Neopart LLC, a provider of supply chain management and vendor managed inventory (VMI) services to North American bus transit authorities, announced that it has been awarded a multi-year contract by Metrolinx to provide advanced supply chain management services in support of the bus operations of a consortium of transit agencies in the Southern Ontario region.

When fully implemented, it will be the largest bus transit VMI services program in North America, providing service to the transit agencies in the municipalities of Brampton, Burlington, Hamilton, London, Oakville, Waterloo and York Region, as well as GO Transit, a division of Metrolinx, according to the company. Neopart's VMI services will leverage the significant scale of Southern Ontario's transit operations through a centrally managed supply chain, delivering improved part availability, reduced costs and a diminished carbon footprint for part distribution in the region.

"Metrolinx and its partner transit agencies have taken transit VMI services to a distinctly new level," said Ray Melleady, Neopart's vice president of parts management services. "The approach of leveraging the purchasing scale of transits throughout Ontario with a model that addresses the unique needs of individual agencies is visionary and will facilitate the delivery of better service at a lower cost to Ontario residents."

Under the Metrolinx program, participating transit agencies can choose the supply chain management service model that best meets their unique needs, from next-day delivery of needed parts to onsite Neopart stockroom management. Other key program elements and options include guaranteed parts availability; liquidated damages for buses being down due to lack of critical parts; part kit design and development; inventory analysis and planning services; support of a wide range of transit asset management system integration options and full part cost and markup transparency.

In addition, Neopart is establishing a state-of-the-art VMI services facility in the region. This facility will create a significant number of new local jobs and generate supply, service and support opportunities for local manufacturers and other Ontario-based businesses.

In support of its provincial charter, Metrolinx has provided joint procurement services to 24 transit entities in Ontario. While eight entities are initially participating in the Neopart VMI program, all transit agencies throughout Ontario are eligible to participate.

Michael Johnson, Chairman of Neopart and President of Neopart Canada Inc., stated, "The Metrolinx Transit Inventory Management Services program is 100% aligned with our strategy to revolutionize the purchasing, warehousing and distribution of parts in the North American transit industry through scalable supply chain and vendor managed inventory services. Our intent is to enable our transit customers to make substantial improvements in operational effectiveness and cost efficiency and to facilitate the ability of our supplier partners, including bus manufacturers and original bus part and material producers, to deliver the lowest possible total life cycle cost to their end customers."