Do you ever suffer from a shortage of spare parts?

This requires creative technicians, but also high costs

There is a feeling that machines and systems never "break down" because of a lack of spare parts. This has been a concern of mine for some time. I have been in the maintenance and spare parts business for over 30 years now and I have actually never heard maintenance or asset managers complain about the availability of parts. This is despite the fact that in my years as a consultant, I have more often measured spare parts availability below 80% than above 95%. This means that at least one in five times, technicians cannot take an item directly from the warehouse and sometimes even have to wait for weeks or months. This does not apply to stock items such as screws and bolts, but regularly to items that are critical to the availability of machines and systems... and yet these are not "out of stock". What am I missing?

So it's not surprising that maintenance or asset managers don't seem to care about the stock of spare parts in their warehouses. But is this justified? To better understand the direct relationship between spares and system availability, I have already written an article on this subject "Running assets with fewer spares - it's possible". But perhaps I should have asked this question first. Anyway, better late than never. By the way, does this last point also apply to spare parts? 

We'll sort it out for you

In my early years, I went out with technicians several times. I remember that technicians are too proud to fail at fixing a machine or a system. By the time they returned to their maintenance job after a visit to the warehouse, they had already imagined how they were going to skin the cat on the way. Nothing is too crazy for them: with duct tape, you can really go far.

Often, other options are also obvious, such as using "higher assemblies" (subsystems one level up in the "bill of materials") or retrieving the required item from a machine or system undergoing maintenance. These alternative options provide a quick solution but also incur considerable additional costs.

The result is that the machine, or plant, can be reused. Everyone is happy at first sight. 

Prevention is better than cure

One consequence of this quick fix is that existing or even new problems and risks are not visible. Think about it:

• Is stock management not in order?
• Has the required equipment not been booked in time?
• Are suppliers not fulfilling their contractual obligations?
• How reliable is the alternative solution?
• How long will this solution remain sufficiently reliable?
• What risk do we run with this alternative?

These are all questions that, because of the chosen alternative solution, are not brought to the attention of (senior) management. As a result, potential problems of which management is unaware may persist. 

The "just-in-time (JIT) philosophy" can also be applied to maintenance.
This reminds me of the famous image on JIT philosophy from "Guide to Make in Supply Chain Management, by Colin Scott, Henriette Lundgren, Paul Thompson".

Do you allow problems to exist and ensure sufficient stock and alternative solutions? Or do you want to solve the problems in such a way that less stock is needed, without making mistakes at the right time? The latter option is also very profitable for maintenance and asset managers:

• No waiting time for spare parts.
• No rework to replace the tape with the right spare part.
• No cannibalisation
• No risks due to unreliable spares
• Cost reduction due to better (lower) stock

Better late than never

Better spare parts stock management brings enough benefits and reduced costs in the long run that any maintenance or asset manager will (should) want to take advantage of it. And while tape may seem like a lucrative solution at first glance, it should not be the way to cut costs.

So to get a proper picture of what happens in your organisation when spares turn out to be unavailable, you should take a look underwater, or turn down the water. 

"Better late than never" is the time to get started so that the necessary spare parts are delivered "just in time" and not "too late".