Maintenance spare parts planning and control: a framework for control and agenda for future research

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for planning and control of the spare parts supply chain in organisations that use and maintain high-value capital assets. Decisions in the framework are decomposed hierarchically and interfaces are described. We provide relevant literature to aid decision-making and identify open research topics. The framework can be used to increase the efficiency, consistency and sustainability of decisions on how to plan and control a spare parts supply chain. This point is illustrated by applying it in a case study. Applicability of the framework in different environments is also investigated.

Keywords:

• spare parts management
• system availability
• decision framework
• decision support models

Acknowledgements

The authors thank NedTrain, and especially the participants of the focus group meeting, for their support and cooperation in the case study research. The authors also thank the other case study companies for their cooperation. They also thank the anonymous referees and Jürgen Donders for their invaluable input on the framework itself and its presentation.

Notes

1. The configuration is similar to the bill of materials. However, the configuration changes throughout the lifetime of an asset due to modificative maintenance whereas the bill of materials is a snapshot of the configuration at the time of initial manufacture.

2. See Appendix 1 for the list of checkpoints.

3. On this Likert scale: 1 = totally not in line, 5 = totally in line.