Often parts warehouses and inventories are given less focus and attention as they don’t result in revenue generation directly for a company. Agree? If yes, let’s move forward. But why do we fail to understand that any manufacturing facility can save thousands of dollars by just having a spare-part on site, rather than having to expedite one at the last mile. We help companies avoid this as we follow these 7 best practises when it comes to spare parts inventory management:
#1 We systematically identify all parts as we inventorize even unused parts that can have future use. We usually don’t store these parts in a workbench, box or cabinet, rather add them to the inventory control system and place into parts inventory.
#2 Updating the Bill of Materials (BOM) is another good practise as it can prevent inventory inaccuracies when you don’t add, remove or change a part from a BOM. It will also help in scheduled preventive maintenance (PM) required on a specific piece of equipment. In certain systems, the PM schedule will create a work order with the scheduled date/duration of the PM.
# 3 We streamline the process of work order by creating a work order for every part issuance so that inventory is accurate. A complicated work order would lead to employees not using the required process and avoid inventory accuracies. Work orders requested in advance present its own advantages too: the maintenance department no longer have to wait at the parts warehouse for the fulfilment of work order.
#4 We adopt physical security measures including parts counters that prevent everyone from getting into inventory stock locations and pulling parts needed, thereby making parts inventories inaccurate. We have installed high-tech surveillance systems at our warehouse, and use badge access to entry and exit points.
# 5 At AH group, we centralize and integrate satellite parts inventory into the main parts warehouse. When different parts are consolidated and centralized, it can enhance security and enables this large asset convenient to control and maintain the accuracy levels of inventory.
# 6 We don’t use any spreadsheet as all our processes are tech-based. We use barcodes and scanning functionalities in combination with the system to improve process efficiency and inventory accuracy.
# 7 We ensure stock locations are built at the lowest detail. Your employees might find it difficult to identify a part if the location identifier is a shelf where several other parts are in a shared site or location.
We adopt the above recommendations to help our clients exert greater control over their parts inventory and offer fast and accurate part requests and work orders requirement.
