Some Parts are Good, More Must be Better with Andrew Jordan

It's my pleasure to welcome back Andrew Jordan to the podcast, the Managing Director and CEO of Extivity.

In this episode we covered:

Do organisations assume that more parts in stock means reduced downtime and reduced risk?
How do organisations strike that balance then between unstable supply chains and having the right spares to support their assets?
What is the impact on the quality of the storage conditions for these parts?

Do organisations assume that more parts in stock means reduced downtime and reduced risk?

In certain circumstances, it is the case. More inventories don't necessarily mean less risk because we’re probably just stocking the wrong parts or things like that. But the other part of it is for parts and components to be valuable, they have to be ready to operate or fit for use. The more we have in stock, the longer we’re stocking it, the more opportunity there is for those parts to degrade. Having it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s fit for purpose or ready to operate. And therefore you are potentially introduced where you are introducing more risk, that when it comes time to use that that part is not available for service. So there’s only one thing you know that we find that’s worse than not having the part and that’s thinking you do.

How do organisations kind of strike that balance then between unstable supply chains and having the right spares to support their assets?

We would generally look at it along the asset management lifecycle. Look at it and start to work through what you need, what the maintenance plan support is, and when you're likely to need those parts. If it’s based on planning interval, that’s out years, you don’t need them today. You can buy them in two years' time, which also has a very positive impact in terms of your warranty management process. You would rather have the most possible warranty on these parts when it’s in service and not be burning warranty when it’s sitting in your storage.

What is the impact on the quality of the storage conditions for these parts?

When we go around storerooms, all of us, you invariably see situations where you know, the storage condition doesn’t match the requirements for the parts, I think you work back to what you’re trying to achieve. We need to match not only our put away and our storage in terms of the physical storage, but also the conditions under which we store these things to that requirement. Do not store them in an environment where they’re exposed to dust and particulate. If you’re storing them in a lay down your cover them, don’t expose them to UV that’s going to degrade that. We want these to be fit for purpose when we use them. We want to make sure that we’re not actually through our storage conditions, generating early failures and extra maintenance. There’s enough maintenance work to be done without creating extra requirements based on a lack of management from the warehouse.

How else can we reduce the risk of failures within the storm itself?

For a number of major items, your insurance fares, your capital, spares, there is maintenance required. We're talking about your gearboxes, your motors, you have to turn the shafts, you have to make sure that the fluid levels are maintained, you need to make sure that they’re not exposed to environmental factors like heat and rain that are going to degrade them. In the best environment, it’s generating work orders that are dropping on the maintenance techs, they’re going into the storeroom, and they’re maintaining that and that’s all logged and captured. Unfortunately from what we see, that’s the exception rather than the norm. But that plays a significant role in ensuring these parts are ready to offer ready to operate when you need them. The other thing is that I see a lot of organisations not tackling in that aspect, as well as just basic stalking, good practices first.

How do organizations balance that risk of not having the parts with still ensuring that we’re going to be fit for use and good to use when we actually need them?

There’s another overlap with that material preservation side of things and making sure that they’re fit for purpose. But sometimes you must do that. You’ve got an operating asset that’s critical, it’s going into late stages, they’re through management change, those parts aren’t going to be available, you need to order up. You need to be aware of it, sometimes you stalk more for the right reasons. You can also mitigate that at times through condition monitoring technology. Try to see what you can do to minimise the consumption of that part. If you can go from time base to being more conditioned failure mode, or getting into some of the more predictive technology, you can use that change in maintenance strategy to mitigate your proliferation of inventory as well. Changes on the maintenance side of it in terms of your practices have a direct impact on what you can do and the levers you can pull on the inventory.

How do they balance all these things to figure out do we stock or what the levels are?

It's by no means straightforward. Everybody’s got a different underlying material base. We look at the part and the age of the equipment that’s supporting. We look at the material composition, and tie that back. What conditions do you want to store under to make sure they’re ready to operate? We take into consideration asset criticality, and how that’s going to support the ongoing stocking strategy.

Grab a data set, take step back, see how your maintenance, planning and scheduling, your procurement, your master data governance, your replenishment planning, your logistics, arrangements, how those are all affecting your inventory profile, because they all have a role to play. That can be supported increasingly through data analysis and analytics. The next is to look at your policies and procedures and how they aligned to the objectives you’re trying to achieve.

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