Maintenance spare parts are held to support planned maintenance tasks and to avoid or mitigate the risks associated with stockouts. For critical equipment, stockouts can result in lengthy asset downtime and production losses while spare parts are being replenished.
The Problem – Which ones to hold and how many?
The decisions on what spares to hold and how many to hold are very important. Overstocking results in waste, as valuable capital is tied up in inventories. Under stocking exposes the organisation to elevated risks which may result in significant production losses. The calculated optimum level for maintenance inventories balances risk costs against holding costs over the life of the asset. The factors that enter into this calculation include:
- Cost of the spare
- Re-order lead time
- Demand rate (or MTBF)
- Number of supported installations
- Asset configuration (standalone or duty/standby)
- Cost of downtime at each installation
- Cost of capital (discount rate)
- Repairability
- Remaining life
Optimising using MRO@nalytics BI software
To solve this complex problem requires a powerful modelling tool. Asset Dynamics Asia have teamed up with MRO@nalytics to offer their MRO@nalytics BI solution. More information on MRO@nalytics available here.