Spare parts management crisis

Even if a company’s spare parts management is not seen to be in crisis, many companies have trouble managing their spare parts requirements efficiently which results in holding expensive inventory or in extended production downtime. Both can cost an organisation dearly.

Of course, achieving efficient spare parts management is not an easy task. Spare Parts demand can be unpredictable and intermittent and could result in a run on spare part, followed by a lull, depending on the maintenance philosophy implemented for an organisation.

So, what does the spare parts or inventory manager do? If a large inventory of parts is held then demand can be met, but the holding cost and capital tied up is high. If a small inventory is held the holding costs are low, capital investment is low, but demand can’t be guaranteed. Parts held in stock could even become obsolete and of no use to the company if excess is held or not managed correctly.

Of course, improving monitoring of equipment and analysis of spare parts requirements patterns will help, but even with the best systems in place it is inevitable the time will come when a spare part is required and it is not on hand and perhaps not even readily available. Unfortunately, there is not an obvious answer that will guarantee a solution to the spare parts conundrum. Holding more inventory is loved by operations personnel, but loathed by finance, and holding too little is loathed by operations, but loved by finance.

No single company is alone in having these problems. It is a constant battle in many organisations about how much inventory to hold, and many different strategies are employed. All companies will experience times when there is a spare part crisis. Furthermore, those working in the same industry will most likely have the same issues with parts.

With this in mind, what if it was possible to connect companies in the same industry who might be able to help out when a part is needed? Sure, the companies may be in competition, but the time may well come when there is a mutual benefit. Collaboration to help each other results in all being more efficient. Well there is such a solution at  MaydaySpares.

At MaydaySpares we don’t hold inventory, stock or spare parts! But we do connect you to people you don’t know who could be down your street, across the country or around the world that may hold the urgent part that you need. MaydaySpares enables you to help and be helped, by those in your industry and other industries. A simple system enables all to help each other.