Training Snapshot: Materials Management for Maintenance

Thomas J. Furnival -

If you have ever you wanted to peak under the hood of Marshall Institute training content now’s your chance. I will be revealing content from our maintenance and reliability public seminars in this Training Snapshot series. This post checks out a snippet of our Materials Management for Maintenance seminar training manual. We join the seminar in the early stages where we discuss the current state of a typical storeroom, and conversly, the outcomes of a World Class MRO operation.

What Is Wrong With the Typical Storeroom?

  • Out of the way—poor ease of access (out of sight, out of mind)
  • Helpless in the decision making process
  • Accountable without authority
  • Inadequate staffing in terms of numbers or qualifications
  • Too much inventory
  • Too little inventory
  • Poor service level
  • Always out of stock
  • Not enough space—overcrowded
  • Dirty, dark, dingy
  • Disorganized
  • Too many obsolete, idle and slow moving items
  • Others define what goes into stock, but are not interested in supporting the process, or becoming involved in removing obsolete parts
  • Poor relationships/partnerships between stores and maintenance, stores and purchasing, stores and suppliers

An Efficient Storeroom

An efficient storeroom is stocked with correct quantities of material, supplies, and spare parts, properly controlled, maintenance storerooms are a major factor in efficient, low cost maintenance operations.

Fix the System, Not the Problem

There are numerous issues between storeroom management and maintenance that need to be corrected. Most companies spend their time and efforts addressing each problem rather than working on the systems that would keep the problems from happening in the first place. To correct these issues, we need to work in concert with each other to correct these issues.

  • Identify what problems the system itself may be causing
  • Gain recognition at all levels that the storeroom is a strategic process for improving a company’s competitive edge
  • A World Class maintenance organization needs to be supported by a World Class maintenance storeroom

11 Expected Outcomes of World Class MRO Operations

  1. Optimize Inventories
  2. Increase Inventory Accuracy
  3. Identify and remove obsolete materials
  4. Accurate min/max, order point, or order quantity levels, depending on how the inventory levels for the item are being controlled
  5. Identify overstock materials
  6. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
  7. Reduce Emergency Buys
  8. Reduce Stock-Outs
  9. Increase Operational Efficiencies and Effectiveness
  10. Reduce search and downtime
  11. Supplier Partnerships