At Wal-Tek, we don’t just make parts—we also build partnerships.
We’re committed to being your manufacturing partner for the long term, and we’re always seeking new opportunities to help our customers get what they need when they need it.
In addition to our capabilities in tube laser cutting, sheet metal fabrication, and CNC machining services, we’re now offering strategic, demand-driven inventory storage services.
We’re proud to introduce the Wal-Tek Rapid Inventory Program (RIP).
How Our Rapid Inventory Program (RIP) Works
With our Rapid Inventory Program, customers enter a long term agreement (LTA) and determine a minimum and maximum quantity of parts for us to manufacture and store on our shelves.
When customers need parts, they submit a purchase order (PO) and pay for the desired number of pieces, billing the order against their LTA. We then ship the parts within 48 hours.
Here’s an example of how it works:
- Based on historical data, a customer knows they will need at least 1,200 of a single part throughout the year, but they aren’t sure when demand will peak.
- They establish an LTA with a minimum of 400 pieces and a maximum of 1,000 pieces.
- We are responsible for making and storing the parts at our facility and have at least 400 pieces (and no more than 1,000 pieces) on our shelves at all times.
- The customer experiences increased demand and submits a PO against their LTA for a 400-piece order.
- We pull the parts off our shelves and ship them within 48 hours, allowing the customer to quickly meet their demand.
- We then manufacture additional parts to restock the supply.
- With our shelves restocked, we can quickly meet the customer’s needs when they require more parts.
It’s important to note that our RIP is not the same as a blanket order.
A blanket order is a bulk order that is shipped out in installments and adheres to a set schedule. For example, a customer submits a blanket order for 1,200 parts in a year, with 300 parts delivered each quarter. The customer can’t easily alter the quantity or the delivery date.
Our RIP is more adaptable to customers’ needs. Instead of our team “pushing” parts onto a customer because of the terms in their blanket order, customers can “pull” parts off our shelves whenever demand increases.
Benefits of Our Rapid Inventory Program
An RIP work order is a mutually beneficial business partnership between our precision machine shop and our customers. Here are three benefits of using this inventory management solution:
1. Shorter lead times
Our standard lead times typically vary between 6-12 weeks, depending on the shop load.
With the RIP, we guarantee that we’ll ship your parts within 48 hours. Since we always keep a minimum of your order in our storage facility, you can get the parts you need, whenever you need them, regardless of what’s happening on our shop floor.
2. Stabilized pricing and decreased instances of overbuying
We all know the manufacturing industry is encountering volatile pricing right now. The RIP locks in your pricing for the initial max inventory load. We can order materials up front and in bulk, and you pay for your parts per PO. You don’t have to worry about the cost fluctuating every time you place an order.
Additionally, investors and business owners are looking more closely at inventory turns—the financial ratio that shows how often a company has sold and replaced inventory during a given period—and a RIP can help reduce the chances of overbuying parts that wind up sitting on a shelf.
3. No square footage restrictions
Storing parts requires square footage, and not all organizations can keep a large supply of inventory onsite. We have multiple facilities with plenty of space to store your parts safely and securely.
What Makes You a Good Candidate for Our Rapid Inventory Program
Would our Rapid Inventory Program be a good fit for you? Consider these two factors to help you make that decision:
1. Production volume with steady demand
Our Rapid Inventory Program is suited for customers who anticipate needing a higher volume of precision machined parts throughout the year. A good rule of thumb is that a vendor inventory management solution is effective when customers require a minimum of 100 pieces multiple times a year. Still, we can be flexible about that quantity. The key is to have steady and recurring demand.
One-off orders of 50-100 pieces are easier to slot into our production schedule, so long-term storage isn’t necessary. If you’re looking to manufacture the same part repeatedly but aren’t exactly sure when you’ll need it, the RIP could be a fit for you.
2. A legacy design that won’t change
Parts that are revised regularly aren’t ideal for our Rapid Inventory Program. If the design keeps changing, it doesn’t make sense to store hundreds or thousands of parts.
Inventory management systems are perfect for legacy parts with final designs that won’t be modified. The design for one of the parts in our RIP has been the same since 1994!
If your organization has a precision machined part that checks these boxes, our Rapid Inventory Program might be a fit.
We’re the team you can trust to get the parts you need when you need them—learn more about this unique solution by having a conversation with our sales lead, Bryce Eddy. Book a free, no-pressure conversation today.
