Transforming Operations: Flinchbaugh Engineering’s Journey to Strategic Inventory Management with MSC Solutions

Flinchbaugh Engineering is an employee-owned contract manufacturing company located in York, Pennsylvania serving select vertical markets in the capital goods sector. For more than 40 years, they have consistently delivered value to major corporate clients through innovative sourcing solutions.

Flinchbaugh Engineering enables clients to achieve strategic business objectives by providing non-traditional alternatives to in-house manufacturing of quality critical precision machined parts and product lines. The Flinchbaugh manufacturing campus includes five buildings each focused on the requirements of specific applications. Within these buildings, a team of highly skilled employee owners operate the best machine tool technology in a cellular work structure characterized by Lean Six Sigma and TPM.

SCATTERED INVENTORY, TOO MANY SUPPLIERS, PRODUCT AVAILABILITY, LACK OF MW EXPERTISE

Conducted an extensive operational site assessment through MSC’s Business Needs Analysis (BNA) to identify opportunities to achieve this customer’s goals for more strategic inventory management and address the need for metalworking expertise and manufacturing support.

Goals included:

• Establish an effective supplier partnership that’s beyond procurement

• Subject experts to identify opportunities for process and safety improvements

• Supplier Consolidation/Simplified and streamline procurement process

• Point-of-use inventory management

• Inventory visibility and analytics/reporting

MSC DELIVERED A CUSTOMIZED INVENTORY SOLUTION

• Dedicated MSC In-Plant associates

• Control Point Vending & VMI in 30+ locations across campus for centralized access

• Reconfigured, consolidated and organized tool crib

• Tower production fastener solution

• Dedicated MSC metalworking specialists

• Engaged MSC Safety Specialist for a full campus evaluation

• Productivity and procurement process improvements/optimized inventory levels to reduce overhead costs

• Customized performance metrics and reporting

COST SAVINGS OF $215,012 IN THE FIRST YEAR

• Reduction of PO’s and consolidation of suppliers

• Reduction of Inventory by 10%

• Value add programs

• Metalworking cost savings

• MSC Investment

“MSC Industrial is a foundational element of our business success; smoothly partnering to become a seamless extension of our Engineering, Production, and Purchasing teams. Safety, work ethic, performance, and precision are all quintessential values shared by our two organizations, enabling continued collaboration.”

– Engineering Supervisor