Subject area: Artificial Intelligence Part 1 What do chat bots, self-driving cars, and predictive maintenance have in common? They each involve the application of artificial intelligence (AI). In recent years the development of AI has become a hot topic. It seems that AI is being talked up everywhere. At every conference, online event, and even […]
Options for Excess and Obsolete Spare Parts
What are your options for dealing with excess or obsolete spare parts inventory? Typically there are four: 1. Do nothing 2. Write off and dump 3. Utilize at another site/location 4. Sell Option 1 achieves nothing, except setting a poor example on what the company expects of management. This approach says, âif […]
Inventory Reduction Metric – A Warning
Subject Area: Inventory reduction metric Goodhartâs Law When thinking about the measurement of actions and outcomes relating to spare parts inventory reduction it is worth considering the work of a British economist, Charles Goodhart. In 1975, Goodhart wrote what became known as âGoodhartâs Lawâ. The simplified version states: When a measure becomes a target, it […]
Spare Parts Management Boot Camp
Topic Area: Spare Parts Management Boot Camp Spare Parts Management Boot Camp Course Description and Details This intensive course teaches participants the fundamentals of spare parts inventory management. This includes: Why spare parts are different to other types of inventories (and what this means to you) The standard inventory management techniques that just donât […]
Using Spare Parts Metrics to Tell a Story
Subject Area: Spare Parts Metrics Everyone reading this will have no doubt heard the expression, âwhat gets measured, gets managedâ â or something similar. The original quote is usually attributed to Peter Druckerâs 1954 book âThe Practice of Managementâ. Perhaps more interesting is the somewhat lesser-known full quote: What gets measured […]
Spare Parts Inventory Training
Subject Area: Spare Parts Inventory Training Why is it, that despite the best efforts of management teams, most spare parts inventories remain bloated with excess, surplus, and obsolete items, while also not providing the level of service expected by the users? The simple answer is spare parts inventory training – or rather, a lack of, […]
Inventory Optimization Solution
Subject Area: Inventory optimization solution When most people think about spare parts inventory optimization, they tend to think of expensive inventory optimization software that requires lots of training and produces âslice and diceâ reports. At least thatâs my experience. The problem is that with spare parts inventory nobody really needs that level of âfire powerâ. […]
Inventory Sharing Solution
Subject Area: Inventory Sharing Solution For those of you that manage spare parts inventory across multiple sites, how often have you had one site purchase a new spare when another site has an excess quantity of the same item on the shelf? What about experiencing extended downtime waiting on a spare to be delivered when, […]
Excess and Obsolete Inventory Disposal
Subject Area: Excess and Obsolete Inventory Disposal How many companies can you name that have a well-defined system for disposing of excess and obsolete spare parts inventory? Not many I bet. The problem is that typical spare parts management systems are designed to get stuff into the storeroom, not remove the stuff no longer needed. […]
Materials Data Management Solution
Subject area: Materials Data Management Solution When was the last time you checked how much of the data in your in-house spare parts catalog is incorrect? By incorrect I mean wrong or out of date description, part number, supplier details and so on. Recently I saw a report indicating that in the average catalog nearly […]