Whether you manage an ethanol plant, an educational facility, or anything in between, inventory management is a critical part of keeping your operations efficient. Stay proactive by keeping an inventory of your parts. When disaster strikes, this will allow your maintenance crew to respond to mechanical issues quickly and easily. Curious what strategy the experts at Rasmussen Mechanical Services suggest?
Need a part to keep your facility running smoothly? With #inventory management best practices from your single-source provider, you’ll never have to worry again. Share on X
Identify Your Parts
Identifying the parts that help to run your operation is the natural first step. Dedicate this task to the team member that works on each specific system. A user of the equipment day in and day out will be the best person to identify those often overlooked parts. To ensure that the list is as comprehensive as possible, encourage your crew to have a coworker complete the same task, and compare their listings.
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As new equipment comes into the facility, ensure you add all needed parts for that piece to this list. On the other hand, be sure to remove the necessary components for removed systems.
While your crew is hard at work listing each part to keep the facility up and running, create an inventory of spare parts currently on hand. Use this list as a control to monitor what parts you are using, how often it is needed, and if the cost of housing the item is worth it. Are there any parts that your operation is housing for no reason? Are there critical parts that are missing from your on-hand repository? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, take the time to adjust.
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Create a Bill of Materials
When placing orders for parts, be sure to create a Bill of Materials or BOM. Alongside your comprehensive list of parts, your BOM will help identify when elements have been added, replaced, or changed. Think of your BOM as checks and balances to ensure minimal inaccuracies in your facility parts list.
Streamline the Order Process
A streamlined order process will keep your facility running smoothly and help ensure a positive relationship with your product partners. By placing the order for routine maintenance items, such as filters and belts, ahead of time, your facility will be able to avoid last-minute rush orders and stay on schedule.
If your facility follows a work order process, you’ll also be able to track what parts are most often needed. If you notice that you are ordering one part more than others, consider keeping an extra or two on hand.
Discover @RasMech’s #inventory management techniques to keep your facility running smoothly, even when disaster strikes: Share on X
Monitor Your Parts
Not properly managing your parts can be expensive! Having to replace equipment when it mysteriously disappears can quickly take away from your bottom line. Put security measures in place to ensure your inventory is safe and sound.
When creating security measures, our experts recommend:
Keeping logs. By keeping running records of the number of each part on hand, your facility will know what is on hand at all times.
Limiting access. Grant access to only those who need to pick up spare parts.
Installing cameras. Have an eye in the sky, making sure your facility’s parts don’t get accidentally misplaced, or worse, vanish from the premisses.
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Running Into a Snag?
At Rasmussen Mechanical Services, we understand you may not be able to store every part you need on hand. For that reason, we keep over 10,000 parts in our warehouse to get our clients’ facilities back up and running at a moment’s notice. Our 24×7 emergency crew will be ready to go anytime something goes wrong.
Don’t wait until disaster strikes. Give Rasmussen Mechanical Services a call to ensure you have the parts you may need on hand.
