Finning Canada
One of the first steps Suryawanshi and his team took
was to assess what did and didn’t work at a strategic level
and determine what kind of changes were needed to give
Finning the best bang for its buck. That included assem-
bling the right team to institute those changes, a hybrid
mixture of people from within who were familiar with the
company culture and newcomers with no preconceived
notions.
The changes focused on five key areas: sales and op-
erations planning, inventory management, purchasing,
warehousing and transportation.
A new, more robust sales and operations plan helped
align Finning’s stock levels and purchasing with the right
mix of inventory. The focus of inventory management
shifted to place more emphasis on stocking parts at local
branches or regional hubs using a multi-tiered approach.
A streamlined purchasing plan converted most of the com-
pany’s previous emergency purchases into regular stock
purchases and netted huge cost savings.
The company also instituted a warehouse excellence
program that reviewed operations at all its warehouses
and recommended changes on everything from how items
were shipped to how they were tracked. A new optimized
transportation network shifted trucks from areas of ex-
cess capability to those where they were most needed and
eliminated a lot of middle handling to create a more direct
shipment between Caterpillar and Finning’s customers.
The results of Finning’s transformation speak for them-
selves. During the first two years, same-day fill rates for
parts rose from 66 to 88 per cent. Emergency shipments
fell from 54 per cent to just 24 while turnover of parts
stock rose from three to nine times a year. Meanwhile, cus-
tomer satisfaction climbed from 44 per cent at the time of
the ERP failure to an astounding 78 per cent.
THE BENEFIT I HAD WAS
THAT I HAD A FRESH
SET OF EYES. I WAS AN
OUTSIDER. THAT HELPED
ME TO REALLY LOOK AT
THE PROBLEMATIC AREAS
AND COME UP WITH A
BENCHMARK OF WHAT
IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE.
SUPPLY CHAIN CANADA • QUARTER 1 2017 • 23