McMaster Carr and Grainger are both MRO suppliers. Both company act as distributors , offers several hundred parts all year long.

1. Efficiency and Effectiveness
of a good Supply Chain.
By
Akhil A
GRAINGER AND MCMASTER CARR –
MAINTENANCE REPAIR AND OPERATION
SUPPLIERS

2. W. W. Grainger
 The company was founded by William
Wallace Grainger in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois.
 W. W. Grainger, Inc. is a Fortune
500 industrial supply company founded in
1927 in Chicago.
 Revenue is generally from business-to-
business sales rather than retail sales.
 Specializing in next day delivery of
Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO)
materials and supplies.
 Grainger operates in 22 countries and serves
customers in more than 150 countries
through its export business.

3. McMaster-Carr
 McMaster-Carr Supply Company is a
private, family-owned supplier to
industrial and commercial facilities
worldwide.
 McMaster maintains over 555,000
products in a catalogue offering a variety
of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and
utility hardware not usually located from
a single source.
 The company is based
in Elmhurst, Illinois.
 The McMaster app was released in May
2013 for the iPad and March 2014
for Android tablets.

4. Summary
 McMaster Carr and Grainger are both
MRO suppliers.
 Grainger has a lot of stores across US,
also uses websites while McMaster Carr
mostly uses website and usually ships
the order.
 Grainger have 9 DCs in US, McMaster
Carr have a few DCs which also serves
as stores.
 Both company act as distributors , offers
several hundred parts all year long.

5.  Pre structural Level :- company growth,
strategies to be adopted in a company.
 Uni structural Level :- specializing in MRO
delivery, supply chain strategies.
 Multi structural Level :- Order Fulfillment ,
Deploying new DCs and Stores, Usage of
proper Inventory Tactics to save cost
 Relational Level :- Need of efficient
management system, Proper use of IT
(Websites, Management Systems),
Reduction of Transportation Cost.

6. Q1
 Grainger have 9 DCs and 100s of
stores which means at least 11 stores
for one DC.
 If they increase the no of DC, then
faster order fulfillment is possible.
 Since McMaster Carr uses DC as both
DC and Retail store ; They just need
to increase the no of stores drastically
.

7. Q2
 The product stocking should be
according to the historical data and a
proper forecast.
 There should be a vast inventory for
fast moving products.
 The DCs should have all products and
stores should have fast moving goods.
 If a slow moving part is ordered , It
can be fulfilled through DC.

8. Q3
 Should use an ABC analysis for the
inventory.
 More for Fast moving, Less for Moderate
moving , and much less for slow moving.
 But, goods should be from reliable
supplier since if a large quantity of Slow
moving goods is required, they should be
able to deliver it on time.
 Inventory aggregation for slow moving
items
 Inventory disaggregation for moving
goods

9. Q4
 There’s no room for waste when it comes
down to your inventory.
 Inventory- More for Fast moving, Less for
Moderate moving , and much less for slow
moving.
 But the sales should be divided into 2:
Shipping and Retail.
 And according to both order forecast,
Inventory should be maintained.
 Also , Since they have website; Use it as a
tool:
Deal of the Day, Bonus Items, Put the Items
on Sale on Slow moving goods.

10. Q5
 The markets should be allocated according to the
historical data, since it has been more than 80 years in
market, they will definitely have the data.
 Also when there is data, they can change inventory .
For eg: Industrials hubs need machine spares while
Neighborhoods need small home appliance parts.
 If an order cannot be fulfilled by a DC, So DCs should
be in a proximity that one will act as another’s Backup.
 i e : DCs in the country should have some equal
proximity; which will help when problem with orders
arises.
 With certain substitutions , orders can be fulfilled such
as product substitution, Manufacturer substitution and
Location substitution.

11. Q6
 Since there are 1000s of suppliers, MRO
Suppliers should use DCs as Cross
Docking Centers, So that suppliers only
have to deliver it to one DC.
 This DC has to be in a quadrant, or a
group of 5 or 10 states.
 This will also reduce transportation cost,
and Decrease Suppliers burden.
 Also a criticality method has to be used,
So that there is provision for Critical and
Strategic products.
 And both Continuous and Periodic
review of Inventory should be
implemented

12. Q7
 Since there are dynamic changes in
technology day by day, There is an increase
of E-commerce.
 So it is good to Integrate the web orders with
the normal orders.
 Here the stores and DCs should have an
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). So when a
order is placed or a sale happens the whole
stores in US knows.
 The information on paper invoices, purchase
orders, requests for quotations, bills of lading,
and receiving reports will also be shared.
 This is called Click and Mortar strategy.

13. Q8
 The transport should be mixed.
 The delivery of goods and Stock
replenishment should be done using
same vehicles.
 Whenever a delivery goes out, if it is
the farthest from a DC and nearer to
the Supplier , that vehicle can be used
for replenishment.
 By this way, Supplier wont charge
transit cost and company will incur
less cost.

14. Value Added
 Freight tracking Web pages.
 Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
 working together with the customer to
identify the parts (Design Collaboration).
 Auto-Reorder for the products that is
used regularly.
 E-Procurement
 Online Order Management System.
 Inventory for just-in-time and emergency
needs of businesses.

15. Thank You 