Gorman-Rupp turns to automated bins to collect usage data

Updated May 5, 2023
By Blue Print Editorial Team

The Fastenal team works during the implementation at Gorman-Rupp's location in Mansfield, Ohio.

ALWAYS PRIMED FOR MORE
When the U.S. military needs a pump to handle tough jobs, they trust Gorman-Rupp. With almost nine decades of experience engineering and manufacturing pumps, they are certainly qualified for the job. Their employees are proud to say that many of their innovations are now industry standards.

​With a successful history, a state-of-the-art facility, and an experienced staff of engineers, Gorman-Rupp is always looking for the next way to move the company forward. 
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“We want to set our employees up for success,” said John Stevens, manufacturing manager at Gorman-Rupp. “Anything we can do to make the job better helps the team, helps the product, and helps the customer. We want that.”
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TAKING BACK LOST TIME
With a main facility that covers 14 acres, employees were losing time walking to get supplies. Gorman-Rupp knew it wanted to reduce the travel and downtime so that their teams could stay focused on production.

“We knew there was a better way of doing things,” said Joe Gfrer, Commodity Manager at Gorman-Rupp. “We’d seen Fastenal working with other places, and we knew there was room for improvement in our process. Fastenal was already handling all our MRO for our machine shop, and it just made sense for us to reach out to them and have them take on more for us.”

To provide the best solutions, Fastenal considers each facility and each customer a unique situation. Members of Fastenal’s Lean Solutions group do not believe that “one size fits all.” So Lean Specialists spent time at Gorman-Rupp’s facilities to find the best ways to improve workflow.

“They had Lean leaders that were able to come out and process map everything with us,” said John Stevens, Manufacturing Manager at Gorman-Rupp. “They really walked us through it all and showed where we could gain efficiencies and improve our throughput. And they had technical resources like data tracking and Lean processes that they were able to provide us that were essential.” 

UNLOCK THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY

Q & A
What was a key win?
Mike Carroll | Operations Manager

“Primarily it has allowed us to focus on our direct labor. Every time we have our workers filling bins, we consider that to be non-value added labor, and having Fastenal take over that work has let our team be focused on their work.” “In terms of morale, it’s been a boost there, too. Employees have enjoyed having what they need right at the point of use where they are working. Having that hardware right there has allowed them to be focused on their job and have a big reduction in the interruption of their work.”

When did you start seeing results?
Joe Gfrer | Commodity Manager
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“We saw pretty much immediate results. There was a little bit of tweaking that happened and still can happen, but Fastenal has been so good at making those changes quickly and even suggesting ways that we can get more out of the system.” 

John Stevens | Manufacturing Manager

“This lets us get more production out of the day. We can create more pumps per day and hour. It, too, created improved ergonomics for the employees. Placing their essential resources at the point of use.” 

Implementation for MRO: The team from Fastenal transitioned existing modular storage over to technology-based solutions. Also while on site, this same team removed old storage shelving then assembled and installed new storage solutions to better manage remaining existing inventory.
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How did the implementation process go?
Joe Gfrer | Commodity Manager

“The Fastenal team made sure we were prepared for changes before they even came up. They said they’d seen a lot of setups in the past and could pretty much know where things could go. This prevented a lot of things that could have gone wrong from going wrong.” 

What's the most impactful change Fastenal helped you make?
Mike Carroll | Operations Manager

“The technology, the RFID and the IR bins, that was just above our expectations. It might be the biggest change for us. The data we receive – the min/maxes, the amounts, the restocks – all of it helps us know what’s happening in the process. And Fastenal already knows what they need to restock because they have that data.”

Joe Gfrer | Commodity Manager

“It’s just one less thing that we need to manage. It lets us focus on what we should be working on, making pumps for customers. The technology makes it easier for us to focus on our customers’ needs more. We, as a company, are very customer-driven and focused. Our main goal is to overserve our customers each and every day. We create high quality products; these pumps are world class.” ​

TALK TO A REP

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​Got feedback? Email us at
[email protected].
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ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP

Gorman-Rupp's Take
John Stevens | Manufacturing Manager
“It was common [for workers] to be about 80 steps away from the resources. It could take up to 15 minutes to get parts and get back to their work centers. We have significantly improved these metrics, and improved overall morale due to our Fastenal partnership.”

“Gorman-Rupp wants to get better via continuous improvement for the sake of our employees and customers, and Fastenal is helping us get there.”

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Fastenal's Take
Gene Humes | Director of Lean Solutions

“We invested in this partnership by going on-site in their business and dedicating a tenured employee to help manage their business. This opened the door to a new level of partnership with them where we could have the trust to continue bringing value to their business. There is a lot of vending in there, technology has been always a piece of it but our investment with the right person in the on-site role has brought the greatest single value.”

​What Industries Does Gorman-Rupp Serve?

• Oil & Gas
• Agriculture
• Water Treatment and Sewage
• U.S. Military and Defense
• Construction
• Mining

​How Fastenal Helps With OEM

• 42 stocking locations with automated bins
• 180 SKUs
• 2,700 RFID
• 600 IR
• Fasteners and pins

​How Fastenal Helps with MRO

• 20 traditional VMI locations
• 4,000 SKUs
• 35 vending machines (coil-based, lockers, metalworking-specific drawer units, etc.)

​Additional Industrial Services: Fastenal’s implementation team created a regrind system for round tooling. Workers now have a regrind center with a collection area for scrap metal. When full, Fastenal recycles the metal via GreenTech and gives that money back to Gorman-Rupp.

​To reach out to a Manufacturing Sales Specialist, please email
​[email protected].