Industry
Food Manufacturing
Challenge
Dairy producer was running on a mish-mash of lubricants from multiple non-food-focused manufacturers. Engineers weren't booking stock out, causing recurring inventory panics, and one incumbent product wasn't even food-grade, putting audit compliance at risk. With quality, compliance, and stock control as their top priorities, they needed a single trusted partner instead of a patchwork of suppliers.
Results
The 11 oils and greases have been reduced to 4 high-performance, NSF-registered food-grade lubricants, backed by a color-coded stock system. The result: zero stock-outs since switching, reduced lubricant spend, and guaranteed audit compliance — including for Tesco PIU, their toughest audit.
Key Product
Food Grade Lubricants
About your Customer
A leading UK milk producer that Produces 500 million litres of milk per year for retailers employs around 30 engineers across 7 production lines, including 2 Tetra Pak lines.The Challenge
This customer site produces 500,000,000 litres of milk per year for retailers. They employ around 30 engineers across 7 production lines, including 2 Tetra Pak lines.
The site has had a big issue with engineers not booking stock out, with resulting 'panics' at inventory time. They were using products from multiple manufacturers (who are not 100% focused on the food industry) and wanted to move to a 'one stop shop' arrangement to optimise their lubrication culture.
The Engineering Manager and Stores Manager identify audit compliance as being very important, with Tesco PIU being their most stringent audit. They are very vigilant in this area. They were particularly looking for audit compliance, rationalisation and better value for money.
Their top 3 supplier criteria are: 1) quality, 2) compliance and 3) stock control.
The Solution
Ran a four-week, no-obligation trial of Activate products housed in a lockable, stainless-steel storage unit, with supporting application and compliance materials integral to the unit.
Activate applied their application expertise and industry know-how to rationalise 11 oils and greases to 4 high-performance Group 4 base oil lubricants offering superior engineering performance and all NSF Registered to the required Foodgrade category, thus always ensuring guaranteed Audit Compliance.
Effective color coding and simple stock management system facilitate easy and accurate product selection and stock replenishment control within a busy Engineering Department.
Before and After
The Results
Since switching over to Activate Lubricants, we have become a lot more comfortable with our lubrication culture. A big win for us has been the fact that we have had no stock-outs since the switchover, something that was an issue for us previously. Our lubricant inventory has been very much rationalized, and Activate's advisors even managed to consolidate our existing lubricant stock.
Despite the extra value elements mentioned above, we have actually seen a significant cost reduction in our lubricant spend, which is a very welcome bonus to the peace of mind we now enjoy!
In my opinion, there isn't anything further I can expect from a supplier. I look forward to continuing to work with Activate!"
We have found Activate's after sales support and customer service to be fantastic. They are always on hand to answer questions and react very quickly when we need them. We now also have total reassurance that we are audit ready at all times. This is particularly important to us as we undergo stringent audits, including the Tesco PIU.
