Ensuring production continuity is a very demanding task. We often find engineers with difficulties that they could easily avoid. Certain actions proposed by us and taken on time can save an emergency situation. We concentrate on every action to prevent stressful situations. In this article we will focus on the topic of obsolete parts. In order to show well the problem of the availability of this type of components, one should look at the matter a bit further.
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Spare parts failure rate management
It is very often the case that production plants have automation resources strictly suited to the production needs. We can therefore safely assume that the same factories are rare. Due to the multitude of producers we experience a machine park made up of many manufacturers, eg ABB, FANUC, SIEMENS. Such solutions are usually a very good strategy due to a perfect fit to the production requirements. Consortia of suppliers, however, have several disadvantages. One of them is the difficulty of storage of spare parts. The multitude of components existing in the plant generates high costs by the demanding spare parts warehouse. An example is the need to have not one but a few servomotors.
Optimization of spare parts storage
We have developed solutions for this type of problems over the years. The actions we undertake are designed to ensure almost continuous and failure-free operation of all components. One of the options we propose is the storage of spare parts that were discontinued from production. There is, however, a conviction that the spare parts warehouse must be expensive. Of course, this is an expensive option, but not more expensive than removing the effects of a failure in the traditional way. The obsolete parts usually have the status of difficult accessibility. The cost of submitting a subassembly is very easy to estimate. If the part has to be ordered and the delivery time is several weeks, we are also charged with the downtime. Of course, having a trusted parts supplier minimizes the problem of delivery time, but does not eliminate it in its entirety. With a part in stock, we are able to remove the failure in a short time. If a decision is made regarding the storage of components, it is necessary to calculate its failure rate and the planned time of use of the machine in which the part is working. It is best to calculate profitability when you price a product from a trusted supplier. Such a calculation can make us realize that a given component will not be a significant burden on the budget, and its possession will guarantee us continuity of production.
