Seth Chunn

Seth Chunn is an Applications Engineer based in the Portland office and actively supports the Process Control technology group. Inventory and delivery issues have been a problem since the COVID19 Pandemic disrupted supply chains. Lead times were expanding with a main process control valve supplier and product availability needed to be addressed by increasing Valin’s stock plans to fight this challenge. Seth took point on preparing an Inventory Stimulus package and started by evaluating current inventory regarding stock plans, inventory usage, and core products. It began with a comparison sheet of the products, usage levels, and minimum and maximum set points. With this information, Seth created a spreadsheet that became the knowledge base for several meetings to discover the products to purchase in one large order to bolster Valin inventories. The result was a stock purchase order for several hundred thousand dollars at a negotiated additional discount.

This purchase set Valin ahead of the competition by having stock available to support customers. In early 2020, over 45 new part numbers were added. The cost impact was minimized by adjusting old min/max values and reducing the quantities of inventory items that were no longer in high demand. Previously, inventory plans were implemented on an as-needed basis, and items were added 2- or 3-part numbers at a time. The process control group reviewed the entire inventory plan, filled in the gaps, and gathered data to support the items Valin would put on the shelf.

Having the right items in stock is critical to the Process Control business. The majority of sales, in terms of dollar volume and profits, is comprised of valve assemblies.  These assembly products are unique in that each is made up of 4-12 components and not having one of the components available can push delivery out anywhere from 6-12 weeks.

The inventory plan has been used for the past 2 years and is reviewed regularly.  The spreadsheet that documents the plan leverages the ABC tool to provide recommendations on new products and adjusts the min/max inventory levels. The ABC tool provides single instance recommendations and Seth was able to aggregate the data over a 4-month period to provide a more conservative and accurate recommendation. With this inventory review process proving successful, Valin continues to grow its industrial product offering.  In turn, this process can be applied to other industrial vendors and possibly similar vendors in other business units.