Wind Energy
Maintenance
Case Study

BACKGROUND
A leading wind energy services provider was dealing with the challenges of providing uniforms, workwear and safety footwear to a distributed workforce at locations throughout the United States.

PROCESS INEFFICIENCIES
A uniform company was providing workwear and FR rated clothing through a third-party online storefront website. Employees could order workwear online, however, since the apparel website did not accommodate footwear, employees could only "purchase" a voucher with their uniform allotment and use it for the purpose of buying safety footwear. Employees usually had to pay out-of-pocket for footwear and then would have to submit a receipt and paperwork to get reimbursed. This resulted in manual adjustments of employee balances. Delays in reimbursement resulted in confusion regarding an employee's actual account balance.

The administrator could maintain the census on the "marketplace" website but could only see an employee's balance history, not their complete order details and history. The lack of report history prevented meaningful inventory planning and resulted in a lack of program control and long backorders for key apparel. Employees had to look up their balance in an account section of the website before shopping.

Some employees tended to use up account balances with frivolous purchases of excess apparel or items such as hats and shirts, but since order details were missing, oversight was not possible.

GEARCOR SOLUTION
Gearcor set up a co-branded website that combined the safety footwear options, workwear and PPE into a fully integrated system. The Gearcor system gave the administrator total program visibility, yet the intelligence built into the system reduced administrative time.

The Program Manager explained, "Gearcor has helped us streamline many processes, reduce cost, and increase employee satisfaction with various enhancements. They continue to turn company policies into a digital infrastructure reducing errors through failsafe methodology." *

Inherent in the system are certain program parameters that apply limits to certain items. The "digital program parameters" empowered employee self-service and simplified program administration while reducing the overall program costs.

All employee purchases are made in the system which divides out footwear and apparel that will be shipped by Gearcor and Personal Protective Equipment such as harnesses, hardhats and other items that are provided directly by other specialized distributors.

Employees benefit by being able to make purchases online via a home computer, tablet or smartphone and they now have a one-stop shop for all of their uniform and footwear needs.

The reporting tools in the Gearcor system continually build usage data based on styles and sizes. In addition, Gearcor receives live inventory data feeds from manufacturers and can purchase inventory in advance of an out-of-stock situation and also dropship directly from manufacturers when that is the best course of action.

* Note: The customer name is available to qualified prospects in non-competitive industries.