The spare-parts issue

Managing the maintenance, repair and operations of any commercial building is a balancing act for the engineers, facilities managers and contractors involved. Tom Wilson discusses the value that distributors can bring to the maintenance and repair operation.Maintenance and refurbishment is an essential component in the operation of any building. Far from simply providing a reactive service to resolving faults and problems, modern maintenance programmes are geared towards keeping a business or operation running and minimising the risk of, and potential damage caused by, unplanned downtime. Traditionally, maintenance has been based on preserving physical assets using a failure-prevention and asset-care approach. Potential problem areas are identified according to past behaviours, and steps are taken to reduce the risk of future component failure. However, several studies have shown that this approach can conflict with the requirements of the business. The consequence of a failure is about how it affects the business. Some failures can cause more damage than others, and some have longer term consequences. Prevention therefore needs to be prioritised so those failures that may cause the most damage are addressed in preference to the others. If the consequence of a failure will have a significant impact on the business function and the likelihood of it is high, the organisation is at high risk, and considerable effort must be made to avoid, eliminate or minimise such a consequence. If, on the other hand, the consequence of failure is not significant, it is not worth carrying out preventative maintenance beyond basic house keeping measures. Yet despite the sophistication of such management techniques, the approach to managing the store of spare or replacement components is often somewhat lacking. Spare parts One of the major challenges for engineers managing the maintenance and repair of building services and plant is the logistics of having the right parts at the right time. It is reckoned that 60 to 70% of the cost of the maintenance and repair operation is in procurement and ownership costs — i.e. the labour associated with sourcing and storing parts is far greater than the cost of the part itself. Yet it remains commonplace to find organisations oblivious to this fact. As in so many other areas of business, the focus is on the component cost and rarely the lifecycle cost. Efficiency drives in many organisations mean that stock rooms are not what they once were. Indeed, in the building-services sector in particular, stores are often no more than informal arrangements, populated haphazardly over a period of time. In smaller sites, it is not unusual to find that the store contains no more than the leftovers from previous repairs and projects — a few valves, miscellaneous lengths of copper tubing, or perhaps a radiator. Just as a squirrel gathers and stores nuts ready for the winter months, a similar ethos is adopted in the maintenance of buildings. Even on major sites, the stores set up can leave much to be desired. If a site is divided into a number of zones, each zone runs its own informal stores system without relating to, or sharing information with, the other zones. The overall quantity of stock held can be high, but there is little co-ordination, resulting in huge inefficiencies. For example, an audit of one major UK airport identified that over 20 stores on site were carrying some £600 000 worth of spares, covering 11 500 product lines from 160 different suppliers — but without any formal stock-management system to monitor it all. It should come as no surprise that further analysis demonstrated massive levels of duplication and huge cost. Such situations clearly illustrate that stores management is rarely a core competency for service engineers, creating a situation where the right parts are seldom available at the right time. Combine this with a fast moving environment where parts become obsolete and technologies change, and it is apparent that many engineers require a third party they can call upon when needed. In addition, maintenance teams are frequently tasked with spearheading projects to identify and tackle areas where energy efficiencies can be made. This can often involve replacing components, for example replacing fixed-speed pumps with variable-speed models. Clearly, no in-house store is able to cater for this type of project, let alone be able to assist with the asset management requirements, compliance issues or best practice-processes. In short, it is impossible for the handful of individuals that make up the typical building-services maintenance team to keep up with all the trends, changes and opportunities. In this environment, the word distributor can be misunderstood; it suggests little more than someone who sources and delivers things — at a cost. The reality is far removed from this; (the right) distributors act as technical consultants — advising on replacements for obsolete parts and fittings, recommending solutions to problems, providing design facilities, or providing spares and commissioning. They are experts in their fields — be it pumps, valves, controls, plastics, steel and copper. And, of course, they also have a core competency of being able to get things to customers quickly and efficiently. Crucial role With access to tens of thousands of parts that no on-site store room can compete with, and with an ability to deliver products overnight, to the shop floor or to a branch for collection, distributors play a crucial role in the maintenance cycle, helping to balance the needs of central purchasing with that of the engineer. The headache of stock management is removed, the inefficiency of the procurement process is removed and cost savings are gained through vast economies of scale gained only through distributors. So don’t just think about the component cost next time you require a spare part; remember the procurement cost and consider how it can be reduced. Tom Wilson is business-development director at BSS Industrial, a leading distributor of heating and pipeline solutions in the UK www.bssuk.co.uk
Related links:



modbs tv logo

New Sustainability Director for Wates Group

Wates Group, a family-owned development, building and property maintenance company, has appointed Cressida Curtis as its new Group Sustainability Director.

Domus Ventilation appoints new contractor sales managers

Ventilation systems manufacturer Domus Ventilation has announced the arrival of three new Contractor Sales Managers.