Maintenance, Repairs, and Operations (MRO) Inventory Control System: Optimizing MRO Inventory Management in a Manufacturing Company during Covid-19

Abstract

MRO Inventory Management is the process of acquiring, storing, using, and replenishing the materials or supplies used for maintenance, repairs, and operations. The purpose of MRO inventory management is to have the right stock at the right time and place, and at the right cost, to avoid production stoppages, overstocking, and productivity losses. (FT Maintenance, 2020) Inventory management includes reordering supplies when needed, regularly counting stock, tracking parts usage and movement, and forecasting future demand. This document provides information about a project with the goal of redesigning the Maintenance, Repairs, and Operations (MRO) inventory control system in Tepeji plant to increase Inventory performance indicators. This project was done in Prolamsa, a company that manufactures profiles and tubes of carbon steel. The aim of this project is to help the plant improve the MRO inventory management, since 49% of the spare parts at the warehouse are slow moving inventory, and have not been consumed in 91 weeks. Obsolete, damaged, and slow-moving materials are found, which are not properly located or quantified. Using the DMAIC methodology, the project followed a structured approach to determine the root causes of the issue in order to determine the appropriate solutions. This report discusses an inventory model based on (s,S) continuous review policy (Min-Max), using a statistical reorder point with probabilistic Demand and Constant Lead Time. An inventory simulation tool (Log-Hub) was used to determine the optimal inventory policy through simulation in multiple what-if scenarios in terms of service levels achieved.