TABLE OF CONTENTS When considering stores locations and organizations, one of the primary factors is how the maintenance department is organized. If the maintenance organization is centralized, then it is usually best to have the stores locations centralized as well.
Figure 1-4 shows the advantage of this configuration. This diagram shows that when maintenance and stores are together, in the center of a plant or facility, it is easy to travel to the equipment. The distance that maintenance has to travel to obtain spare parts and then travel to the equipment is minimized. This arrangement maximizes labor productivity for the maintenance department. It also allows for more rapid response when equipment experiences problems. Therefore, for geographically compact plants or facilities, this is an ideal configuration.
The problem that is typically experienced when designing this type of an organization is trying to find the centralized space for both maintenance and the MRO storeroom. Most companies are reluctant to give up prime space for these two departments. However, once the total cost picture is clearly understood, it is a good business decision to centrally locate maintenance and MRO stores for smaller geographically compact plants.
If the maintenance organization has an area configuration, then it is usually best to have the stores locations in an area configuration as well. Figure 1-5 highlights this configuration. In this figure, there is a larger geographical footprint for the plant or facility. It may actually be several miles from one side of...
