When people don’t have the right training, they make well-meaning but ultimately incorrect decisions.
When people don’t have the right training, they make well-meaning but ultimately incorrect decisions.
When you hear that someone has a job that carries significant responsibility for the expenditure of company funds, or that has the potential to significantly impact operational outcomes, it is reasonable to assume that they know and understand the intricacies of that function. Right?
After all, you wouldn’t appoint an accountant without qualifications. Or an engineering manager. Or anyone in a technical field. You wouldn’t appoint an QA person without training. All of these roles have responsibilities that have the potential for significant impact on an organization and so, rightly, we want to ensure that the people appointed actually know what to do, how to solve relevant problems, and handle different situations.
We spend so much time and money on recruitment because we want to ensure that we get the right people, the right fit, the right qualifications. This is essentially a risk management process.
So why then are people appointed to spare parts management roles with little or no formal training? Often with little or no experience?
Spare Parts Management Is About Adding Value
Spare parts management requires more than just understanding internal procedures and knowing how to operate the company ERP. Spare parts management requires an understanding of the interaction of people, processes, engineering, maintenance, planning and finance. It’s about providing guidance and adding value to the organization through educated decision-making. This is as much about deciding what NOT to spend money on as it is about what to purchase and stock. And this requires an understanding that spare parts management does not follow the same rule book as traditional inventory management.
When people don’t have the right training, they make well-meaning but ultimately incorrect decisions. This is why so many companies end up with significant levels of obsolete stock, excess holdings of active stock, and poorly managed inventory maintenance practices.
This Can’t be Fixed with Software
One way that companies try to work around this is to utilize ‘decision-making’ software. This software analyses the history of part usage and other data such a price and lead time and makes a recommendation on what to buy and/or hold. This is an attempt to automate decision-making and in doing so bypass the human element.
Unfortunately, this approach cannot work reliably because, like any automated process, it cannot make decisions outside of its programming. This means that the software cannot identify inputs or constraints that don’t make sense (such as high demand of items that subsequently don’t get used) or that could be changed (such as receipting processes). They also can’t integrate know-how and intelligence that exists outside of the data set (such as understanding maintenance plans).
Therefore, in asset-intensive industries, spare parts management decision making cannot be automated. It must rely on human input, analysis and decision making. Why then would anyone appoint someone without qualifications to a spare parts management role?
Perhaps the answer lays in knowing (or not knowing) what skills and know-how are required to perform this function effectively.
What Qualifies Spare Parts Warehouse/Storeroom Personnel and Managers?
Just knowing your internal administration procedures and how to use the company ERP is not enough for effective spare parts management. It may be OK if all you want is transactional control but for effective spare parts management your personnel need to understand the interactions and nuances associated with the engineering, procurement, and supply chain functions.
This is why inventory management or supply chain management courses typically do not prepare your team for spare parts management. Organizations such as the American Production and Inventory Control Society (apics) do a great job preparing people for generic planning, control, and supply chain roles. Organizations such as the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) can help with procurement education. University courses in reliability and maintenance can provide insightful training in the technical disciplines. But none of these truly prepares your team for the management of spare parts that are used to support maintenance and operations functions.
How can I say this with such confidence? I have been through all of the above. I have provided training for apicsau and CIPSA. I am university qualified in maintenance engineering.
This raises the question: How do you ensure that your team is qualified in spare parts management – not just inventory management?
This is why we started SparePartsKnowHow.com. To provide the type of training required for spare parts management that none of the existing organizations did.
For success in this field you need training that is not just spare parts management specific but that is targeted at asset-intensive industries. That is designed to provide the range of know-how and expertise required for effective spare parts management decision-making. This is what we provide at SparePartsKnowHow.com.
When someone completes the work required to achieve our Spare Parts Management Certificate you know that they have undertaken a course of study that provides the know-how required to do the job properly. And because we require them to undertake a separate quiz for each module we know that they have learned the material.
If you want some reassurance that your spare parts warehouse/storeroom personnel are qualified, consider, as a key part of your spare parts risk management strategy, having your team undertake the Spare Parts Management Certificate.
Here are some comments from people that have undertaken the training available at SparePartsKnowHow.com
There is material here that you won’t find anywhere else.
If you are involved in spare parts and materials for operations and maintenance you would be mad not to take advantage of this resource.
Adrian Hanrahan
Spare Parts Management Specialist in Oil & Gas
Phillip Slater’s online training program helped my team to better understand the complexities of spare parts management, the application of policies, and the importance of maintenance engagement.
Askar Andirov & Sabit Trumov
Spare Parts Superintendents
Karachaganak Petroleum
I want to compliment Phillip Slater on the professionalism, ease of understanding and practicality of the modules. SparePartsKnowHow.com is of a world class standard and suitable for any industry in the world.
Ernie Thaver
Supply Demand Manager
Sasol Mining
I predict that our stock reduction will be about 30% but the absolute figure is less interesting than the confidence that I have now that the stock that remains is moving and necessary in the current situation.
Andre Randsdorp
Purchasing Manager
RIOR BV/Rioned
For more information please visit our Advanced Spare Parts Management Certificate page