Onsite Partnership: Investing in Shared Success

December 12, 2022
By Brian St. Hilaire, Vice President of Fastenal Solutions

“Supply chain partnership” is a concept we hold close at Fastenal. It means moving beyond a transactional buyer-seller mindset to pursue common goals, open communication, and shared success. From our perspective, it also means investing in resources – particularly local resources – that drive risk, cost, labor, and waste out of your supply chain.

There’s no better example than an Onsite program. With this model, the investment in your business includes dedicated personnel, inventory, technology, and other resources – a total solution customized around your high-level business goals.

Unlocking Productivity in Your Supply Chain - Here's How We Do It

Experts

With an Onsite partnership, we provide a fully-dedicated person or team to execute a supply program aligned with your strategic goals. These personnel do more than fill orders and bins. They become ingrained in your daily operations and experts in your product needs.

They also act as the point persons for other experts in our business, collaborating with specialists, suppliers, and sales leadership to execute special projects and drive improvements in your business.

Inventory

When we implement an Onsite program, we sell down the current inventory and phase in our own. Moving forward, the inventory remains on our books until it reaches the floor stocking locations – a dollar-for-dollar improvement in working capital.

Planned needs are backstopped with multilevel buffer stock – in regional distribution centers, in the Onsite crib, and at point-of-use locations, including devices that provide 24/7 inventory monitoring for a more proactive replenishment process.

Logistics

Our transportation fleet executes a regular service schedule to maintain min-max inventory levels and quickly fulfill unplanned needs, providing consistent service while driving freight efficiencies.

In the bigger picture, your facility effectively becomes part of our distribution system, directly supported by our vehicles, our distribution centers, and our global sourcing, quality, and logistics resources – an end-to-end program to reduce risk and waste across the supply chain.

Technology

The Onsite Fastenal team orchestrates a lean flow of inventory to production lines and various point-of-use locations. This can include digital devices to monitor, track, and control faster-turning and/or critical items.

We bring a deep history in inventory management. Just as importantly, we bring the future. An Onsite program becomes a pipeline to the latest innovations in areas like automated supply technology, asset tracking, and data analytics.

Multi-Level Support

The program is supported by Fastenal’s district and regional sales leadership, our regional distribution teams, and various subject matter experts (in areas like safety, engineering, metalworking, and Lean Six Sigma). A key resource is the local Fastenal branch, which serves as a back-up stocking/service center as well as a same-day source for unplanned needs.

Data & Visibility

Our point-of-use devices not only provide products, they also collect data. Meanwhile, your Fastenal service team uses mobile technology to digitalize their daily service. Through this pairing of service and technology, you’re able to access and apply data in unique ways.

Gain visibility to what you have on hand, where it’s located, what is being purchased, and how it’s being used in the business – information that allows you to take industrial supplies out of the shadows and into a transparent, planned environment.

In short, we invest in layers of resources to achieve shared and sustainable success. For your organization, the impact can be measured in financial terms, including working capital, operating expenses, and revenue. But there’s an even more important measure of success: an ability to provide a better experience for your customers (in terms of lead time, quality, etc.) through improved supply chain performance.

Is An Onsite Program the Right Fit?

The answer is best addressed through a site assessment, where we meet with your supply chain stakeholders, analyze your current operations, and assess the value we can provide.

Interested in learning more? Click here.

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