Effective spare parts management is critical to the success of any organization. But it can also be a complex and difficult challenge. Properly managing parts means you have the right part, in the right place, at the right time. This helps your maintenance team boost productivity, reduce spending, and decrease downtime. Successful spare parts management requires careful planning, precision, and balance.
Read on to learn 5 of the most important tips for planning and implementing a better spare parts management strategy.
1. Categorize and Optimize Inventory Using Data
When considering which parts to stock, and in what volume, it is essential to categorize your inventory. For instance, you might break down your parts inventory into the follow groups:
- Active parts (10 or more used per month)
- Commodity parts (1 or more used per month)
- Rarely used parts (fewer than 1 used per month)
In the past, companies tracked their inventories using pen-and-paper records. However, modern organizations now turn to Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) to effortlessly monitor and analyze spare parts inventory.
When dealing with parts inventory, it is also important to consider lead time, consumption rate, and cost of storage for different parts. For example, spare parts for machines that are not critical to everyday operation can often be left out of stocking plans. However, if not having a part available when it is needed will result in downtime of a critical asset or financial damage to your company, failing to stock that part is unacceptable.
2. Ensure Inventory Accuracy
Be proactive in identifying potential part shortages. You can do this by conducting regular cycle counts to confirm that your physical inventory matches your records.
There are a number of different accounting methods you can utilize for tracking parts inventory. But choosing the most effective inventory management strategy will depend on your organization. For example, if your inventory includes parts or products that have limited shelf lives (chemicals, pharmaceutical ingredients, or other perishable items), you’ll want to rely on the first in, first out (FIFO) method of inventory accounting to avoid spoilage.
Also be sure to attach inventory levels to maintenance work orders. That way, you can prevent maintenance work from being scheduled when the parts necessary for the work are not in stock, avoiding wasted time.
3. Improve Supply Chain Management
For your maintenance team to operate smoothly, you need to provide the right parts to the right place at the right time. Material providers, shipping partners, and other parties all directly impact how you should manage your spare parts inventory.
Although you might not be able to entirely prevent future supply chain issues, you can take steps to optimize your supplier and shipper relationships. This can help you stay in loop about potential slowdowns or bottlenecks when they arise.
Additionally, integrated CMMS software such as eMaint can save you time locating parts, help reduce expedited shipping costs, and allow you to gain control over your ever-changing inventory. You can use the eMaint API or low-code integration with Workato to streamline connections between your CMMS and ERP or purchasing system.
4. Properly Plan your Maintenance Storeroom
The purpose of a maintenance storeroom is to house materials in a safe, clean, secure, and organized environment. That last part is key: If your storeroom is disorganized, inventory audits will be more difficult, locating parts will take more time, and productivity will go down.
Some common pitfalls when it comes to managing an inventory storeroom include keeping the wrong parts in the wrong quantity, storing or delivering parts to the wrong place, or housing parts that are in unacceptable condition. These issues can all significantly increase costs, which is why all team members must know their roles and consistently and accurately execute their responsibilities.
The key factors that will help you ensure your storeroom management strategy is a success include:
- Location: If an inventory storeroom is too far from those who regularly use it, it can result in delays, as well as items damaged or lost during transit.
- Infrastructure: A storeroom kept in poor condition increases the risk of exposure to the elements, which can damage or destroy some parts.
- Physical layout: It is vital to set up your storeroom for optimal materials flow, allowing users to transfer materials quickly and effectively between areas. Consider whether the storeroom should be organized from left to right, or top to bottom. Should labels go above or below each inventory item? Whatever you decide, be consistent.
- Accessibility: Many maintenance departments relay on the “honor system” in their storerooms. Instead, put in place standardized controls and procedures and educate your employees on storeroom standards of practice, including how to properly handle, manage, and check out materials.
5. Identify Patterns of Failure
Recognizing roadblocks or shortfalls in your spare parts management process is critical to ensuring your company succeeds in the long term. Perhaps the best method for identifying where your current inventory management processes are failing is by utilizing CMMS software to track and analyze trends.
If you are able to recognize a systemic problem that can be preemptively mitigated, you can keep things running smoothly and efficiently. And that will ensure you stay one step ahead of the competition.
Don’t wait, get eMaint to easily manage and improve your company’s spare parts management strategy today!