Page 8 - MRO Business Today 15th April 2023 Latest Issue

FEATURE

scenarios, customer demand can still be a high volume of transactions to be ful- business transactions to be carried
met as also the lead time requirement filled at great speed, in a fully automated out without logging into a system, but
from the customer. multi-enterprise process. via emails and notifications. Keeping
A ‘Bulk Buy’ inventory planning keeps MROs are reliant on historic data of it simple and smooth-flowing is the
the customer forecast for inventory ‘average part demand’ to predict future mantra
in mind, and items are stocked at the demand. However, variables make pre- • Tracking and monitoring inven-
customer’s MRO facility, however the diction difficult. Automation is effective tory through a centralized inventory
invoice for a part is raised only when a to circumvent these problems. management system. Ensure critical
requirement arises. A fully automated systems have al- items availability
‘Speculative Buy’ on the other hand lowed smart companies to save pre- • Monitor overall consump-
waits for such a buy to have happened, cious time and money. The image below tion of MRO inventory, for accurately
the inventory is moved and placed at depicts the workings towards saving forecasting, budgeting and planning to
the customer site for them to forward. At lead time. meet demand
that point an invoice is raised. With an automated system, a company • Educate employees across the
could gain on an average, 20 minutes company on MRO procurement process
Technology Enabling High Volume, per each Purchase Order, and given the • Vendor-managed inventory at
High Speed, Fully Automated Processes thousands of PO flow every month, the the customers’ site. Vendors monitor
and replenish inventory levels auto-
matically

Reduce Inventory, While Increasing
Service Levels
Lean inventory management can be
achieved where parts are segmented
by value and demand volatility: those
of high-value and somewhat (easy-
to-forecast) demand can be included
in a consumption-driven replenish-
Image Courtesy : RAMCO high volatility, such as major hous-
ment scheme. High-value parts with

ings and cases, can be replenished
by “use one-buy one” strategies or
pooling.
Lean inventory can be achieved by
deciding for each part with an ease of
A fully automated system here allows savings are usually substantial. forecasting – the procurement lead
dealing with challenges like handling ‹ Automation allows a ‘Friction- time and desired service levels. Leading
thousands of POs (Purchase Orders) less Experience’. Where facial recogni- companies develop ‘plan for every part’
flowing back and forth between cus- tion is used by a mechanic to sign-off, customisation for very different part
tomers and suppliers. With nearly zero no hassle of a log -in or time -consum- dynamics.
inventory in place, the system enables ing verifications. Systems enable entire armacsystems.com describe ‘service
levels’ as “…the number of times a
part demand is fulfilled, expressed as
a percentage of the total demand.” An
example could be when 10 demands
for a part are fulfilled 9 times, then that
translate to a service level of 90%!
Aramac defines achieving optimal ser-
vice levels, when - parts are available
at point of demand; available within
the supply network within required
timescales; service level benefit which
assesses the improvement derived from
Image Courtesy : RAMCO inventory investment.
Ultimately it is the optimal bal-
ance which is arrived at between
inventory investment and inventory
availability

8 April 15, 2023 www.mrobusinesstoday.com