Inventory Planning Blog

Aftermarket service or spare parts inventory management is a prime candidate for advanced inventory planning software. With many diverse parts to manage and a lack of power tools, most companies with parts inventories have too many of the wrong parts. The result is unnecessary inventory expense, while still suffering service-limiting stock-outs.

Manual efforts to improve this situation fail, because of the time-intensive nature of the problem. A large number of parts, each with special considerations, quickly bog down someone trying to improve the parts purchases.

Previously, we discussed the different industries, uses and planning of parts. Today, the OEM replacement of parts is happening at an ever-increasing rate as technology allows for improvements in performance and longevity.
The graphic below shows the important milestones in a part’s life cycle. These have an impact on inventory planning for each item. This section examines how those milestones impact parts planning.

Inventory planning for aftermarket and OEM parts require appropriate skill sets and knowledge of the industry, markets and the customers. Advanced inventory planning software is critical to successful manage parts and meet tough customer demands and timing.