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The fasteners normally used in most of the industries are the unrated cheaper ones, while there are certain special types of nuts and bolts built specifically to meet the strict guidelines while manufacturing an aircraft. The total cost of production can go high, given the requirement of assembling a large structure, which is pressure tolerant and has load-bearing characteristics. This calls for a need to have a suitable manufacturing practice that can significantly cut down the costs and boost the overall profit.
Although nuts and bolts sound very undersized to the ears, the quantity in which they are required can cause a considerable increment in the inventory cost. This can be negated by establishing practical methods within the unit, to allow proper utilization of the resources. Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is one such program which helps to control productions cost right from the parts of engine to the nuts and alloy steel bolts. It eliminates the chance of misuse by applying lean techniques to the entire production process.
How VMI works
VMI covers the entire area of manufacturing process to reduce disruption in supply chain by keeping a check on all levels of production, right from the raw materials to the finished product, making sure there is no wastage of resources. It maintains the fluidity between the manufacturer and the supplier, in which the former enjoys the benefits of cost saving at each level of assembling.
Applying VMI on controlling the expenditure on nuts and bolts
Given the lean practices followed by the VMI program, you can save big on aircraft aluminum nuts and bolts by reducing the holding or operational cost and thereby increasing the throughput rate. There are soft costs associated with consumable items stored in the unit, which can amount to as much as 75% increase of the cost price. VMI plans that eliminate such an upsurge are as follows:
- Look for suppliers that provide kitting services to group all the related nuts and bolts needed for a specific part. This eliminates time consumption and extra cost on labor employed for picking the fasteners for a certain assemblage.
- Reduce the holding costs to a significant extent by opting for timely delivery of nuts and bolts. If you stock consumable items for a long period of time, it keeps adding up to the soft cost. Hence, it’s advisable to have them in-house, when required for the assembling process.
- Huge cost on stocking a large amount of aircraft nuts and bolts can be minimized by letting the supplier keep the ownership till the time the parts are used for assembling.
