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Decision-making framework for inventory management of spare parts in capital-intensive industries

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Effective management of spare parts inventory is essential to companies because
it influences inventory costs and asset utilization. The vast and diverse
portfolio of spare parts, intermittent demand patterns and contradicting objectives
between departments are examples of some of the factors that complicate
Spare Parts Management (SPM). Managers of spare parts are faced
with trade-off decisions between risk and cost on a daily basis. These decisions
include, amongst many, determining appropriate stock levels and order
frequencies. Despite the importance of SPM, decisions are however often made
intuitively in practice with little factual support, and the decision-making process
is commonly constrained within departmental silos. Even though there
is a large body of academic knowledge on this topic, practical applications of
spare parts inventory solutions lag behind theoretical studies.
The majority of studies in literature focus on single components of SPM, such
as demand forecasting and parts classification, whereas fewer studies consider
the decision-making process itself. This study proposes a decision-making
framework for spare parts inventory management. The framework is based on
a wide-ranging literature review that focuses on capturing the essence of Spare
Parts Management (SPM), but also acknowledges the interconnectedness of the
problem. Therefore, core inventory management principles, as well as closely
related topics such as Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Physical Asset Management (PAM), are studied in the context of spare parts. The broad
scope of the literature study leads to a holistic approach to the problem and
prevents sub-optimization.
The proposed framework condenses principles from various fields of study
(SCM, PAM, Classification and Inventory Management) into a stepwise methodology
presented as a decision-making framework. The objective of the framework
is to provide managers with a structured process, based on factual information,
to enable better decision-making in the field. Furthermore, the
framework aims to capture the fundamentals of SPM in a simplistic manner
to ease the adoption of the framework in practice. A case study is conducted
in the South African mining industry to validate the framework. The case
study demonstrates that the framework is practical, provides structured guidance,
and assists managers to make trade-off decisions in managing spare parts
inventory. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Effektiewe voorraadbestuur van onderdele is belangrik vir maatskappye omdat
dit voorraadkoste en die benutting van bates beïnvloed. Die bestuur van onderdele
is ’n komplekse probleem. Ondermeer is die portefeulje van onderdele
items breed en divers, die vraagpatrone sporadies en word die voorraadvlakke
geaffekteer deur kontrasterende doelwitte tussen verskillende departemente.
Bestuurders van onderdele word daagliks gekonfronteer met besluite rakende
risiko’s en kostes, soos om toepaslike voorraadvlakke te bepaal en om te besluit
wanneer om bestellings te plaas. Hierdie besluite word dikwels intuïtief
geneem met min feitelike ondersteuning en insette in die besluitnemingsproses
word gereeld beperk tot sekere departemente. Ten spyte van die geweldige
akademiese belang in die onderwerp, is daar min suksesvolle praktiese toepassings.
Die meerderheid van studies in die literatuur fokus op spesifieke elemente van
onderdele bestuur, soos vooruitskatting en klassifisering van parte, terwyl minder
op die besluitnemingsproses konsentreer. Hierdie studie stel ’n besluitnemingsraamwerk
vir die bestuur van onderdele voorraad voor. Die raamwerk is
gegrond op ’n deeglike literatuurstudie wat die essensie van onderdele bestuur ondersoek, maar ook die interverbondenheid van die probleem in ag neem.
Voorraadbestuurbeginsels en verwante onderwerpe soos Voorsieningskettingbestuur
en Fisiese Batebestuur word dus bespreek. Die breë omvang van die
literatuurstudie lei tot ’n holistiese benadering wat sub-optimering van die
probleem voorkom.
Die voorgestelde raamwerk som beginsels uit verskillende relevante studievelde
op in ’n stapsgewyse metode wat voorgestel word as ’n besluitnemingsraamwerk.
Die doel van die raamwerk is om bestuurders te voorsien met ’n gestruktureerde
proses, gebaseer op feitelike inligting, om besluitneming in die
veld te verbeter. Verder poog die raamwerk om die fundamentele konsepte
in voorraadbestuur vas te vang in ’n eenvoudige manier sodat die raamwerk
maklik geïmplementeer kan word in die praktyk. Die voorgestelde raamwerk is
gevalideer deur middel van ’n gevallestudie in die Suid-Afrikaanse mynbedryf.
Die gevallestudie toon dat die voorgestelde raamwerk prakties is, die besluitnemingsproses
op ’n gestruktureerde wyse lei, en bestuurders help om beter,
ingeligte besluite te neem.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/96111
Date12 1900
CreatorsDu Toit, Deirdre
ContributorsVlok, P. J., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Department of Industrial Engineering.
PublisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Languageen_ZA
Detected LanguageUnknown
TypeThesis
Formatxvi, 154 p. : ill.
RightsStellenbosch University

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