UK based Entec International, specialist MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) supply chain services providers, has been supporting several of its longest standing clients in procuring and providing essential PPE equipment to sites in the UK and across Europe, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic – a move that director Mike Robinson says puts MRO supply chains in the spotlight.
Entec is best known for providing MRO services to global manufacturers’ production facilities across Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. However, several clients, including a global alcohol beverage company, were in desperate need of specific PPE products that they had been unable to source either in the UK or anywhere in the EU as COVID-19 security restrictions took hold.
In UK and Ireland alone, Entec has distributed products to over 20 food and beverage sites, and following similar requests from other food & beverage clients, has also despatched PPE to production facilities all over Europe, including Poland, Romania, Greece, Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Entec’s Procurement Manager Gurjit Johal explains, “Within two working days of receiving the initial request from our global alcoholic beverage client, we had not only sourced one of the main products required and had them approved – a process that usually takes far longer – but we had also placed a Purchase Order for over 3000 Cases (36,000 x 500 ml bottles of sanitiser).
Almost simultaneously, Entec was asked to source another PPE product by the same client and, again within just a few days, the product was approved and ordered, with the first batch arriving on site within 10 days. In total Entec has now supplied the client with 15 Pallets, with 840 cases, over 10,000 tubs, totalling 2 million products.
Beyond the UK and Europe, the company is also providing much needed PPE products to client sites in 7 countries in Asia Pacific, with further enquiries being handled for over 2 million items of a third PPE product for delivery across 4 continents.
In a thank you from the CPO of the global beverage group, Gurjit received the following message:
“A big THANK YOU for all of your support in helping us to source a number of needed items as we work to keep our employees safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. Entec has been a really supportive partner, and more specifically, you have been incredibly proactive and responsive – even able to find us certain products when no one else could! We sincerely appreciate your hard work and support in these difficult times and look forward to our continued partnership “
Concluding, Entec Director Mike Robinson commented, “Generally, the focus for manufacturers is on parts procurement and supply, but in these strange times, the need for PPE has brought to the fore the essential role of MRO in keeping plants in production and employees safe. Effective streamlining and management of MRO supply chains can provide huge benefits in terms of cost savings, efficiency gains and reduced carbon footprint.”
Coverage of this story featured in the July 2020 issue of Operations Engineer ezine.
