Every plant keeps a storeroom of power transmission spares: bearings for the critical motors and pumps, mounted units for the conveyors, V-belts and synchronous belts for the drives, roller chain and connecting links, coupling inserts, oil seals and grease. In a well-run plant that storeroom has labels, minimums and somebody responsible for it. In many plants it is shelves of boxes, some of them opened, some of them empty, and a few holding the wrong part.
If you manage that storeroom, you are no longer just the supplier who gets the emergency call. You are part of how the plant keeps running.
Bin labels and scanning
The app prints barcode bin labels for every shelf and bin. Label the 6200-series and 6300-series bearings, the pillow blocks by bore size, the belts by section and length, the chain by size, the coupling elements and the grease cartridges. Anyone in maintenance can then scan a label with a phone and the item goes into the cart. If you or the plant do a weekly walk with a scanner gun, those scans can be uploaded together.
Each bin can hold a minimum and maximum. When a bin is counted, the app shows a suggested order: the max, minus what is on hand, minus what is already on order, rounded up to the pack. Belts that are sold in matched sets and bearings sold in boxes stay in sensible quantities.
On-site programs for big plants
A plant with a main storeroom, a couple of satellite cribs and maybe a vending machine for grease and small parts needs more than labels. The on-site program gives the customer one page for the plant: a dashboard where they tap any crib, vending machine or RFID rack to see its bins, a floor plan pinned with every location, what is on hand and where, and every bin with exact sizes. A new maintenance tech can find the spare gearbox seal kit without asking around.
A sound PT storeroom program usually covers:
- Bin labels on every location, printed from the app.
- Min and max on critical spares, like the bearings for a bottleneck machine.
- Phone counts with the suggested reorder calculated for you.
- Receiving on a phone, checked against what was ordered.
- A floor plan with every crib and rack pinned, so you and the plant see the same picture.
Counts, receiving and the expensive spares
In your own warehouse, counts and receiving work on a phone and go to your system to post.
Power transmission has one big risk for the distributor: the expensive, specific spare. A plant asks you to keep a gear reducer for a particular line, a large spherical roller bearing for a crusher, or a motor in an unusual frame. If the machine is replaced, that spare can sit on your shelf for years. Dedicated custom inventory agreements fix that. The customer signs for items stocked just for them, gets notices at six months and then at 90, 60 and 30 days, and anything left is invoiced at twelve months. You can stock the critical spares the plant needs without owning all of the risk.
Documents matter too. Certs and documents sit on the lot they belong to, and customers download their own, which is helpful for plants that need paperwork on file for audits.
A storeroom you manage is very hard for a competitor to take. Once your labels are on the shelves and your counts drive the reorders, switching means starting over. Start with one plant that keeps calling about the same bearings in a hurry, and build the program there.
Want to walk through it with your own plant and OEM customers? Book a demo.