A study commissioned by the Travis Perkins Group has revealed that housing associations and local authorities across the UK could save over £285 million each year by re-engineering their repair and maintenance (R&M) materials purchasing and management.
The analysis of a range of social housing providers, undertaken by MindMetre Research, highlights that by re-engineering R&M materials purchase and management procedures, social housing organisations could stand to save £1.7 billion in social housing R&M costs by the end of the decade.
The study, Material Advantage, took in the experiences of 95 housing associations and councils that have already addressed inefficiencies in this area, and found that partnering with an organisation to reduce their materials supply chain can enable housing authorities to improve efficiency and productivity with:
- Shorter supply chains
- Accurate stock levels, elimination of wasted time and better ‘first time fix’ rates
- Reduction or elimination of storage requirements
- Product standardisation, ensuring high quality materials at lower costs
- Improved management information on workforce productivity.
Ian Church, Managing Director Travis Perkins Group Managed Services, said: “With social housing providers under continued pressure to do more with less, the smallest inefficiency can cause much larger issues for authorities. Identifying the purchasing and management of R&M materials as a starting point, however, means housing associations can begin to address the issue.
“Partnering with an organisation that improves and shortens the supply chain presents a viable way for organisations to better meet budgets and reduce inefficiency. Bringing purchasing costs closer to the original supplier not only reduces costs, it also brings the benefit of product standardisation, which leads to high product quality and lower long-term costs. What’s more, the improved IT capabilities brought by partnerships like this enable better scheduling, reducing downtime and limiting gaps in between tenancies.”
The study highlighted that with R&M of social housing constituting a significant proportion of running costs, addressing supply chain issues could enable housing authorities and social housing providers to make substantial efficiency and productivity gains, as well as large cost savings.