We hear them so often that "I need it yesterday!" and "R.F.N. could be mottos of the aggregates crushing and mining industries. Not everything is truly a rush order, and the challenge our parts department and their customers face is knowing if a part is truly a rush order and how to handle the delivery accordingly. If you're calling about the part, it's obvious.
At ELRUS, handling this challenge properly is something that we take an immense amount of pride in. However, sometimes we need help. In trying to arm ourselves with the ability to handle the RFN type orders, we have talked with the key outside parties that can help us to make things happen. Regardless of the party, be it a customer, supplier, or transportation company, the following trend emerged in talking about the different levels of a rush:
Obviously, there can be many other categories, but for simplicity sake, 90% of orders can fall into the aforementioned range. It is also well understood that given the dynamic nature of the crushing and mining industry, priority levels can change on a moment’s notice (in either direction).
Whether it is understanding critical stock levels, hot sheeting a shipment, or calling in the SWAT Team ELRUS has worked with our key partners to put the systems in place to help minimize your operations downtime. The final key to the puzzle is for all parties to remember to find out, and properly express, the true urgency of each situation. Proper communication of the urgency means that one call (or email, or text) and the order is handled and processed in the proper time frame.
Written by Matt Armstrong