Tips for delivering better solutions and making happier customers.
In relationships – personal and professional – building trust by exceeding expectations can be a golden ticket to healthy and long-lasting bonds. One of the ToolKeepers team’s favorite roles is helping our friends in Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) functions exceed the expectations of their customers and colleagues. The part we play is often stealth and always adds value.
Customization is key
Efficiently procuring the right new tools and supplies and maintaining tool and parts inventories for a given process is the core of an MRO professional’s job, but there’s more. As a key part of any supply chain, MRO activities keep existing processes and 5S/lean programs running smoothly and fuel the needs of new production, service, and quality control programs. Each of these functions is unique to an individual department and can require customization to suit specific needs defined by the customer.
An MRO professional can efficiently provide a set of tools or supplies that deliver on their customer’s request, but there’s often a gap between the tool order and smooth implementation of adding these tools to the customer’s unique process. This gap represents the all-important opportunity to exceed expectations. However, offering custom solutions can be tricky if your operation isn’t set up to consistently deliver.
New tools are great. A new kit to put them in adds even more value.
An example is a toolkit that was delivered to the department manager at a major national retailer by their MRO company rep. They shared these benefits of the program:
1. Employees immediately know how to use the tools and take care of them.
2. At the end of each shift, a quick visual check makes taking inventory fast & easy.
3. Part numbers etched into the tools and the kit backing make re-orders easier than ever.
4. Seeing the seamless deployment of the new 5S process boosted employee morale and exceeded the expectations of the retail department manager.
The retailer challenged their team to devise a new process as part of a 5S initiative. The resulting solution required several tools and other components, plus a method to keep them organized. The MRO rep was able to procure the components, but needed help with the organization part of the challenge. By partnering with ToolKeepers to design and manufacture the custom tool kit, she gave her customer just what they asked for and facilitated the seamless deployment of the new tools.
Think about what kind of partner is best – invisible or directly involved?
In this retailer example above, ToolKeepers was an invisible contributor. The MRO rep chose to work directly with ToolKeepers because she preferred to fully manage the relationship with her retail client. In other cases, the MRO rep chooses to introduce ToolKeepers to their client so they can be hands-off, trusting the ToolKeepers team to be directly involved with their client. Once a new custom toolkit order is complete, the MRO rep or the end customer can easily re-order additional units from ToolKeepers as needed.
ToolKeepers is comfortable being invisible or being directly involved with the customer. In either situation, we make sure the MRO rep maintains the relationship with their customer and always receives deserved credit for delivering the final solution.
Seamless outsourcing can make you a hero
In the past, some MRO companies used in-house equipment to produce custom tool kitting, but many are now choosing to outsource to ToolKeepers instead. Our partnership has resulted in higher quality, better service, and more cost-effective results, as well as happier customers and stronger long-term relationships which are always the ultimate goal.
The backbone of ToolKeeper’s business is delivering efficient solutions to unique problems. When we work with friends from MRO organizations, they come to us with a problem knowing we’ll deliver quick and creative solutions that will go above and beyond in pleasing their customer. Kind of like delivering a wrapped gift when the recipient is expecting a simple brown paper bag.
ToolKeepers creates custom toolbox inserts that help companies
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