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WESCO delivers for the Automotive Industry
Maintenance
Opportunity: An automotive manufacturer’s lighting standardization initiative for North American plants calls for reduced energy and labor costs while maintaining or improving lighting quality.
WESCO Solution: As 34-watt T12 fluorescent lamps fail, they’re replaced with new Philips long-life 34-watt T12 fluorescent lamps. Because the long-life lamps require changing less frequently, they reduce labor costs by $1.15 per lamp over their lifespan. During the second and third quarters of 2007, the customer purchased long-life T12 lamps that yielded labor savings of $21,014.
Result: $21,014 Labor Savings!
Procurement Services
Opportunity: An automotive assembly plant in Kentucky uses in excess of 40,000 units of a specific Panduit cable tie each year. The customer’s cost for this cable tie was $2.16 each.
WESCO Solution: WESCO negotiated with Panduit to secure better pricing on this item. The customer’s new cost is $0.974 each, representing a 55% savings of $1.186 per cable tie. With estimated annual usage at 41,142 units, the new lower pricing is expected to save the customer $48,794.41 per year.
Result: 55% Price Reduction — $48,794 Annual Savings!
Working Capital Management
Opportunity: An automotive stamping plant in Ohio needed replacement parts for a variety of equipment. Purchasing these items from OEMs was expensive and often involved long lead times.
WESCO Solution: Rather than purchase replacement parts from OEMs, WESCO found other manufacturers of equivalent parts at a lower cost. For example, WESCO found a local manufacturer to produce computer cables for which the OEM charges $134 each. The locally made cables cost only $21.40 to $33 each, depending on type, and have proven to last two to three times as long. With prior usage at 25 of each type per year, the new cables will save $5,340 annually. In a similar example, OEMs were charging $350 and $400 each for backlights. WESCO found other sources to manufacture the backlights for $50 and $75 each — and reduce lead time from 16 weeks to one week. The new backlights also offer brighter light output. The customer purchased 25 of the $50 units and 40 of the $75 units, realizing a savings of $17,250.
Result: $22,590 Savings — with Faster Turnaround and Better Quality!
Maintenance
Opportunity: An automotive manufacturer’s lighting standardization initiative for North American plants calls for reduced energy and labor costs while maintaining or improving lighting quality.
WESCO Solution: As 250- and 400-watt high-pressure sodium lamps fail, they’re replaced with 250- and 400-watt Philips RetroWhite metal-halide lamps, which yield white light instead of yellow. While they provide better quality light, longer life, and reduced energy consumption, the RetroWhite lamps are able to operate with the existing high-pressure sodium fixtures and ballasts, eliminating the need to install new metal-halide fixtures at a cost of $300 each. At a material and labor cost of $31.50 per lamp change, the RetroWhite lamps save $268.50 per lamp. The purchase of 384 lamps saved the customer $103,103 in 2007.
Result: $103,103 Material and Labor Savings — Plus Better
