigned and Consigned VMI programs offer customers a similar list of benefits, which you can read more about HERE.

For many companies, a Vendor Managed Inventory program represents a better replenishment strategy.

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is exactly what the name suggests. A program in which one of your vendors acts as a partner who takes on the day-to-day tasks and responsibility of managing your inventory.

For manufacturers, a VMI partner is usually a key supplier of component items, such as hardware, fasteners, or MRO products. Products for which it’s critical to strike the right balance between having enough to eliminate “line-down” situations, but not so much as to incur high carrying costs or run the risk expiration or obsolescence. The ideal VMI partner has the capacity to provide the majority of those parts which allows you to take greater advantage of the benefits of Vendor Consolidation.The VMI service provider works alongside you to implement a strategy based on your inventory management needs. They become an extension of you and your replenishment team, not a replacement.

Are you a manufacturing company? If so, does your business depend on inventory to get by? If you answered yes to one or both questions you might be familiar with a two-bin system. A widely used inventory management system, a two-bin system basically deals with two bins to help you or your team keep track of inventory. It helps you determine when inventory is full, low, and needs replenishing. A two bin system often exists in production lines where multiple parts come together to create a new product.