SPARE PARTS MANAGMENT

Spare parts Management plays an important role in achieving the desired plant availability at an optimum cost. Presently, the industries are going for capital intensive, mass production oriented and sophisticated technology. It has been observed in many industries that the non-availability of spare parts, as and when required for repairs, contributes to as much as 50% of the total down time. Spare parts management is a science and an exact one at that! The trade off between managing parts inventory vis--vis meeting service levels translates into a need for forecasting accuracy, managing parts proliferation and high analytical capabilities. Equipment downtime is lost production capacity. Before discussing about spare parts management lets define the term Spare Parts. Spare parts refer to the part requirements for keeping the owned equipment in healthy operating condition by meeting repair and replacement needs imposed by breakdown, preventive and predictive maintenance. The spare parts management function is critical from an operational perspective.

ypical Characteristics of Spare

Large in numbers Absence of Specifications Erratic consumption/No pattern Sourcing Constraints High Prices Requirement of large space and reservation Difficult to dispose off

Initial Approach
Comprehensive list with details of equipment and spares. Estimate requirements based on past experience for similar equipment. Classify criticality of equipment. Classify spares as vital, essential, and desirable. Identify insurance spares. Identify high cost spares. Identify durable and consumable spares.

Inventory Management
Decide frequency for review of spares for critical equipment. Based on VED classification and cost of spares, decide optimum safety stocks. Fix min, max and reorder levels for consumable spares. For durable spare, MRP data to be reviewed by competent engineers assess requirements. Insurance spares requirement to be initiated by user and reviewed at high levels. Preservation plan and activity to be chalked out for durable and insurance spares.

Long Term Perspective-I

Care during project procurement to negotiate long term supply arrangement of spares and specifications. Search for reliable alternate sources. Preparation of drawing/specifications through Reverse Engineering to develop local sources. Value engineering to develop alternate cheaper and better substitute. Periodical review of non-moving spares for usage/disposal.

Long Term Perspective-II

Pooling arrangement for high value-insurance spares with similar manufacturing unit. Rate contracts with OEM/Alternate sources for reduction in lead time and other benefits. Structured periodical interaction between engineering and material function for course corrections to achieve targeted results. Top management support for calculated risk taking and monitoring in terms of inventory.

Operational Approach
Adopt Standardization as follows: Use standard drives and couplings. Use standard fasteners with maximum interchangeability. Avoid fine threaded fasteners wherever possible. Instead use standard threads with lock washers. Establish standard range of lubricants for the entire plant. Use standard structural shapes, bearings and belts. Use standard pipes and tube fittings. Replace with standard parts whenever non standard parts become defective.

Procurement Strategy
Among various categories like Routine, Leverage, Bottleneck and Critical, spare parts fall into the category of bottleneck. Hence we should have close relationship with suppliers i.e. OEMS/Alternate sources.

Safety Stocks
Safety stocks pertaining to different service levels is calculated as K^m where K is a constant with various values ranging from 0.7 to 2.3 to give service levels from 75% to 99%. Critical cheap and frequently used items will require higher assurance level and hence higher safety stocks. Non-critical, expensive and slow moving parts will have low safety stocks.

Categorization of spares
Preventive maintenance spares such as filter cartridge, rubber parts, etc. These are known as programmed spare parts. Item with fairly steady and high usage. Short items like bulbs, fuses, V-belts, bearings, switches, etc. The aggregate quantity based on number of machines to be worked out. Low and irregular usage items. Long life items having fractional usage annually. Items required for over-haul. Requirement per machine per over-haul.

Conclusion
Spare parts Management is to be treated as a separate discipline from normal Inventory Management. Close cooperation and coordination among Production, Maintenance and Supply(Purchase) departments is essential to achieve optimum inventory levels. Top Management support and encouragement for calculated risk taking and innovation is a must for sustained improvement. Involvement of smart and knowledgeable engineers for assessment of requirements, usage/disposal of non-moving spares, identification of interchangeability of spares, development of drawings for source development and preservation teams.