There seems to be a common belief in spare parts inventory optimization that a complete solution can be achieved by tackling just one aspect of the spare parts inventory. But this isn’t really the case. It takes a range of actions to achieve spare parts inventory optimization. For example, I hear people all the time saying […]
Best Practice: The One Action That Makes It Work
Over the past few months I have been working through a series of five best practices for spare parts management. If you missed any of those items you can catch up via the links below. But there is one thing that you must do if you want to take advantage of applying the practices covered so far. […]
The Two Reasons Why You Hold Spare Parts Inventory
In this Two Minute Tutorial Phillip Slater discusses the only two reasons why you (or anyone) holds spare parts inventory. The first reason is when you can’t access supply within your planning horizon. For example, if you have a need for a spare part that is critical to your operations and the predominant failure mode is unpredictable, […]
Why Isn’t Procurement Treated as a Partner in Spare Parts Management?
When it comes to the management of spare parts used for maintenance and operations support, the procurement team is often treated as an outsider, a service provider, rather than a partner in ensuring that the objective of maintaining operational capacity is achieved. In my experience, this approach is a drag on both efficiency and effectiveness, […]
Spare Parts Management Best Practice #5: Eliminate Squirrel Stores
Those of you who have been reading my blog posts for some time will know that squirrel stores are one of my ‘hot buttons’ when it comes to spare parts management best practice. (For those not familiar with the term ‘squirrel stores’, it refers to those unauthorized, uncontrolled […]
Stop Being Incremental with Spare Parts Management
There is an old management maxim that says that ‘the good is the enemy of the great’. The way that I interpret this expression is that make real progress with their spare parts inventory management companies need to stop being incremental. This is because incremental activity makes us feel like we are making progress with […]
Spare Parts Management Best Practice #4: Develop Clear ROP & ROQ Logic and Guidelines
Spare Parts Managment Best Practice #3 required that you develop your stock/don’t stock criteria – that is deciding whether or not to stock an item. Now, for best practice #4 you need to be clear about how to decide how many to stock and how many to […]
Spare Parts Management Best Practice #3: Define Your Stock/Don’t Stock Criteria
We have all been there: you are deciding whether or not to stock a spare part and the first thought that pops into your head is, ‘just in case’. After all, you don’t want to be the person that lets the team down by not stocking something […]
Spare Parts Management Best Practice #2: Regular Reviews
One of the major problems with spare parts management is the attitude of ‘set and forget’. You know this situation: at some point in the past the holding levels for an item were set and they have not been reviewed since… …unless, of course, you have had […]
Spare Parts Management Best Practice #1: Create Transparency
In short, this best practice requires that you create transparency in your spare parts inventory management through the use of classifications, metrics and reporting. Transparency enables you to see what is happening with different types of inventory, with the value, and with the volumes of inventory. And […]