The spare parts referred to in this article are what we usually call spare parts and materials, which are managed together in Germany. The objective of spare parts economic management is to meet equipment maintenance requirements while also adhering to cost targets. The key points are the consumption volume, reserve volume, quality and storage cost of spare parts.
I. Degree of Spare parts Reserve
The concept of the degree of spare parts reserve needs to be introduced here. The so-called spare parts reserve level refers to the percentage of spare parts types that can immediately meet the equipment maintenance needs among all required spare parts types (within a foreseeable period of time). It is not only impossible but also extremely uneconomical to achieve a 100% reserve of spare parts. After the spare parts reserve level exceeds 80%, the growth of costs and the growth of the reserve level are almost in a geometric progression relationship.
A reasonable spare parts reserve level is 80% to 85%, but it still cannot guarantee the supply of important spare parts and sustainable cost reduction. A series of measures still need to be taken to ensure that spare parts costs are reduced while meeting the needs of equipment maintenance.
Ii. Traditional ways to Reduce costs
Today's Chinese enterprises are to a large extent yesterday's German enterprises, especially large and medium-sized state-owned ones. In terms of the way to reduce spare parts costs, we are following the path that German enterprises have taken and gradually abandoned. The following are the traditional ways in which German enterprises reduce spare parts costs.
1. Only control the inventory level of the total warehouse. The inventory levels of many so-called "black warehouses" similar to petty cash funds have not been tallied, such as those of Chewen and even teams.
2 From the perspective of the purchasing department, a large number of spare parts were released from the warehouse at one time and flowed into uncontrollable "black warehouses". The capital turnover period for spare parts on the books is very short, but in fact, it is completely the opposite.
3 Reducing the order quantity has led to the front-line maintenance department hoarding unnecessary spare parts. It can reduce the cost of spare parts procurement in a specific short period of time, but it lacks balance and stability. In the long run, it is ineffective or even harmful.
4 Use existing but unsuitable buildings as warehouses, such as old factories or office buildings. Although the construction cost has been reduced, the personnel and management costs have increased.
5 Employ low-quality personnel, such as workers who cannot be dismissed due to trade union reasons. Although the salary is low, one cannot take on other jobs concurrently and cannot use modern office tools.
When considering the storage of spare parts, the following questions should be frequently and consistently thought about.
1. How much loss can be caused by each hour of downtime?
2 When spare parts supply is insufficient, to what extent will it cause maintenance workers to stop working and wait for materials?
3 How high is the additional cost of emergency spare parts procurement exactly?
But in reality, these problems are seldom taken into consideration. The economic management of spare parts not only involves the procurement of spare parts themselves, but also the maintenance and renovation of production equipment.
In fact, apart from the decision-makers under pressure, almost everyone hopes that the spare parts reserve remains at a relatively high level. When costs are high and reserves are large, problems in organizational structure, work procedures, communication and coordination, as well as work efficiency, are concealed, allowing people to work leisurely and freely.
Iv. Methods for Reducing Spare Parts Costs
1. Reduce the reserve of spare parts
What matters is to take actual needs as the criterion. The approach should be bottom-up rather than top-down.
(1) Select the spare parts that are no longer in use and eventually scrap them. German enterprises, like domestic ones, also have spare parts that have been lying idle in warehouses for years or even decades. Compared with the huge consumption of human and material resources, many people are less willing to take responsibility for "asset loss".
(2) Ascertain the relationship between equipment and spare parts, and determine which spare parts can be used on which equipment. This way, the same spare parts in different devices can be planned in a coordinated manner, thereby reducing the reserve of spare parts.
(3) Calculate the outbound and procurement supply cycles to optimize the spare parts reserve volume.
(4) The selection of important equipment spare parts for storage, such as bottleneck equipment and high-load equipment, can be determined based on factors like the risk coefficient of the equipment.
(5) Determine the minimum and maximum reserve quantities for each type of spare part. The Cologne Motor Plant of Volt Company determines the spare parts based on factors such as the supply time, material, and the number of equipment corresponding to the spare parts.
(6) Optimize the order quantity. In Germany, as the quantity of orders increases and the level of credibility improves, so do the price discounts. However, an increase in the order quantity also means a rise in capital occupation and higher management costs. Therefore, it is necessary to seek the best balance between the two.
(7) Establish enterprise standards to reduce the types of spare parts. In 2001, Dekusa, with sales of 20 billion euros, was the third largest chemical company in Germany, consuming approximately 1,500 tons of hydraulic and lubricating oil annually. Since the establishment of the enterprise standard for oil selection in 1984, despite the threefold expansion of equipment scale, the consumption of oil products has slightly decreased, and the number of in-use oil products has dropped from over 500 to 70.
(8) Regularly inspect the implementation of the above measures.
2 Reduce warehouse management costs
(1) Transfer the spare parts that need to be continuously consumed and have lower value to the warehouse of the maintenance workshop. This not only avoids the distraction of the energy of the general warehouse management personnel and reduces the number of management personnel, but also avoids the waiting time of maintenance personnel.
(2) Train warehouse management personnel. High-quality managers can not only enhance work efficiency but also put forward valuable and reasonable suggestions. In 2000, a warehouse worker at Volt's Cologne Motor Factory was awarded 500,000 marks for a rationalization proposal, while the value created was 2.5 million marks.
(3) Centrally manage the spare parts in the "black warehouse". This may lead to an increase in personnel and management costs, but as compensation, it can alleviate the burden on the "black warehouse" managers who also need to put in labor and accurately control the reserve of spare parts.
(4) Use modern warehouses. It not only reduces the time for inbound and outbound operations, but also lowers the number of maintenance personnel and warehouse managers. There are approximately 2,000 modern high-rise warehouses in Germany. The elevated warehouse at the Wesseling factory of Dekusa Company stores 22,000 kinds of spare parts materials worth 19 million marks. It covers an area of only 1,600 square meters and has only 15 staff members. Among them, three are responsible for providing supply services on site and three are in charge of quality inspection of the goods.
(5) Establish a spare parts management information system. In Germany, computers are widely used in equipment management. The management software of most enterprises is the R2 or R3 equipment management information system produced by SAP in Germany, and spare parts management is an important component of it. The application of computer management for spare parts can efficiently summarize and analyze the frequency of spare parts replacement, the time for procurement to arrive, etc., thereby better controlling the minimum and maximum reserve quantities of spare parts and reducing the reserve funds occupied by spare parts.
For most domestic enterprises, due to the different levels of economic development, some experiences from Germany cannot be learned for the time being, such as the huge investment in modern warehouses and management information systems. However, the following points can be drawn upon.
1. Spare parts and materials with strong versatility and slightly higher value are uniformly stored in a central warehouse. Such as reducers, motors, fans, pumps, etc., which can shorten the actual capital turnover cycle. Of course, this requires the central warehouse to have a very high level of management and convenient transportation.
2 Establish enterprise standards for spare parts materials. Some major German companies, such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and Dekusa, all have their own corporate standards. A few years ago, at a production plant of a certain domestic company, there was a phenomenon where several cranes of the same model had different gear ratios for the large cranes. This not only increased the storage of spare parts but also raised the burden of maintenance.
3 Regularly calculate the consumption cycle and procurement cycle of major spare parts and materials. From this, the storage quantities of spare parts and materials can be reasonably defined, and those spare parts that have not been used for a long time can be excluded from the supply of spare parts. The determination of the minimum and maximum reserve quantities can respectively ensure the safety and economy of spare parts supply.
4 Bulk purchasing, online bidding, quality tracking. For the purchase of electrical components at the Cologne Motor Plant of Volt Company, two suppliers, General Motors and Siemens, were selected at the beginning of the year, and the settlement was made based on the usage volume at the end of the year. The important spare parts of Dekusa Company all have a "historical number" similar to an ID card number, which can effectively track the service life. Online bidding can minimize underhanded operations to the greatest extent.
