The most obvious way that procurement and effective spare parts management can be misaligned is when procurement seeks ‘lowest unit cost’ outcomes.
To achieve that goal procurement buys cheap parts or buys excessive quantities to achieve a volume price break.
But cheap parts may have a shorter life (requiring more frequent replacement) or may impact plant reliability through increased failure rates.
Excess quantities that get price breaks may result in buying items that will never be used.
These outcomes clearly do not align with the goals of spare parts inventory management, but they are often ignored as the procurement practice aligns with the goals of the procurement function.
However, there is another, less obvious, dare I say, hidden, way that spare parts management procurement misaligns with the goals of spare parts inventory management.
That is, procurement frequency.
