MRO stands for Maintenance, Repair, and Operations. It encompasses inventory and processes related to all spare parts, tools, supplies, and activities necessary to create a final product or service. This includes all goods and procedures needed to keep a business running. Examples of MRO include production and safety equipment, cleaning and office supplies, computers, hand tools, and formal processes across all departments.

 

What is MRO?

MRO stands for Maintenance, Repair, and Operations. It encompasses inventory and processes related to all spare parts, tools, supplies, and activities necessary to create a final product or service. This includes all goods and procedures needed to keep a business running. Examples of MRO include production and safety equipment, cleaning and office supplies, computers, hand tools, and formal processes across all departments.

Effectively managing MRO inventory is crucial. Although many MRO inventory items have low individual costs, the volume of parts and the variety of MRO processes required to operate an organization can significantly impact the overall budget. MRO includes both inventory and business processes, but this focus will be on MRO inventory.

Why is MRO Inventory Management Important?

Managing MRO inventory is important for several reasons:

1. Centralization and Visibility: MRO inventory management helps centralize and visualize expenses across multiple locations. With CMMS software, each location can evaluate suppliers and ensure that factors such as delivery times and accuracy meet the company's needs. Managers can spend more time completing work and less time waiting for parts or resolving inventory issues. Since everything can be tracked in a CMMS system, organizations can also prevent inventory loss, reducing the need for technicians to hide parts in untracked toolboxes out of fear of running out.
2. Support for Maintenance Activities: MRO inventory management supports predictive, preventive, and corrective maintenance. In many organizations, MRO spare parts are not tracked as closely as materials and parts directly related to production. For example, MRO purchase order data may describe the purpose of ordering parts, list the total order cost, and include supplier information, but often lacks detailed breakdowns of part names, quantities, and individual costs. Managing MRO inventory strategically, with as much detail as production-related parts, is essential.

MRO Inventory Management Strategies

Effective MRO inventory management involves tracking multiple factors, including:

• Usage history (when and where parts were used)
• Cost and stock levels
• Automated inventory reordering
• Purchase history
• Supplier history and contact information

Historically, MRO inventory was tracked using paper, spreadsheets, or email. Today, using CMMS to manage MRO inventory has proven to be the most effective solution.

CMMS software can also facilitate another method for simplifying MRO inventory management: Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI). Commonly used in manufacturing environments, VMI involves the supplier maintaining an agreed-upon inventory level at the buyer's consumption site. VMI is used for both production and maintenance purposes. Most organizations use VMI for part, but not all, of their inventory. Here’s how it works: After consulting with the client, the supplier sets up a stock of common tools, parts, and supplies at a convenient location in the client's facility. The maintenance team takes items from a designated tool crib, storage area, or other secure container. The supplier regularly audits the VMI stock at the client's location and bills the client for items removed from the VMI stock. This strategy can save time and money in managing MRO inventory.

Managing MRO Inventory with a CMMS

Using a CMMS to manage MRO inventory simplifies the maintenance team's tasks. Within a CMMS, you gain several benefits:

• Save time locating parts by viewing item descriptions and inventory bin numbers in the CMMS system.
• Avoid ordering excess parts by checking available counts and inventory levels at other locations, if applicable. If the item is in stock, it can be transferred to your location.
• See where all your parts are being used by generating reports that list parts and tools used for work orders or special projects.
• Assign parts more accurately using an asset hierarchy and listing parts and supplies in preventive maintenance work orders.
• Track the frequency, cost, and quantity of ordered parts by following purchase orders.
• Improve workflow efficiency with barcode scanning.
• Link tools to work orders and assets by tracking tools.

When MRO inventory is well-managed, an optimal level of parts, tools, and supplies is available to perform maintenance work efficiently and minimize downtime. This maximizes production and controls costs, resulting in better profitability for the organization.

EasyMaint Software and MRO

EasyMaint Software is a maintenance management system that helps track spare parts and suppliers while ensuring that needed items are always available. You can track part usage, updated part counts, activities by type, and costs. Multi-warehouse support is available for large facilities.

For reordering, processes are automated and simplified. Notifications can be set up to alert you about the need to reorder parts before preventive maintenance deadlines, ensuring timely availability of parts. You can create requests with a single click, track suppliers and general purchase orders, and easily view past and pending purchases.

Contact EasyMaint to learn more about inventory capabilities with EasyMaint Software or for additional information..