Inventory system deployed to sustainably support Indonesian projects during COVID

Thiess’ team in Indonesia has responded quickly during COVID-19 to enable operations to continue safely, relying heavily on its Supply Chain team to source personal protection equipment.

 
To provide projects with greater support, the Purchasing and Inventory Governance team based in Balikpapan identified an opportunity for improvement by centralising the sourcing and distribution of consumables using an inventory system. Previously, the procurement and management of COVID-19 consumables were being completed by each project. 
They worked closely with the Warehouse, Operations and Health and Safety teams to establish the procurement and inventory monitoring system which will enable standardised inventory management long-term.
This meant they were able to supply six projects and one office in Indonesia’s Kalimantan region with masks, hand sanitiser and cleaning products.
Supply Chain Operations Superintendent, Ardiansyah Abdul Maya, said it was great to see the Purchasing and Inventory Governance team working with the warehouse, operations and health teams to deliver this solution. 
“Early on, many businesses worked quickly to secure the limited number of protective products available in the market,” Ardiansyah said.  
“By working together, we made sure all of our projects and offices were protected and had access to these vital resources at the height of the pandemic.” 
“As we move beyond our initial response to the pandemic, it’s rewarding to see our team develop an inventory management system that will enable long-term and sustainable benefits.”
Inventory Governance Team Lead, Faizal Rusma, was impressed with how efficient distributing consumables using the cataloguing and inventory system was. 
“The Warehouse team in Balikpapan played a vital role in receiving and distributing the consumables to meet the needs of all of our projects, Faizal said.
“By introducing a centralised cataloguing and inventory system we have been able to provide greater certainty to our people.”
Projects have already noticed the benefits of this collaboration with Melak Paramedic, Kamsar commenting that the system has been helpful for his team. 
“We no longer need to worry about procuring COVID-19 consumables which can be scarce to track down and instead we can focus on educating our people to use these effectively in the workplace,” said Kamsar. 
“The consumables ensure our team stay healthy and can continue to work safely.”
This is a great example of our Supply Chain, Warehouse, Operations and Health and Safety teams working together to deliver exceptional outcomes for our business.  
You can learn more about the key benefits of this initiative below:

- Ensured the availability of COVID-19 consumables in accordance with company standards at all projects in Indonesia
- Standardised the procurement process for COVID-19 consumables, simplifying the process and achieving economies of scale 
- Leveraged existing inventory system in JDE to source products quickly from trusted suppliers.