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 […]
Defining Best Practice for Spare Parts Management
Defining best practice for spare parts management can be tough. In fact, our recent research identified that, among the people that manage spare parts inventory, very little is known about best practices – that is, what top performers do better than others, what to focus on for better results and […]
Spare Parts Inventory Management Secrets
Subject Area: Spare Parts Inventory Management Secrets The Reality of Spare Parts Inventory Management One of the little acknowledged issues with spare parts inventory management is that for many companies they really don’t know what they have and/or why they have it. How can that be you ask. Don’t most companies use some kind […]
The Spare Parts Management KPI Self-Delusion
Should any spare parts management metric be treated as a spare parts management KPI? Does your company suffer from the spare parts management KPI delusion? There is an old saying that ‘what is measured, matters’ and while there are some companies that don’t actually measure their performance through spare parts KPIs (yes, really) the vast […]
Isn’t It Time That We Started Talking About Inventory Prevention?
If the goal really is spare parts inventory optimization, then surely doing the work after the parts have been purchased is just wrong. Shouldn’t we be taking action before the parts are purchased? Shouldn’t we be talking about inventory prevention? Spare parts inventory optimization is great. It helps companies identify where they are holding […]
Obsolete Inventory Management – Three Ways to Deal With It
Inventory Doesn’t Just Appear! Have you heard the expression about ‘shutting the gate, when the horse has bolted’? It refers to trying to stop something happening when it has already happened. Seems like a silly thing to do, right? But this is the approach that most companies take with respect to […]
Action #7: Reduce the Value of Spare Parts Items Held
To reduce the value of spare parts items held is the last of the 7 Actions for Inventory Reduction and is probably the most obvious, but perhaps because of that the most overlooked. Most cost reduction actions are aimed at reducing the cost of an item for the obvious profit and loss impact. However, cost reductions […]
Action #6: Match Spare Parts Delivery With Usage
Each of the actions discussed in this series so far has been looking at ways to reduce the physical number of items held. However, one of the variables that drive the cost of holding inventory is how long you hold the inventory. This represents the amount of time that you have to finance the working […]