SPARE PARTS MANAGEMENT A CASE STUDY

Abstract

No area of Material Management is beset with as many problems as those of management of spare parts. This is because spare parts management is related to failures, which themselves are random and stochastic in nature. The average project manager in the construction industry feels that very little can be done about the spare parts problem. Spare parts are required either for periodic, preventive maintenance (e.g.. change of filters every few shifts or hours) or replacing a failed component in machine. The time of requirement of the former type of spare parts can be assessed accurately. Such item represents a very small percentage of the total range or value of spare parts. They also individually are quite cheap and present no special problem. The repair parts, on the other hand, present the most problem, because they are required only when failures occur. Now, although the rate of failures and hence, the average rate of replacements, can be calculated from past data or estimated from engineering knowledge