"It's Kind of the Wild West": How Lunda Construction Took Control of Parts Buying

"We got to get our spending under control. It's kind of the Wild West a little bit."

That's how Tony Bere, Corporate Equipment Manager at Lunda Construction, described the way parts got bought across the company. Over twenty people had the authority to order, each from the vendor they'd always used, each on a handwritten paper PO. Little oversight, no competition on price, and no easy way to see where the money was going.

Down in the Black River Falls shop, manager Brad Windsor felt the time cost most. Asked how much of his week went to parts, he didn't hedge: "I work 40 to 45 hours a week, and I'm probably spending 70% of my time ordering parts."

Lunda a heavy civil and bridge builder in business since 1938, and a Tutor Perini company rolled out Gearflow in April 2026, one shop at a time. Here's how it brought that process under control.

Centralizing Parts Ordering

"Writing a paper PO for every single thing you buy is a pain in the butt."

That's how Rachel Tollefson, Lunda's equipment coordinator, described the old way. Because everything lived on paper, there was no clean way to manage spend or track a delivery. Even Tony, from the equipment manager's seat, was flying blind: "I can't really ever see the parts - I can see if there's a work order open on it, what work is being done on it," but not where the parts themselves stood.

With Gearflow, it all runs through one system with ordering visibility built in. The result shows up in the clock that matters most in a shop the time between "I need this" and "it's ordered." Last quarter, the median time from a request to an approved order dropped to about four hours, down from nearly sixteen the quarter before. Once a quote is in, the shop signs off in about half an hour.

Nearly half of all requests now come straight from the field, off a phone. No more phone calls, no more chasing vendors, no more handwritten notes.

Better Pricing and Competition

Before Gearflow, mechanics stuck with the vendors they knew which, as Tony pointed out, had a hidden cost:

"A mechanic has maybe worked with this one vendor for his last 10 years of his life and they've treated him good. Well, he always goes back to that. And are we always getting our best price? Are we always doing the best thing there?"

Now a single request can go out to multiple vendors at once, Lunda's own dealers, lined up side by side. About one request in four draws competing quotes from two or more suppliers. For Tony, it's not just about price; it's proof for corporate "that we are doing our due diligence and getting some competitive pricing."

It's one front door to the vendors Lunda already trusts, with the quotes where you can actually compare them.

Parts History

As the team settled in, they noticed something they hadn't bought it for.

"This isn't just about a way to order parts," Brad told the Minnesota crew. "It's a way to keep track of the parts we're using on individual pieces of equipment."

Because each request is tied to a specific machine nearly 95% of them at Lunda, now across 281 machines every purchase builds a history. Over time that history tells you which parts a machine eats through and how often, which is the raw material for spotting trouble early and for buying smarter.

It's a benefit other crews have found too. Ajax Paving didn't change who they buy from — they changed how they order, and used that same history to aggregate demand across the business. Instead of treating every request as a one-off transaction, a part that keeps getting ordered becomes a candidate to buy in bulk, reactive purchasing turning into proactive inventory management.

The Skeptic, Four Months Later

Brad will tell you he wasn't an easy sell. At his first training he said so out loud: "Whenever we get into something new like this, I'm a little skeptical, just because it's new."

By midsummer, the line had changed: "Honestly, I think Gearflow has been working great." The tool, he added, was "super easy to pick up and use."

Tony sees it from the top down. "I see the benefit, I feel the benefit, Brad's feeling the benefit," he said. "The biggest thing I see with Brad's side is it's keeping him more organized."

From the Wild West to a record you can actually read. That's the win.

See how Gearflow can do the same for your operation.

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