OP Mobility Automotive: Full accountability, traceability and 100% stock accuracy

OP Mobility Automotive Ltd. has achieved substantial savings of approximately £70,000 annually thanks to implementing the Konecranes Agilon® automated warehouse, with a payback time of less than six months. 

Today, its maintenance and repair operations (MRO) materials are continuously accessible, the location of each required item is easily identified, and no transaction goes unnoticed as every pick is recorded. Previously, the company faced challenges with stock management, slow stock access, low accuracy, and lack of space, all of which have been resolved with Agilon's automated solutions.

Note: Plastic Omnium has recently rebranded as OP Mobility.

OP Mobility is a French family-led independent group that operates globally with 135 production plants in 25 countries and 25 R&D centres. Its diversified customer portfolio, industrial excellence and innovation strategy make it a significant player in the automobile sector. The Edison Road facility supplies tailgates to Jaguar Land Rover.

We were looking for better control of our maintenance spares

“We were looking for better control of our maintenance spares. The main driver was knowing if we had a spare for parts and related transactions. We needed to reduce the occurrence of spare parts not being available at the time of breakdowns. Space reduction was another consideration,” says Duncan Lewis, Plant Engineer and admin user of Agilon automated storage solution at OP Mobility.

We visited a site where we saw Agilon in action, got the “wow effect” and decided that Agilon was the way to go.

The company looked at several traditional alternatives to solve its stock management issues. Duncan Lewis saw an advert for Agilon and first thought it might be a warehousing option for the tailgates. Upon further investigation and discussions, the system seemed to be better for storing smaller maintenance spares. “We visited a site where we saw Agilon in action, got the “wow effect” and decided that Agilon was the way to go. Of the many options, it was best suited for our needs, especially because of transaction accountability, photo and weight options, and PIN/fingerprint login accountability.”

Saving up to nearly £70,000 annually

We estimated that we could pay back the Agilon system in six months

Before deciding in favour of Agilon, OP Mobility made a detailed ROI calculation to find the total savings potential. They added up the time taken up by the current manual process of searching for spares, the value of manual work that Agilon does automatically, and the future savings potential through an automatic replenishment process.
“We estimated that we could pay back the Agilon system in six months and save up to £69,600 per year. It is a massive saving for any business,” Duncan points out.

Installed in only three days

Its installation took only three days whereas installing a traditional stock management system takes from six to eight weeks.

The 14-metre long and 6.1-metre high Agilon system at OP Mobility features one robot and one user access point. Its installation took only three days, whereas a traditional stock management system takes six to eight weeks.
According to Duncan Lewis, installation was very efficient and well-controlled, meeting all their expectations. “The staff were a bit wary at first, but they liked it once they were taken through to see how the device operates. In addition, other staff members have been very impressed seeing it in action.” Currently, some 2,600 parts are stored in the system.

Shorter response time to breakdowns

Agilon has improved our response time to breakdowns as people know where to go to get a spare

Deploying Agilon in the OP Mobility warehouse has brought significant benefits – and solved the earlier-mentioned issues. “Agilon has improved our response time to breakdowns as people know where to go to get a spare and if we have one or not and act accordingly if we don’t. It has also helped us pass financial and system audits,” says Duncan Lewis.

It improves budgeting, accountability and working with suppliers as we have given them access with fingerprint to replenish the stock.

“We have quick access to the parts through the portal and control over P&L and stock levels. It improves budgeting, accountability, and working with suppliers as we have given them fingerprint access to replenish the stock.”

The system uptime has been over 99%.

In case of technical issues, the staff is backed up by the Agilon Global Technical Support (24/7 Remote Service team). Lewis says, “We have had a couple of issues, but the Agilon team is very responsive and knows the issues before we do. We communicate by chatting. The system uptime has been over 99%.”

In the future, at OP Mobility plans to add new features to its Agilon system. These include automated orders, replenishment with the suppliers, and an external Agilon store for oversized items. “Overall, Konecranes has proved to be a very professional company providing good support. We are all very impressed with it,” Duncan Lewis concludes.

Agilon benefits at OP Mobility

• ️Control between P&L and Balance sheet
• Ability to forecast maintenance budget with greater accuracy
• Easy access to check stock/inventory from any web browser
• Closed loop process with full traceability from user log-in profile
• The system can be accessed by the supplier (consignment stock) to load parts
• Speed of access to correct part improved, impacting positively on down