In my line of work I meet and engage with a lot of different people. Some in person. Some via email. Some via LinkedIn. These people come from all parts of the spare parts management spectrum.
Some are just starting out their careers. Some are ‘old timers’ who have been engaged with spare parts management for as long as I have. Some are spare parts professionals whose career has focussed on this area. Some have been promoted into a role that oversees spare parts management but where they have no prior experience.
Some are VP’s. Some directors. Some managers. Some storeroom personnel.
Some work in procurement. Some work in supply chain. Some in maintenance and reliability. Some in finance. Some in warehouse ad storeroom management.
Some are based in Australia. Some in North America. Some South America. Some in Africa. Some the Middle East. Some in Europe. Some in Asia.
It is a very wide demographic. In fact, we recently worked out that, over the years, more than 16,000 people, from more than 120 countries, have been part of the SparePartsKnowHow.com community! Nearly 12,000 still are.
With that enormous demographic spread, you might be surprised to hear how often I get asked the same question by people who join our community: Should they spend their time accessing the content of immediate interest or working towards gaining a spare parts management certificate?
Here’s my answer.
Accessing the content of immediate concern should be your approach if you have a very specific question that you need to answer or issue to address. For example: How do I determine which spare parts to purchase with new capital equipment? Or, How do we identify critical spare parts? These are specific issues that can be addressed directly.
On the other hand, certificates are developed to guide the learner through a body of work, to give them a broad range of know-how. So, the first benefit of a certificate program is that it helps ensure that you cover all the topics required to do the whole task properly, not just address one issue.
The remaining benefits depend on whether you are a team member or a team leader:
For team members, you get:
- Additional professional credibility – a spare parts management certificate is a strong indicator of your know-how.
- Greater confidence that you can face the challenges of spare parts management.
- Demonstration of your commitment to continuing professional development.
- You will stand out from the crowd – making you more valuable to your current and future employers.
For team leaders, you get:
- Greater peace of mind that the job will be done right – allowing you to spend more time focussing on other issues.
- Higher employee retention – there is no doubt that training leads to happier team members and happier team members stay around longer.
- Increased productivity – team members who are better prepared for the day-to-day challenges will deal with those challenges more efficiently and more effectively.
With all that going for it, why would you not want to get a spare parts management certificate!
To learn more about spare parts management certificates at SparePartsKnowHow.com, follow this link.
