A plant maintenance shop has a wall of PVF: black and galvanized fittings in bins, ball valves on a shelf, gasket sheets, thread sealant, hangers and rod. When a pipe fitter needs a 1-inch 3000# socket weld coupling at 2 a.m., they need to find it fast. Whoever stocks that wall gets most of the plant's day-to-day PVF business.
The same is true of a plumbing or mechanical contractor's shop and their trucks. If you run the stock, you get the reorder.
Bin labels and a phone camera
Print barcode bin labels for every bin and shelf you supply. When someone takes the last box of 3/4-inch copper couplings, they scan the label with their phone, enter a quantity and send it. They don't need to know your part number or describe the fitting. The label already knows.
For contractor shops that restock service trucks, this is a big time saver. The shop manager walks the shelves with a phone on Friday afternoon and every truck is ready for Monday. Larger customers can use a scanner gun and upload the scans in one batch.
On-site programs for plants and facilities
For refineries, chemical plants, food plants, hospitals and universities, the on-site program gives the customer one page that shows their whole setup:
- A plant dashboard: tap any crib, vending machine or RFID rack to see its bins from the front and the top.
- A floor plan to scale, with drag and drop and a CAD download.
- Counting bins, and what is on hand and where.
- Every machine and bin, with exact sizes.
Material certs and C of Cs can be attached to the lot they belong to, and customers download their own. For industrial PVF, that matters. When a plant needs the MTR for a batch of carbon steel flanges or the cert for a pressure-rated valve, they don't have to call you and wait while someone digs through a file.
Counts, receiving and suggested orders
Cycle counts and receiving happen on a phone and are sent to your system to post. When a bin is counted, the app shows a suggested order: the bin's max, minus on hand, minus what's already on order, rounded up to the pack size. Fittings come in boxes, valves come in cartons, and nobody wants an odd quantity broken out of a master carton.
Receiving on site helps with how PVF really ships: partials, backorders and drop-shipped valves that arrive separately from the fittings. The customer receives against the order, and everyone can see what is still open.
Stock special items without the risk
Industrial customers often ask you to stock items just for them. A specific valve trim for a process line. Stainless fittings in a size nobody else buys. Spiral-wound gaskets for one plant's flanges. If the plant changes the process, you are left holding it.
Dedicated custom inventory agreements solve 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 say yes to the special stock with the risk shared fairly.
Managing the customer's inventory turns you from a supplier into the way their shop or plant runs. Once your labels are on the bins, the reorder comes to you.
Book a demo and see it with your branch counter and inside sales team.