How To Manage Spare Parts Efficiently

By Author: Steven Glassner
Total Articles: 153
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It is important to manage spare parts efficiently as it acts as a foundation for dependable plant operations. It will make the crises less destructive and more manageable. As a plant manager, you need to know the tips to manage them. So, in the article, we will discuss some of the factors that you must consider to manage your spare parts and make the company more effective. Let us start with a pro tip: Always use quality spare parts like Trumpf parts to get the best quality out of them.

Tips to Manage Spare Parts Efficiently

The below tips will help you to enhance performance, increase productivity, and reduce the cost of the plant.

Strategize the Operation

Many businesses adopt the practice of creating an operational plan based on responsive events. One can strategize the business with either a reactive or predictive approach. In order to perform spare parts management, you will need a predictive approach to strategize your business efficiently. I don't mean that you need to completely abandon a reactive approach here, but the core approach needs to be a preventive one. ...
... This includes the ability to prevent any future problems before they occur.

You should always look out for failure patterns because they often reveal problems that are less visible or we forget to notice. The collection and analysis of data need to be relevant in order to improve your business management strategy. You need to use predictive management to use the resources efficiently, reduce costs, and save time.

Effective Parts Inventory Control

You need to store and organize spare parts in a chosen and secure space. This will help you to keep a check on spare inventories, save time in finding the needed part, and also save the parts from being damaged. Proper analysis and review of the storage and check-out system is necessary as it can reveal a lot about the quality control of your inventory. 

For better inventory quality management, you can develop precise standards to categorize and define spares. You can periodically review all the spare parts based on time, replacements, etc. You can also conduct a regular review of the spare parts to check if you are holding any excess stock for particular parts or if you are running out of any.

Adopt Better Security Measures

Limiting access to the inventory parts warehouse is a step you should consider applying. Giving everyone access to the inventory parts warehouse will only cause never-ending entries of inventory inaccuracies. You can adopt policies that can restrict some staff from accessing the inventory. You should also install security camera systems in your inventory warehouse. You can also keep security guards that allow only people who have a certain badge to walk into inventory.  

Stock Parts for New Equipment

The most common mistake every other plant manager does is storing no spare parts for new equipment. It often seems that there is no need to invest in spare parts for new equipment, but there is. Because you should not just assume that the vendor you bought the equipment from sells faultless equipment. 

It may be suitable for some time, but there will be a time when it will need repairing, and you never know how early the problems can arise. In such situations, investing in spare parts for new equipment is a smart thing to do. And while socking the spare parts for the new equipment, ensure that you choose the best quality parts like Trumpf spare parts for gaining its original-like performance.

Calculating Risk for Every Equipment

Any equipment can cause failure at any time and you cannot control it most of the time. Instead, you can calculate the overall downtime risk and possible aids for every spare part. This way you can have a possible time when the spare part may need a replacement or polish. Additionally, you can use good quality spare parts like Trumpf spare parts to increase the lifespan of spare parts. 

Here the question is, how can you calculate risk for each equipment? Let me help you with some activities you can perform daily for this. You can calculate the exposure of a spare part by determining the total cost of one-hour downtime it gets for your firm. You also need to determine the cost and reasons for any part's damage for further precautions. You can create different sections of cost for purchasing such as "new vs. old" parts for replacement.

Final Words

With the above tips, you can make your inventory system efficient and responsive to meet your operational demands. With proper spare part management, you can save time, money and accelerate the overall performance of your equipment. But the first and foremost thing you need to start with is investing in good quality spare parts like Amada and Trumpf parts.

Steve M Glassner is the General Manager of Alternative Parts Inc, the leading manufacturer and distributor of Amada machinery replacement parts. Steve is a Machine Tools industry enthusiast and frequently writes about various aspects of the industry.