This new article explores the cost of inconsistent spare parts decisions.
It might be more than you realize.
That is not to suggest that a multi-site organization needs every location to hold the same inventory.
Different equipment, operating environments, supply arrangements and risk exposures will naturally produce different stocking requirements.
However, those differences should result from local circumstances—not from each location using a different decision process.
This distinction is critical.
Local Outcomes Versus Local Logic
Two sites may assess the same type of part and reach different stocking decisions.
That can be entirely appropriate.
One site may have access to a nearby supplier.
Another may be geographically isolated.
One may operate continuously.
Another may have regular shutdown opportunities.
The stocking outcome should reflect those differences.
The problem arises when the sites:
• use different definitions of criticality;
• apply different stocking rules;
• rely on different data;
• involve different functions;
• document decisions differently;
• interpret enterprise policies in conflicting ways.
In this situation, the organization does not have controlled local variation.
It has inconsistent decision-making.
