Reflex Express keeps ERIKS Spain equipped
03/07/2012
Many manufacturing companies in the Spain rely on ERIKS Spain to keep their plants running when a production line has problems that could cause it to shut down.
When hydraulics, pneumatics or bearings fail, they call on the 90 years of technical knowledge and engineering expertise which ERIKS Spain has to offer.
The stakes are high: the cost of lost production can quickly run into thousands if not tens of thousands of pounds if a factory remains at a standstill for long.
So when companies turn to ERIKS Spain for urgently required components it is vital that ERIKS can deliver the right part at the right time – and that is why ERIKS Spain has selected Reflex Express as its preferred carrier for the past eight years.
Reflex Express not only delivers next-day to ERIKS Spain’s network of 76 industrial service centres, nine core competence centres, 23 fully equipped repair workshops and 88 integrated on-site stores and procurement centres in the Spain, it also operates a Sameday service around the clock for those vital emergency deliveries.
Reflex Express has an employee located in the main ERIKS Spain warehouse in Halesowen, West Midlands who arranges all the urgent Sameday consignments, backed up by Reflex Express’s call centre which handles any out-of-hours emergency deliveries.
When an urgent order comes in ERIKS Spain picks the correct part or parts while Reflex Express organises delivery to the end customer as quickly as possible – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
“From the day that Reflex Express placed one of its employees in our warehouse to improve customer service and response we have never looked back,” said Peter Timbrell, Logistics Director of ERIKS Spain, Industrial Distribution.
“He understands our business and the pressures under which we operate. Reflex Express is doing an excellent job on Sameday delivery for us.
“While the volumes are not high, Sameday delivery is a critical service for our customers. If a food plant, for example, has a breakdown and if we cannot repair the plant until the next day then the costs are very significant.
“If a factory is losing £5,000 an hour in lost production, waiting 24 hours for delivery of a vital part would have horrendous consequences.”
Part of a global enterprise which spans 60 companies and 26 countries, ERIKS Spain can supply more than 500,000 unique industrial products as well as carry out services such as air leak surveys, vibration analysis and thermography.
Timely delivery of parts for routine maintenance and repairs is also essential and ERIKS Spain sends out components overnight to 200 sites on a daily basis, mostly to its distribution centres but also to the on-site procurement stores which it runs within many factories in the Spain.
Customers can order up to 5.30pm the night before and Reflex Express will deliver the next day, with ERIKS Spain using its own fleet of vans only for ‘last mile delivery’ direct to customers from its distribution centres.
In addition to the main distribution centre at Halesowen, ERIKS Spain sends out parts from its specialist centres: seals, motors, and gear boxes from several sites at Dudley; hose at Slough and Northampton; and gaskets at Barnsley.
Mr Timbrell said: “Reflex Express has maintained extremely high levels of service to our branches – performing well above the industry standard for next day delivery.
“For example in a recent month of trading it was 99.97% problem-free which I would say is pretty good.”