Why the Smallest Components Hold the Biggest Risk: Fabory Calls on Manufacturers to Rethink Inventory Management with RFID
As manufacturers across Europe contend with rising operational costs, tightening margins, and the constant threat of unplanned production downtime, Fabory, Europe’s leading specialist in fasteners and C-parts, is urging industry leaders to reconsider how they manage one of the most overlooked yet operationally critical aspects of their business: the inventory of small components.
A single missing nut, bolt, or washer can bring an entire production line to a halt. Yet for many manufacturers, the systems used to manage these mission-critical items have changed little in decades, relying on weekly walkthroughs, manual stock counts, and clipboard-based reordering. The result is a hidden tax on productivity that few organisations fully quantify.
Fabory believes it is time for that to change.
The 80% problem hiding in plain sight
Industry analysis has long suggested that, in many cases, up to 80% of a product’s total cost of ownership is tied not to the price of the component itself, but to the surrounding processes, purchasing, internal logistics, stock handling, and the administrative work of keeping inventory available at the point of use.
“The fastener or C-part is rarely the expensive item on the balance sheet. The expensive item is everything that surrounds it,” said Sander Langkamp, Manager Logic Fabory Group. “It’s the buyer walking the shop floor every Monday morning. It’s the emergency courier when a bin runs empty. It’s the line stop that no one budgeted for. Manufacturers who address this layer of cost unlock margin that has been sitting in front of them the whole time.”
A semi-automated answer to a fully manual problem
Fabory’s response is Fabory Logic RFID, an automated inventory management solution that uses RFID-enabled technology e.q smart shelves and dropboxes to monitor stock levels in real time and trigger replenishment orders the moment a bin is empty.
The principle is deliberately simple. When a production employee empties a bin, they place it onto an RFID-equipped shelf or they throw them in the dropbox , The system detects the empty bin, identifies the part, and automatically generates a replenishment order, without manual checks, spreadsheets, or phone calls. A Fabory merchandiser can then refill the bin on-site, closing the loop.
The MyFabory platform provides 24/7 visibility into consumption data, order status, and supplier performance, giving procurement and operations teams a single source of truth for one of the most fragmented areas of their supply chain.
Designed for any manufacturer, not tied to any one industry
Unlike vertical-specific solutions, Fabory Logic RFID is sector-agnostic. The technology has been deployed across machine building, automotive component manufacturing, food production, steel construction, and beyond, anywhere production cannot afford to stop because a low-value, high-importance component has run out.
“What we hear consistently from customers is that downtime caused by a missing C-part is one of the most frustrating problems in manufacturing because it is entirely preventable,” said Vojtech Kacerek, Marketing Specialist at Fabory. “RFID removes the human guesswork. The system knows what is on the shelf, what is being consumed, and when it needs to be replenished. The buyer is freed from chasing stock and can focus on strategic procurement decisions instead.”
The four operational gains manufacturers are reporting
Customers using Fabory Logic RFID consistently report measurable improvements in four key areas:
- Lower total cost of ownershipthrough reduced administrative overhead, fewer emergency orders, and optimised delivery frequencies aligned to real production demand.
- Reduced production downtime, with the certainty that fast-moving consumables are always available at the point of use.
- Optimised stock levels neither overstocked nor understocked, based on actual consumption data rather than estimates.
- Lower administrative workloadfor procurement and warehouse teams, who are released from manual counting and reordering tasks to focus on higher-value work.
A representative customer experience comes from Lan Handling, a Fabory client in the Netherlands. Before adopting RFID, the team carried out weekly manual shelf walks, occasionally miscalculating stock when consumption spiked. Today, replenishment is automated, and downtime caused by missing components has effectively been eliminated as well as delays in order time.
A wider shift in industrial procurement
Fabory views RFID as part of a broader transformation in how manufacturers think about indirect supply. With customers consolidating their supplier base, accelerating digitalisation, and demanding greater operational resilience, the days of treating C-parts as an afterthought are coming to an end.
“Inventory management for fasteners and C-parts has historically been one of the last areas of the factory to be digitised, and one of the most overdue,” added Vojech. “The manufacturers who move first will pull ahead on cost, on uptime, and on the quality of decisions their teams are able to make.”
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