Recently I attended the Smart Supply Chain
and Logistics Conference in Melbourne Australia. This is usually referred to as
the Smart Conference.
Now you may be asking yourself, ‘what has a
conference dealing with distribution centers, warehouse automation, and trucks,
have to do with spare parts management’? As it turns out, plenty! You just need
to translate some of the discussions from the general supply chain to the
specifics of spare parts management.
The conference had a very full complement
of speakers across five streams, so as with most conferences, you do need to be
selective about the use of your time by preparing in advance (Members: see my article
titled, How To Get The Most From Attending a Conference’).
At the 2015 Smart Conference there were
three discussions that really caught my attention and that were applicable to
spare parts management.
The Spare Parts Management Competitive Weapon
The first was the opening keynote
presentation ‘The Supply Chain as a Competitive Weapon’, delivered by Dr. Steven
Melnyk, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at Michigan State
University. In this presentation Dr. Melnyk spoke about the role of the supply
chain in helping businesses realize their full potential. While the topic
really was directed at products that a company makes and sells, the key
concepts were easily translatable to a company’s own supply of spare parts that
are used to support its own operational functions.
The central concept related to the ‘all
important business model’ and focused on the intersection between the value
proposition, key customers, and capabilities.
The
intersection of these issues is where you need to be to deliver real
performance. I wonder how many spare parts managers working in asset-intensive
companies have considered these three issues in relation to their department or
function.
Perhaps all managers of the spare parts
function need to be able answer the following set of questions:
