Service parts management is the main component of a complete

strategic service management Strategic service management (SSM) is a business strategy that aims to optimize the post-sales service that a company provides, by synchronizing service parts and resources forecasting, service partners, workforce technicians, and service pricing. B ...

process that companies use to ensure that right spare part and resources are at the right place (where the broken part is) at the right time.

Spare part A spare part, spare, service part, repair part, or replacement part, is an interchangeable part that is kept in an inventory and used for the repair or refurbishment of defective equipment/units. Spare parts are an important feature of logistic ...

s, are extra parts that are available and in proximity to a functional item, such as an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

, for which they might be used for repair.

Economic considerations

Spare parts are sometimes considered uneconomical since: * the parts might never be used * the parts might not be stored properly, leading to defects * maintaining

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shap ...

of spare parts has associated costs * parts may not be available when needed from a supplier But without the spare part on hand, a company's customer satisfaction levels could drop if a customer has to wait too long for their item to be fixed. Therefore, companies need to plan and align their service parts inventory and

workforce The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the Pooling (resource management), pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single types of companies, company or ...

resources to achieve optimal customer satisfaction levels with minimal costs.

User considerations

The user of the item, which might require the parts, may overlook the economic considerations because: * the expense is not the user's but the supplier's * of a known high rate of failure of certain equipment * of delays in getting the part from a vendor or a supply room, resulting in machine outage * to have the parts on hand requires less "

paperwork Paperwork refers to written documents or the work needed to create them. Paperwork may also refer to: * Paperwork reduction, loosening or reducing documentation requirements ** Paperwork Reduction Act, a United States federal law enacted in 1980 * ...

" when the parts are suddenly needed * of the mental comfort it provides to the user in knowing the parts are on-hand when needed * The parts are un-economic to be repaired i.e. it's cheaper to discard than to get it repaired

Cost-effect compromise

In many cases where the item is not stationary, a compromise is reached between cost and statistical probability. Some examples: * an

carries a less-functional "donut" tire as replacement instead of a functionally equivalent tire. * a member of a

household A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

buys extra

light bulbs An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...

since it is probable that one of the lights in the house will eventually burn out and require replacement. * a

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

user will purchase a ream of computer

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

instead of a sheet at a time. * a race car team will bring another

to the race track "just in case". * a ship carries "spare parts" for its

in case of breakdown at sea.

Measures of effectiveness

The effectiveness of spares inventory can be measured by

metrics Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathema ...

such as fill rate and

availability In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings: * The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at a ...

of the end item.

References

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Notes

SD-19
in conjunction with MIL-HDBK-512, Parts Management guidance
MIL-HDBK-512
handbook is a guide for Military Acquisition Activities (AA) in the preparation of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) with respect to a parts management program, and will help determine to what extent parts management should be for a given program. It will also identify those elements in a proposal to manage the selection and use of parts. Costs Supply chain management de:Ersatzteil