TABLE OF CONTENTS Once the basics are in place for MRO inventory and purchasing, it is always valuable to reevaluate the processes for possible areas of improvement. The following are areas that can be investigated for possible improvements to maximize the investment in the MRO inventory and purchasing departments.
The following areas are ones where the maintenance department can focus and help to reduce MRO inventory costs.
When the maintenance department performs accurate root cause analysis of breakdowns, it reduces the number of repetitive replacements that occur. In many organizations, the maintenance department is constantly changing spare parts. If the root cause analysis is properly performed, the number of repetitive replacements will decrease. In turn, ensuring that the maximum life is achieved for each component or spare part will decrease the MRO budget.
Another process for the maintenance department that can have a dramatic impact on spare parts costing is preventive maintenance. The more standardized that the preventive maintenance procedure is, the less variance there will be in how the preventive maintenance is performed. This performance improvement includes the material usage. If the PM program is standardized, then when the PM is forecast, the materials to be consumed can be forecast as well. Better forecasting will allow the MRO inventory and purchasing personnel ample time to order the materials and have them on hand.
A third area where the maintenance department can have an impact on spare parts cost, is the practice of spare parts hoarding. Initially,...
