Blog Archives - Mendrhub

4 Best Practices for Asset and Inventory Management

June 21, 2024 by Mendrhub

Whether you’re working in the equipment manufacturing, distributing, or field service sectors, managing your assets and inventory effectively is critical for maximising profit margins. Proper management can also save on costly mistakes, improve overall productivity, and ensure everything is tracked and valued in real-time. Having worked with clients across these industries, we’ve identified several best practices for asset and inventory management that have fuelled their growth.

Conduct Regular Audits

Auditing may be a standard operation in most (if not all) businesses, but it can easily be overlooked when other priorities arise. Unfortunately, it’s when audits get skipped that problems occur. Regular auditing of your equipment and part inventory will help identify any discrepancies, faults, maintenance issues, or mix-ups, so you can address obstacles before they become larger, more costly problems. Regular audits will also help you determine the actual value of your assets and usage frequency of parts, helping you forward plan, and effectively manage capacity.

Label All Assets

Another best practice businesses should consider adopting is labelling their assets using unique identification numbers. Scannable, unique QR codes are perfect for quickly identifying assets, verifying their location, and determining their status. In addition, for manufacturers and distributors, placing QR codes on either your assets or asset packaging can provide your end users with a seamless way to register their new purchase for warranty and book after-sales servicing. Asset and facility management software like mendrhub stores all QR codes linked to equipment details, along with supporting integrated customer registration and after-sales servicing, making the addition of these labels an affordable way to add significant value.

Implement a Just-In-Time (JIT) System

The Just-In-Time system is a type of inventory management where you work closely with your suppliers to ensure raw materials arrive precisely when production begins, not any sooner. The goal here is to have the absolute minimum amount of inventory on hand to meet current demand. Adopting JIT practices has been shown to reduce excess inventory and the associated holding costs. It also helps you maintain a strong relationship with each supplier, which is required to ensure inventory is delivered as needed.

Use a Centralised Asset Management System

Using a centralised asset management system to track all assets and parts from factory to warehouse to end user can transform the operational efficiency and overall experience of your procurement, warehouse, and service facilitator teams. A system like mendrhub will provide detailed reports of asset service and logistics history and whole-of-life costs to help you determine economic viability and proactively manage your assets.

You can even monitor and move spare parts between locations and technician’s van stock, or create purchase orders to refresh inventory shortages. Workflow automation and technician scheduling also help to ensure your assets are managed efficiently and effectively.

Running a successful business means having a full view of company operations – especially your assets. By following these best practices, you’re setting yourself up for success. Are you interested in how an asset and facility management system like mendrhub could work for your business? Get in touch today to have a chat.

5 Ways To Simplify Asset Logistics With mendrhub

May 15, 2024April 22, 2024 by Mendrhub

Navigating the intricacies of logistics demands a solution that can seamlessly move and track your assets with ease. Making asset management simpler is a core tenet of mendrhub so we have ensured that our platform provides robust logistics capabilities.

Aside from supporting the shipment of assets through purchase order management, we support five different types of movements in our platform:

Deliveries from warehouses to outlets
Pickups from outlets to warehouses
Site-to-site movements between two outlets
Warehouse transfers between two warehouses
Admin moves for correcting asset locations

Each of these movements ensure that the system maintains an unbroken chain where all assets are accounted for at every moment. As an offshoot of a leading asset management company, we understand the pain points associated with asset logistics and mendrhub was designed as an ideal solution to them.

Here are just five of the ways mendrhub can simplify your logistics management.

1. Track and move assets from your phone

Through the mendrhub client app, you can track and move your assets right from your phone. With pinpoint accuracy you have full visibility and control over your assets, ensuring a seamless and efficient operation. Our app also provides visibility of the availability of assets at your warehouses and customers locations giving you total transparency no matter where you are.

2. Complete audit oversight

Within our platform, rationally chained movements prevent inaccuracies in location updates. This unbroken chain not only enhances accuracy but also provides a complete audit log, letting you quickly identify and correct discrepancies and follow up with logistics providers or locations.

3. Efficient management of deliveries and pickups

Mendrhub allows users to request preferred times for deliveries and pickups and have logistics providers attach proof of delivery to verify that movements have been completed. Movement orders can also be placed for both single assets, multiple assets, parts or a combination of parts and assets. If the warehouse needs to skin an asset prior to delivery, this can be specified as well, creating a warehouse activity that will need to be completed before the delivery can take place.

This simplified process enhances overall operational efficiency and will leave you with happy customers.

4. Real-time notifications

Stay informed throughout the logistics journey with instant notifications delivered via SMS and email. All parties, from facilities to logistics providers, warehouse staff and location managers will receive useful updates and real-time information as the logistics status of a movement order update, making sure that all involved parties stay up-to-date and in the loop throughout every step of the logistics process.

5. Flexible supplier choices

Decouple and de-risk your logistics operations by setting up more than one logistics provider. This flexibility not only expands your reach but also allows for more convenient delivery times and effective cost control. You can more easily adapt to changing market dynamics and evolving needs, ensuring your logistics operations remain competitive and continue to attract clients.

From logistics to warehousing and service, mendrhub makes asset management simple and gives you your time back. Your customers will be glad you made the switch too.

5 Reasons Why Asset Management Software Is Essential for Foodservice Equipment Manufacturers

April 23, 2024March 27, 2024 by Mendrhub

In the highly competitive world of foodservice equipment manufacturing, staying ahead of the curve is crucial to your success. Asset management software is a niche solution that has managed to completely revolutionise the industry, and we have first-hand experience of just how potent it can be when implemented for equipment manufacturers serving the fast-paced foodservice and beverage industries.

These are the key reasons why.

1. Continuous product improvement

When visualised through interactive dashboards, the detailed data and insights provided by an asset management platform allow you to identify critical business and product trends. This helps you close the loop when tracking equipment performance, empowering you to make decisions that can ultimately save your business money and keep your customers happy.

With a clear picture of equipment performance, you can understand the types of faults that occur, feeding this back to the factory and creating a virtuous cycle of product improvement and quality control. This data can also be used to implement optimised preventative maintenance schedules and digital self-help troubleshooting, extending the lifespan of your customers equipment and minimising downtime.

Ensuring your platform of choice works seamlessly with IoT (Internet of Things) devices allows your after-sales servicing to become truly proactive. With data flowing in real-time, your decision making power can improve exponentially while service requests can be set to auto-trigger before a breakdown occurs.

2. Complete control over your supply chain

One of the great benefits of asset management software is the complete visibility it provides over everything from product shipments to warehousing, part inventory, order fulfilment and servicing. This kind of visibility means you can quickly identify areas to reduce waste, cut operational costs, and improve your overall production planning. The result is a leaner and more cost-effective production process.

By tracking not just the detailed activities taking place across the supply chain, but also the costs incurred, asset management platforms become a critical tool for managing your suppliers and taking control of costs across the supply chain. By allowing you to set up supplier rates you can create powerful opportunities for automating service and billing.

Other handy features that enhance your control include the ability to track service providers performance against SLA’s (Service Level Agreements), cost and attendance efficiency, as well as managing parts and part suppliers and setting up automated stock reorder points to ensure key parts are always on hand.

3. Business risk mitigation

If you sell equipment to the foodservice industry, you’ll know just how important compliance with industry regulations and standards is. You’ll likely also know how much time it takes to manage compliance week in and week out. Asset management software simplifies compliance by providing accurate records of all service activities that have taken place. You can specify mandatory insurances and accreditations that your contractors will be auto-notified to keep updated.

When a new request comes through, the system will ensure that jobs will only be assigned to compliant contractors. This system capability provides the documentation you need for audits and regulatory inspections, reducing the risk of penalties and legal issues.

Software like mendrhub can further help manage business risk with other standout features including:

Compulsory sign-in and sign-off digital checklists for your contractors to complete, mitigating OH&S risks.
Digital on-site sign off from client contacts to confirm work has been completed.
Real-time tracking of time on site
Detailed tech specs and explosion diagrams arming your service providers with all the info they need to complete their job successfully.
Capturing proof of purchase for you end user warranty registration to minimise the risk of false claims.
Photographic evidence captured during warranty service to support or refute warranty claims.

4. Improved customer experience

In the fast-paced world of foodservice equipment manufacturing, customer experience is the key to success and what will set you apart from competitors. The best asset management software will also provide your customers with the ability to register their equipment for warranty directly from an embedded page on your website or from your own custom branded app that your customers can be prompted to download onto their smartphone. These powerful tools extend to after-sales servicing where customers can lodge warranty and out-of-warranty requests directly from a custom branded app or via an embedded service request web page.

With these requests integrated directly into your asset management platform, such value-adding tools not only simplify things for your customers and save them time, but have the added benefit of saving your service team from such time consuming tasks as fielding calls and managing emails.

Asset management software allows for accurate warranty tracking plus automatic setting of warranty periods upon asset registration, which keeps things seamless for customers. On top of this, customers can also use these platforms for case management to lodge support tickets, receive real-time notifications on their service request progress, and utilise QR codes included on their assets for quick registration, troubleshooting and servicing.

5. Simplified billing

Asset management software takes the manual labour out of billing, and it’s easily able to invoice customers for product and part sales as well as out-of-warranty servicing. You can set up rules to ensure markups on customer invoicing are applied automatically, set up cost limits and service provider rates for straight through processing, and utilise OCR and automatic digitisation to simplify supplier invoicing.

Some platforms such as mendrhub will also instantly integrate with common accounting platforms like Xero and MYOB, meaning that once invoices are approved you don’t need to think about billing again.

In an industry as competitive as foodservice equipment manufacturing, investing in an asset management system is the best move you can make for long-term success. From live dashboards to inventory management, make sure you take the steps today to help you operate strategically, streamline your processes and free up your valuable time.

4 Hidden Costs of Multi-Site Restaurant Maintenance

March 13, 2024 by Mendrhub

he Hidden Cost of Multi Site Restaurant Maintenance

As an FMCG business owner, you’d definitely be aware of the direct costs associated with repairing and maintaining your expensive equipment and machinery. Those are costs you can plan for. Cost you can factor into your budget. But if you’ve been in the game for any length of time, you’ll know that there are a host of hidden costs associated with multi-site maintenance that can make a significant dent in your bottom line. Here are the four we see the most.

Different equipment and systems

One of the main challenges of managing multiple restaurant sites is the diverse range of equipment and systems in each location. From kitchen appliances to HVAC systems, each site may have different brands and models, and each needs unique expertise for maintenance. This complicates training for maintenance staff and increases the need for specialised technicians, driving up labour costs. Implementing standardised equipment across your sites is a good way to avoid this and streamline the maintenance process.

Reactive vs. proactive maintenance

In the constant hustle and bustle of a busy restaurant, equipment failure can disrupt operations and leave you with very unhappy customers. What we see a lot of is multi-site operators who find themselves stuck in a cycle of reactive maintenance, addressing issues only when they arise. This approach can result in higher repair costs, increased downtime, and a negative impact on the customer experience. Scheduling proactive maintenance and regular inspections can help identify potential issues before they escalate, reducing overall repair costs and minimising downtime.

Communication challenges

Coordinating maintenance activities across different locations, especially when they are geographically dispersed, can be a logistical nightmare. Miscommunication can lead to delays in repairs, duplication of efforts, and increased costs. Implementing an asset management system like mendrhub gives you total visibility over your assets, and with the ability to do reporting directly within the app, it makes for fewer inconsistencies and minimal miscommunication.

Compliance and regulation

Different locations may be subject to varying local regulations and compliance standards, adding another layer of complexity to multi-site restaurant maintenance. Ensuring that each site adheres to relevant codes and regulations can cost time and money. Investing in a management system that centralises all this information for each location takes a lot of the work out of monitoring and implementing the necessary measures to ensure compliance.

Understanding and managing these hidden costs is going to contribute to the long-term success of your multi-site restaurant operation, and ultimately save you money along the way. If you’re looking for a better way to manage your multi-site operation, we’d love to chat with you about how mendrhub can simplify your processes and make asset management that much easier. Give us a call at 1300 141 606 or email us at [email protected].

7 Ways Service Providers Can Benefit From An Asset-Centric Service Platform

February 12, 2024 by Mendrhub

With so much competition out there, service providers need a simple, effective solution to properly manage their customers’ assets and provide a new stream of value for their customers.

You need a way of getting to know the big picture while maintaining control over the small details and niche requirements of your business. This is what an asset-centric management platform does well, and the benefits to your own business, and the businesses of your clients, make investing in one a no-brainer.

Optimal equipment performance

Better asset management helps to ensure that every piece of equipment is performing at its peak. With a quality asset-centric service platform, you can track the condition, maintenance history, and usage patterns of your equipment with ease.

This data means you can identify potential issues before they cause more serious problems, such as breakdowns, which can be solved by scheduling recurring preventive maintenance.
Less downtime for customers

If your customers make use of IoT-connected equipment, you can easily sync live data directly into your asset management system, alerting both you and your customer to any issues proactively. This means you can send a team out to the site before your customer’s operations are disrupted by equipment downtime.

Our own platform has an inventory management feature, which can simplify providers’ means of managing van stock, helping to keep equipment running in peak condition and making for happier customers.
Better team management

Asset management platforms, like mendrhub, provide in-depth job details, equipment service and warranty history, a complete inventory of spare parts, and simple check-in/out processes. All this visibility means you can better allocate your resources, making sure the right tools and technicians are always being sent out to complete a service. This approach means less idle resources, full utilisation of your assets, and ultimately, happier customers.

Some of these platforms will also come with a built-in scheduling and route optimisation feature that can give you a clear view of upcoming work and team member assignments, assisting you with running your operations efficiently.
One of the unique things about mendrhub is that it allows user guides, technical specification, and exploded diagrams to be auto-attached to jobs to aid your team in the field, which improves their efficiency while on-site.
Cost control and financial efficiency

Servicing equipment can get expensive, but with an asset management platform, you get to be in control of your cost margins. You can set up specific service costs by equipment category and automatically apply mark-ups on client invoices that are based on rules set on client contracts. Invoicing can be further streamlined with direct integration to your accounting platform and options to capture credit card payments pre-attendance.

By monitoring how equipment is performing, you can also identify cost-saving opportunities, like setting up maintenance schedules or predictive maintenance strategies, and identifying underutilised assets that can be sold or repurposed.
Compliance and regulatory requirements

Equipment service providers often work in industries with strict compliance and regulatory requirements. Asset management systems help you meet these standards, including safety, environmental and industry-specific mandates.
By keeping records of equipment maintenance, inspections, and certifications with a system like mendrhub, you’ll avoid penalties and legal issues and improve your reputation as a reliable service provider. Alongside maintaining relevant accreditations and insurances, digital checklists can be created and used as a permanent record for procedural compliance on jobs.
Data-driven decision making

Managing assets effectively requires a deep understanding of the data being generated. Real-time analytics provided by an asset management platform can help you analyse equipment performance, maintenance history, and other relevant data, while also identifying trends so you can make data-backed decisions.

Larger clients in particular will get a huge amount of value out of the detailed data you will be able to report to them, giving you an edge over competing service providers. Just make sure your platform of choice can support flexible contracts so your team can cater to the different service level agreements your larger customers may require.
Improved customer experience

The streamlined processes facilitated by an asset-centric approach lead to faster response times, quicker issue resolution, and an overall smoother service delivery. Not only will your customers be a lot happier, but they’ll also likely stick around for longer and spread the word about your business’s reliability.

And, with all the details already in your system, auto-generated job reports will bring a level of transparency to your customers that will not only bring them peace of mind as to the necessity and quality of work undertaken, but will also help invoices pass through review quicker—ensuring your team get paid sooner rather than later!

There really is no downside to investing in an asset management platform for your service provider business. Cost savings, better equipment performance, and happy customers are just the beginning of what a platform like mendrhub can do for your business.

Talk to mendrhub’s experts to learn more.

QSR Asset Management Software: What are the benefits?

June 15, 2022April 7, 2022 by Mendrhub

Speed and efficiency are the driving force of every successful quick-service restaurant (QSR). For anyone operating a QSR, and particularly multi-site operations, this fast-paced industry requires specific and highly efficient workflows. Hence, an impeccably organised operation is a must for providing excellent service and ensuring recurring profits.

Moreover, maintaining food quality, adhering to food, safety and compliance regulations, and making sure everything is on schedule is by no means an easy task. It is made even more complicated when the kitchen, store and delivery teams use predominantly manual processes that don’t collect data in real-time.

Utilising asset management software that is also capable of full facility management can play a huge role in helping quick-service restaurants proactively manage their facilities and uncover data that enables them to lower service costs, improve operational efficiency and ultimately provide the best possible experience to their customers with minimal disruption.

Asset Management Software in QSR Businesses

To successfully run a QSR business, you need to actively monitor and manage assets such as equipment and vehicles along with your general facilities. This is where a dedicated software solution comes in handy.

Asset management software enables you to maintain complete control over your QSR assets. You can capture all your assets digitally, with the optional aid of QR codes, to gain total traceability over any repair work that is done and associated costs for maintaining your facilities. It also allows you to schedule planned maintenance activities that keep your business running smoothly and minimises your operational down-time.

Regardless of the number of assets your facilities own, capturing and analysing detailed asset data gives you the power to transform your business. Collecting comprehensive data about your assets empowers you to make better decisions for your your restaurant whether purchasing new equipment, running day-to-day operations more profitably, reducing costs, or making long-term strategic calls that give you a key market advantage.

The Benefits of QSR Asset Management Software

The best QSR asset management software provides owners with a wide range of benefits that help to improve multiple aspects of their business. Here are just some of the key benefits that QSR businesses can expect to gain by utilising asset management software:

Improved Mobility: By coming packaged with a dedicated restaurant app, the right asset management software can allow you to seamlessly log service requests and manage your restaurant’s assets while on the go.
Integrated Analytics: Utilise analytics and dashboards to monitor your restaurant assets which helps you improve uptime, increase servicing efficiency and verify the quality of work done.
Scheduled Maintenance: Proactive restaurant servicing is made effortless by asset management software as you can schedule auto-dispatch recurring maintenance activities that include custom checklists for a worry-free experience.
Full Servicing: Asset management software that accommodates full facility maintenance will provide you with a complete overview of your vital cooking and refrigeration assets, while also addressing all of your facilities servicing needs, from hygiene and plumbing to battery, electrics, and lightbulb replacements.
Contractor Management: Keep your contractors updated with compliance requirements and provide them with all the information they need to service your assets effectively with the right asset management software at hand.
Self-Triage: Bake your operational knowledge into the platform and minimise unnecessary call-out fees with a custom-built triage process that supports your restaurant staff by recommending actions to take and rectifying issues without the attendance of a contractor.

Wrapping Up

Without minimising your business expenses, maintaining full transparency over your facilities and making the day-to-day operations as efficient as possible, you end up throwing good money after bad and run the risk of potential OH&S issues.

In today’s competitive QSR environment, differentiation has become a major challenge, and adopting innovative solutions can give you a powerful advantage.

Ready to take the next step?

Schedule a live demo with one of our product experts to get a preview of how mendrhub’s asset management software can take your quick-service restaurant to the next level.

FMCG Brands: How technology transforms the asset management process

June 16, 2022March 25, 2022 by Mendrhub

The Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry faces countless challenges due to market volatility, fierce competition, changing costs, new business models, and fast-changing consumer expectations.

For FMCG brands, a comprehensive POS Trade asset management process can help organisations face these challenges while improving their assets’ utility, maximising brand exposure and successfully managing P&L expenses in the process.

Asset management platforms are critical for enabling you to run your operations effectively by managing the entire asset lifecycle, from purchasing, branding, warehousing, the setting up phase, pre-delivery checks and logistics to in-field reactive and planned maintenance.

How Is Asset Management Software Beneficial for FMCG Brands?

Asset management is pivotal for any business that invests time, money, and resources into preserving and presenting its consumer products. Chances are, each moveable point-of-sale asset is critical, with asset downtime leading to loss of product and a major impact on day-to-day business operations and sales.

Most FMCG industry brands promote their products inside retail stores using assets such as display refrigerators, freezers, food warmers, vending machines and digital signage.

For example, Red Bull refrigerators are a common sight in retail stores, serving the primary goal of selling their product while promoting their brand to new and existing customers and keeping their product cold for consumers to enjoy.

Let’s say a refrigeration unit has an issue that needs to be sorted out urgently. You need to quickly locate the faulty equipment, issue a service request, potentially order a replacement part, and remove the bottleneck without affecting the bottom line and the workflow. This is impossible to achieve at scale without a comprehensive asset management system in place.

Point-of-sale assets must be monitored regularly, as evidenced by three critical factors that impact profitability within the FMCG industry:

Safety and Relocations: Moveable assets can be an easy target for theft and are vulnerable to accidental or deliberate displacement. Monitoring these assets with a system that supports geo-tagged locations and complete tracking of asset movements is pivotal for a successful relocation and prevention of asset displacement.
Ensuring Product Quality: There are cases when unmonitored refrigeration units unexpectedly turn off or deviate from their ideal temperature range. This can significantly impact the quality of perishable products and negatively affect consumer experience. A system that can track connected assets, Internet of Things (IoT), will instantly detect performance faults and can trigger automated workflows to rectify the problem.
Preventing Asset Misuse: FMCG brands can also face misuse of their assets, mostly from brand contamination where competitor branded products are displayed in their free on loan display merchandisers. This compromises brand merchandising standards, display planograms and brand value. By capturing service data and asset images through asset management software you can ensure that your assets are being deployed to best promote your brand.

So, are there any software solutions on the market that can provide you with all the benefits listed above and much more? The answer is a resounding yes!

There are countless benefits for FMCG brands using mendrhub as their complete end-to-end asset management software. With mendrhub you are not just investing in a powerful asset management platform built for moveable mission-critical equipment, you are also investing in a digital transformation bringing you the very best in automation, data-driven intelligence, and efficiency.

An integrated platform: The mendrhub platform embraces cutting-edge technologies and dashboards designed to make managing your asset fleet easy by enabling continuous improvement within your business.
A complete self-service system: Giving you unlimited support that is always there when you need it, mendrhub lets you take control and make the changes you need when you need them.
Real-time data and analytics: You can collect rich data and use mendrhub’s comprehensive, actionable data visualisations, reports, and business intelligence to deliver continuous value for your FMCG brand.
Interconnected systems: mendrhub allows you to integrate any third-party ERP & CRM platforms by using an out-of-the-box API and webhook configuration to help you automate workflows and redefine business efficiency.
Customer app and service requests: Your customers can log and track service & logistics requests through the mendrhub online portal or a dedicated custom-branded mobile app.
Equipment troubleshooting self-triage: Your customers can undertake self-triage diagnostics via a custom branded booking app, with the rules easily adjusted through a powerful, configurable tool that embeds business knowledge.
Contractor management and risk mitigation: You can manage compliance, site inductions, accreditations, COVID-Safe Plans, insurance, skills, geographic coverage, business hours, rates, van stock and more.
Field and workshop repairs and refurbishments: Mobilise your technicians, third-party contractors, auditors and field managers on a single platform, empowering them to manage all requests from start to finish while on the go.
Scheduled field and workshop repairs: With mendrhub, you can schedule recurring, auto-dispatched workshop activities and repair jobs ahead of time to service your equipment and arrange other required services on a proactive basis.
Scheduled asset movements: Manage asset pick-up, delivery and swap-overs across outlets and warehouses, with customers able to request preferred times and logistics providers able to attach proof of delivery for auditing purposes.

mendrhub is all of the above and so much more!

It’s context-rich embedded intelligence that operates through a seamless user interface, simplifying complex processes and providing you with powerful data that helps you to continuously learn from and improve your business operations.

We provide asset management solutions that fit the requirements of any industry, including FMCG, Quick Service Restaurants, Equipment Manufacturers, Equipment Distributors, Fleet Asset Managers and Equipment Service Providers.

We’d love to show you how mendrhub can help you reach your asset management goals. Contact us today to book your personalised demo, and we’ll be in touch promptly.