As part of Sparrow’s ongoing efforts to learn and innovate in the world of spare parts, we’re sitting down with industry experts to get real-world experiences and insights. 

It was our pleasure to hear from David Thompson, an MRO spare parts specialist and trainer with over 61 (!) years of experience in the field. David began his career as a maintenance engineer with the British Steel Company and continued in a wide range of maintenance, reliability, and CMMS roles. 

He has operated as an independent consultant and trainer for the last 30 years, covering topics such as spare parts optimisation, data auditing, inventory control effectiveness, MRO best practices, and more. 

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Note: we’ve made some slight edits to the original text to ensure consistency. These changes are only grammatical or format-related, and we haven’t made any changes to the contents. 

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Q: You have over 50 years of experience in spare parts management. What initially drew you into the field?

There are three main reasons that led to this. 

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I attended a Reliability course in 1981 while working in India, where a session was on inventory control. I started developing a spare parts optimisation tool on a project in 1999 while on a reliability project in Norway, based on the concepts I learnt in 1981 from an American consultant. 

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It all kicked off in 2011, when a friend got me on a Spare Parts Data Cleansing project in Angola. 

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A few years after, while conducting a spares course in Bangkok, a delegate said his company was using a Canadian company with 20-30 years of data cleansing experience. On the last day he said he had received the finished file. He shared it with me, and for me it was not fit for purpose. Many examples were bushes: the consultant only gave the noun, and for the qualifier put “general,” as there was insufficient information.

I started to develop my own tool, but I didn’t get to use it until 2020 when I obtained a project here in the UK.

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Q: What are the common challenges you’ve observed across different industries regarding spare parts management?

After 80+ training courses and numerous audits (management processes, master data and procedure audits), delegates return to their workplace but don’t do anything different. They get sucked into day-to-day activities. Even almost 50 years since I attended my first Reliability course, little seems to have changed in managing spares.

Q: Can you discuss how you view RSPLs (Recommended Spare Parts Lists) from vendors and how companies can ensure these lists are accurate and useful?

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This is a key one.

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Step 1: there must be a process in place with a standard data population document.

Step 2: someone must critically review the list for data quality in terms of descriptions, parts number (P/N) and recommended quantities.

Step 3: if a large project then the data needs to be developed into an interim database.

Step 4: if parts are bought from the equipment supplier, then on first receipt the item’s data needs to be validated against what has been populated in the CMMS system.

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Q: In your experience, what makes a plant excellent in spare parts management? What are the processes and tools that support this?

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Again a big area, but [good spare parts management] comes down to the following actions:

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• Good cataloguing
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• Developing bill-of-materials (BOMs)
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• Setting inventory levels 
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• Auditing performance (My best case was $500,000 recommended reduction in max stock level values, and this was only 10 line items and 50% of the potential savings)

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Q: You emphasize the use of data validation and cleaning in your writing. What are the best practices for maintaining high-quality inventory data?

Consistency, having a guide to the cataloguing process, and quality checks.

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Q: What strategies would you recommend for setting reorder points and safety stock levels to ensure optimal inventory management?

The formulas [for setting reorder points and safety stock levels] are given in textbooks, but what is not as easily accessible are the formulas for an inventory with 20-50,000 line items. With this many parts, how do you evaluate existing stock levels? This is something I teach in my courses.

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Q: What role do you think advanced technologies like AI and machine learning will play in spare parts management in the coming years?

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Many companies have not populated manufacturer parts numbers (MPN or Mfr P/N) themselves, and the parts description may contain a 

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• Mfr P/N or a Vendor Parts Number
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• Just a Vendor Parts Number 
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• Or sometimes even two different Mfr P/Ns
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What takes time is to copy and paste the P/N into its own field or to search the web to get the manufacturer or confirm the correct Mfrs P/N.

If Mfrs P/n or a key attribute is missing, then it needs to be given back to the vendor to validate at the bin. I find at least 50% [of parts] are like this. A simple example is a ML surface socket or switch; the catalogue number is the same but there are options–white or black. If you don’t have this info, then the vendor cannot supply you. 

Data cleansing is not a quick process, but I am sure AI can speed it up.

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We hope you enjoyed the article and gained further insights into expert spare parts management! Follow us on LinkedIn for more content on how to elevate your spare parts knowledge.