6 Tips For Handling Your Spare Parts Inventory

Inventory and spare parts management are amongst the greatest thorns on the side of operations managers in manufacturing.

Typically seen as a “essential evil,” spare parts stock management is a task that mostly flies under the radar when accomplished properly however develops considerable headaches when it is not. Because of that, the value of preserving spare parts in a reasonable, effective, and practical way should not be neglected– despite the thankless nature of the job.

A sound spare parts management system can increase your center’s efficiency, decrease unintended downtime and, most significantly, positively impact your bottom line. Utilize these ideas to establish or update your parts management plan– and make those “thankless” jobs a bit simpler.

Spare Part Prioritization

You understand better than anybody that not every spare part has the same level of criticality for your operations, so you’re also the best judge of how to focus on potential spare part requirements. Developing a priority list can extremely quickly make your crane parts inventory management tasks much more effective, as well as more efficient. Lots of aspects can enter into this list beyond thinking about which equipment is most important to your operation.

Lead times, downtime ramifications, and other issues contribute as you exercise which spares are most vital to keep on hand and in what amounts. Also, having a reference list makes purchasing and stocking decisions a lot easier, as it will become clear which crane parts you’ll wish to stock in quantity and which can be equipped in lower numbers or bought as required (depending on your particular needs).

Develop a Comprehensive Lead Time Resource

Lead time for spare part fulfillment is one of the most significant factors for prolonged downtime when a device or part stops working. Even a few hours of downtime can damage your production schedule. A lead time recommendation can go hand in hand with your priority list and can contribute in how you designate that concern.

Access to a regional provider who can reliably get your crane parts on demand, for example, can alter your factor to consider of just how much inventory you need to keep on hand for those crane parts. In addition, longer lead times for more important components mean you’ll want to be more proactive about planning need to those crane parts be required.

Take advantage of Data

Unexpected downtime and reactive maintenance are efficiency destroyers for your facility. Predictive maintenance practices can make things easier for you to be proactive and make more educated decisions about what stock to keep on hand. In addition, data sensing units and displays can assist you understand which equipment is most likely to require maintenance or crane parts in the near future, making buying choices less of a guessing game and more of a data-backed method.

Consider New Machinery Parts

New equipment is just as subject to the requirement for replacement parts as older equipment is– and brand-new equipment downtime is likely to be a lot more destructive to your production schedule given that you were most likely planning to put that new maker to work right away. Be sure to account for spares for new devices as part of your crane parts management system. As you prioritize stock management and strategy your purchasing, be prepared to address the “growing discomforts” that can happen.

Implement Security Measures

Spare parts inventory control and security need to be incorporated with your parts management strategy. Open, uncontrolled access to stock is a vital motorist of missing parts, incorrect stock counts, and availability lacks. Therefore, an important element of a crane parts inventory control system is presenting a “parts counter”– a single, controlled point of access to the stock room.

By just enabling access to workers working the crane parts counter, you can have far more control over stock that goes into and exits the room, and will likely see accuracy metrics enhance as a result. Additional factors in stock security are badges or keycards to manage access, along with cameras to help make sure that access to inventory is never compromised.

Consider the Overall Value of Spare Parts Management

It’s worth duplicating crane parts management is typically a thankless task– but when you consider the lost profits and logistical headaches that extended downtime can present, it’s much easier to get inspired to implement this “required evil.” In addition, a couple of hundred dollars worth of stock can prevent thousands– or more– in lost or delayed revenue that can arise from unintended downtime.

If you need to validate the resource expense for an extensive management strategy to the organization– or yourself– you most likely won’t need to look much even more than using any current downtime event as an illustration. With these six ideas in mind, we hope stock management will become a bit less of a problem for you and much more of a worth motorist.