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NASH FINCH SOFTWARE TABS MAINTENANCE COSTS IN DCS

MINNEAPOLIS -- Nash Finch Co. here is building a database for tracking maintenance costs for forklifts and pallet movers at its 22 distribution centers. The program uses software developed in-house.The program is currently in place at all Nash Finch distribution centers, although some are further ahead than others in implementation, said Warren Frank, manager of warehouse productivity and equipment

MINNEAPOLIS -- Nash Finch Co. here is building a database for tracking maintenance costs for forklifts and pallet movers at its 22 distribution centers. The program uses software developed in-house.

The program is currently in place at all Nash Finch distribution centers, although some are further ahead than others in implementation, said Warren Frank, manager of warehouse productivity and equipment at Nash Finch. He added that the company's goal is to catalog information for one year, and then begin evaluating the data.

The program, which is being used by mechanics at the distribution centers, tracks operating time of equipment, on a per-period basis, and maintenance done on that equipment during the same period of time. It also records the cost of parts and the time spent by the mechanic in making repairs.

In addition, the program can produce a list of maintenance jobs to be performed on equipment, such as oil changes and tune-ups.

"By keeping track of our maintenance costs and the operating time of the equipment, we will start to see if particular pieces of equipment are becoming more costly to operate," said Frank.

"Ultimately we want to be able to identify, for an individual warehouse, which pieces of equipment are more costly," he added. "Further down the road, as we start to collect history and move beyond our learning curve, we may be able to compare one warehouse's cost of equipment to another."

This type of program, which attaches costs to specific pieces of equipment, is part of the industry's overall movement toward activity-based costing, the basis for activity-based management.

Frank said Nash Finch developed its own maintenance program so it would be easy for distribution center mechanics to use.

He said this was particularly important because some of its distribution centers have only one mechanic. Nash Finch distribution centers range from 100,000 to 600,000 square feet, compared with other wholesalers with distribution centers of more than 1 million square feet, said Frank.

"The maintenance department in a big facility probably has some type of clerical support," Frank said. "But a small warehouse couldn't cost-justify that, so the mechanics handle the paperwork.

"I don't want the mechanic to be a computer programmer. I want him to be a mechanic. That was what motivated us to come up with something internally," Frank added.