Page 7 - MRO Business Today 15th April 2023 Latest Issue

FEATURE

Applying Optimal Strategy
Each and every airline and MRO unit
need to identify what according to them
is optimising inventory planning. These
assume huge significance as they have
direct implications of proper investment
and financial planning. Parts availabil-
ity, fleet size, configuration changes,
routes utilisation, network planning, and
service levels expected are all determin-
ing factors that will help achieve optimal
Image Courtesy : martinbros.com Some Good Practices
inventory planning.

Leading companies are known to
develop ‘plan for every part’. Parts are
segmented by value and demand volatil-
ity. High value and easy to forecast parts
can be clubbed with consumption-driv-
when a part which is a ‘must -have’ may en replenishments. High value and high
not be available and this comes at a ing rotable, and types of inventories that volatility items (difficult to forecast) like
huge cost. Safety is involved and so has are repairable, consumable and expend- major housings and casings, work well
delay and stalling of operations, AOG able. Parts are repaired and once again within a ‘use one buy one’ strategy.
and their collective financial downslide. made serviceable and held as stock for One study estimated that each $1 mil-
And then again, some parts may not have future availability as required to support lion in MRO spending could create 3,500
much of an impact if not available, as a demand. Consumable and expendable purchase order cycles, each requiring
defect rectification may be deferred. inventories are replenished to support separate purchase orders, invoices and
Parts have varied attributes such as aircraft and rotable parts repairs. This receipts.
costs, repair TAT (Turn Around Time) approach according to studies is suitable Did you know that the Jumbo Jet
scrap -rates, and similar. for aviation MRO due to its constantly Boeing 747, popularly known as the
varying scenarios brought about by mas- ‘Queen of the Skies’ is made up of six
Some Approaches For Effective sive scale of operations and related intri- million parts!
Inventory Planning cacies, as compared to a P2C (Purchase
Companies follow the R2R model to Consume) used for enterprises that Effective Inventory Management With
(Repair to Reuse) for inventory planning can determine certainty in demand. Automation And State-Of-The-Art
based on maintenance demand, support- Systems
An automated business model is built
around automation and consignment,
where users pay for materials purely
when they need them, thereby avoiding
placing large orders in advance. Here the
material is located at the customer’s site
and representatives are on site to assist
ensuring stock availability within easy
reach – saving time and the customer’s
own manpower resource.
Companies acquire surplus, aging
material that have reached obsolescence
from an old aircraft model, and then
makes it available for distribution in the
industry.
Concepts like enabling zero inventory
A business model and concept that
Image Courtesy :Armac towards Zero Inventory, entails mov-
allow an inventory planner to move
ing the inventory to the customer’s site
location as consignment or hold back
at the supplier location. In either of the

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