Most firms find it difficult to maintain effective spare parts management since there is a fear that stocking spares may not be in line with effectively controlling operating costs. As plant managers, various expectations to recognize ways to perform efficient spare parts management becomes important.
To be a successful plant manager, practical spare part inventory management remains the foundation for dependable plant operation. As a plant manager or supply chain manager, you are required to know the process of determining which spare parts you need to make your system productive. It is also best to create a planned approach that will satisfactorily match effective inventory management.
How to be efficient at spare parts management?
There are a few things to consider in creating effective spare parts inventory management. The seven things to consider have been carefully analyzed to help in enhancing performance, the effectiveness of plant operations, and also reduce cost. Below are the seven things to consider:
1. Operation strategy
2. Standardizing the Work Order process
3. Effective parts inventory control
4. In-depth understanding of lead times for different parts
5. Calculating risk for every equipment
6. Stocking parts for new equipment
7. Adopting better security measures
These things, when taken into account, can result in reduced carrying costs, reduced performance interruption, and improved overall efficiency.
Let’s analyze each in more depth.
(1) Operation strategy
Operation strategy involves the will of operating from a reactive or predictive approach. Several businesses fall into the habit of creating an operational plan based on responsive events. To perform spare parts management successfully, the need to adopt a predictive strategy.
Even though a reactive approach can never be completely abandoned, the core of successful management lies within the ability to avert future problems before they happen.
Things to consider for effective inventory telecom asset management involving operation strategy for spare parts include:
- The collection and analysis of data relevant to improving your business strategy
- To have the ability to cover the entire operational scope for part management process. This scope includes locating and solving significant problems that may arise in the long run.
l Ensure to look out for failure patterns that may reveal problems that appear to be less visible.
(2) Standardizing the Work Order process
The use of a robust but straightforward work order process can be helpful in effective inventory management. Once considered, the process should be made easy to follow and standardized for everyone.
An active work order requires proper guidelines covering all parts issuance – so the inventory system maintains accuracy. The development of a less-complex work order process ensures all necessary information is accounted for.
The things to consider to standardize the work order process include:
- How complex is the approach for getting parts without a work order.
- The ability to find employees that are not following the defined workflow, which may lead to inventory imprecisions.
Do you have a flexible enough process in which work orders with higher priority can be created in advance.
(3) Effective parts inventory control
Spare part inventory management does not always have to be all-inclusive to be called productive. In reality, it is unlikely to see stock of various parts in large quantities. To properly store and organize spares in a chosen and secure space is key to inventory control.
Prompts for reordering are less likely if parts or new stock get taken without records. Proper analysis and review of your check-out and storage system can reveal a lot about the quality of your inventory control.
The things to consider to achieve better control over inventory include:
- Developing clear criteria to aid, categorize, and define spares (marking parts with terms like “critical” can help in parts inventory prioritization).
- Periodically reviewing all spare parts based on the time change, replacements/substitutes, and more.
- Conducting a regular review of spares to see if you are holding excess stock for particular parts can help to reduce your overall inventory costs.
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