PRODUCT

Powdered metal bronze sleeves, flanged bushings, and thrust washers – broad range of inch and metric sizes in stock.

APPLICATION

A large regional distributor of power transmission products was required to maintain an inventory of powdered metal bronze sleeves, flanged bushings, and thrust washers for one of its key customers – an industry leading machine builder/rebuilder. This machine builder offers a wide range of products utilizing just-in-time (JIT) inventory planning.

PROBLEM/CHALLENGE

The machine builder was experiencing missed deliveries due to out of stock items on a number of bronze bearing/bushing products. The root cause was that the distributor was utilizing three smaller sources for powdered metal bushing products. Those smaller sources could not meet the wide range of product and lead times required, they also required extensive administrative oversight. The supplier’s performance issues were jeopardizing the distributor’s continued business with the machinery builder.

SOLUTION

The distributor approached Isostatic Industries, Inc. with a complete list of the machine builder’s bronze bearing/bushing sizes and estimated annual requirements. The distributor inquired how many of the parts were in stock. Isostatic responded: “100%”. The distributor was excited yet skeptical. The initial purchase order entailed 210 line items in quantities ranging from thousands to dozens of pieces of Oilube powdered metal sleeves and flanged and thrust washers.

RESULT

Isostatic filled the order 100%, to the delight of the distributor. A 27+ year partnership has resulted from that first effort.