At SparePartsKnowHow we understand that you have lots of choice on where you get information and training on spare parts inventory management. You can buy books, attend conferences, use a global training institute, attend in-person training events, or use an online training service. Each option has its strengths and weaknesses. Seeking information and training on […]
Know When to Quit Spare Parts Initiatives
Subject Area: Know When to Quit Spare Parts Initiatives Quitting is hard. Am I right? I don’t mean quitting smoking (which is hard) or quitting fried food (even harder!). I mean quitting something that you have worked on, even believed in. I am talking about quitting on a project or initiative at work. Something where […]
Why You MUST Work on Your Spare Parts Management Policies
Subject Area: Spare Parts Management Policies You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems James Clear, Atomic Habits The cornerstone of a functional spare parts inventory management system is the development of an appropriate suite of policies. These spare parts inventory management policies provide the […]
Why Spare Parts Management is a Team Activity
Subject Area: Spare Parts Management Silos One feature of the modern corporation is the departmentalization of functions. Companies do this to both create operational efficiencies and manage the span of management control. Thus, most organizations will have, among others, an operations group, maintenance department, storeroom and logistics, purchasing and procurement, and finance. But what happens […]
Artificial Intelligence Problems
Subject Area: Artificial Intelligence Problems In part one of this series on artificial intelligence I raised the idea that artificial intelligence will not solve your spare parts management problems. In this article I discuss three main artificial intelligence problems. Artificial Intelligence Problem 1 First, how can we be sure about how to […]
Artificial Intelligence Will Not Solve Your Spare Parts Problems
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, ‘if […]
Inventory Reduction Metric – A Warning
Subject Area: Inventory reduction metric Goodhart’s 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 ‘Goodhart’s Law’. The simplified version states: When a measure becomes a target, it […]
Spare Parts Management Foundations for Teams
Topic Area: Spare Parts Management Foundations for Teams What Will Your Organization Gain? More Consistent Spare Parts Decisions Develop a shared understanding of how decisions about stocking, criticality, inventory levels, and obsolescence should be approached. Better Cross-Functional Alignment Help maintenance, procurement, engineering, stores, planning, and finance understand how their decisions influence each other […]
Why Your Spare Parts Metrics Must Tell a Story
Subject Area: Spare Parts Metrics Everyone reading this will have no doubt heard the expression, “what gets measured, gets managed” – or something similar. The original quote is usually attributed to Peter Drucker’s 1954 book ‘The Practice of Management’. Perhaps more interesting is the somewhat lesser-known full quote: What gets measured […]