Parts Inventory Management

Spare Part Inventory Management is a headache for management and responsible departments. Owners and top management rarely see direct economic value in organizing a department’s work. Therefore, the processes here suffer from a lack of administration, technical means and resources to optimize work.

The result is a vicious circle. Lack of resources leads to inability to systematically manage inventory, inventory tools become obsolete, and security is reduced.

Together, this can lead to serious problems. And first of all, the maintenance service will suffer when it does not have the necessary components to maintain the equipment’s operability.

According to research, the global inventory reduction in 2017 amounted to 1.82% of all sales in the world. At the same time, ineffective inventory management cost the industry $ 100 billion.

In the following years, a systematic approach to optimizing Spare Part Inventory Management is gaining popularity. It includes several directions. We will take a closer look at the most relevant ones.

Identification, inventory, control

The root of most problems in spare parts inventory management is opaque data. The accounting system does not include items that were purchased for one-time emergency use, components left over after major repairs, and other “ghostly assets”.

The lack of a systematic approach to inventory leads to situations where the availability of spare parts is exhausted before they have been used. At the same time, ghostly assets are slowly eroding business resources.

What to do? The centralized collection of data for the inventory management system will help to solve several problems at once:

– will increase the accuracy and availability of information on the resource needs of the TO;

– optimizes the process of searching or purchasing the necessary spare parts;

– will create a system of differentiated access to the warehouse;

– will improve the global security policy at the enterprise to prevent theft of goods and materials.

To achieve maximum efficiency, all data on spare parts should be digitized and unified.

Optimization of bids and purchases

Make sure that the job application process is efficient but simple. Complex scenarios will be ignored by staff at the earliest opportunity, which will reduce the accuracy of the accounting. Insufficiently effective solutions, using many links in the chain, will significantly increase the waiting time for spare parts by the maintenance service.

The best choice is an electronic inventory management system that is synchronized with the maintenance planner. Such software automatically generates work orders and requests for the purchase of spare parts.

An additional advantage of global digital solutions is the ability to automatically update specifications (work with Bill of Materials). With such a tool, you can not only optimize the inventory of spare parts, but also fine-tune the preventive maintenance time for each individual piece of equipment.

Technology at the service of the warehouse

The digital transformation of manufacturing is also changing inventory management. The main thing is to take the first step in this direction – to abandon the manual accounting of spare parts and standard spreadsheets.

Next, it is worth moving on to studying the prospects for introducing asset management technologies. Today, enterprises use codes and scanners everywhere, launch tracking systems to track the location, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of goods and materials. This is a simple and relatively inexpensive way to optimize inventory management of spare parts. The final step of modernization is the implementation of global IT solutions.

For warehouse and supply management, separate ERP modules or specialized software products (WMS) are used. SmartEAM solutions also provide all the functionality you need to manage your spare parts inventory.

Digital tools significantly increase the accuracy of inventory, help reduce the time spent on maintenance and repair work, and most importantly, create a link between inventory management and end-to-end business processes. More and more enterprises are moving away from traditional solutions in favor of digital ecosystems. If you are ready for big changes and increased competitiveness – leave a request on our website.