Internal Kanban for Spare Parts

Introduction

I mentioned the Central Spare Parts Warehouse (: CSPW) before, though, there is an issue that the distance between the CSPW and their maintenance storage is quite far so that they won’t be able to meet MTTR (: Mean time to repair) target once the machine is down accidentally or their consumable parts for a particular machine is so critical that the maintenance staff members really want to keep such parts nearby. For the sake of controlling the assets of the company, the CSPW should control and monitor the incoming the Spare Parts from the supplier and outgoing it to the production. However, we know the significance of the production stoppages due to the machine down. Paradoxically enough, some Spare Parts can be stored nearby the maintenance personnel because of the criticality for the maintenance activity. Also, I can see that there are some buildings in a compound of the manufacturing company and there is a distance between the CSPW and other divisions or buildings of the production. But we should not be trapped in such a way that all critical parts must be controlled by the maintenance. If we would allow them to do so, the objective of the CSPW might deteriorate and the storage in the maintenance will be messy since the nature of the maintenance staff should focus on the machine maintenance or repairing and not controlling the Spare Parts themselves. We always remind us that our goal is to make money at present as well as in the future. To solve this, I would like to introduce the Internal Kanban System.

What is the Internal Kanban?

While the CSPW applies for ROP (: Re-order Point) Kanban to control the inventory, it is the Kanban used internally plant and it is to supply the critical Spare Parts to the maintenance personnel. What is the internally? Well, there are 2 types of the Internal Kanban (: Int-K), one is for inside-plant use and the other is inter-plant use.

The Int-K of inside-plant

It is between the CSPW and the maintenance storage. First, I recommend that the maintenance staff members should arrange the storage area wherein the same rack as the CSPW needs to be fabricated and prepared with such visible monitoring system as the location numbers and each shelf has enough space to store those critical Spare Parts. The design of the rack is the same as the CSPW; numbering both vertically and horizontally as to easily identify the Spare Parts’ location. The maintenance staff members have to arrange those racks accommodating space to justify the number of the critical Spare Parts.

Standard Operation Procedures with the Int-K is as follows:

The maintenance staff members prepare the critical Spare Parts list
Inclusive of quantity at their storage
Fabricate or arrange the rack for the critical Spare Parts
Assign the location numbers to the rack and/or floor, if any
Paint or stick each number to the rack and/or the floor
Prepare Int-K to each critical Spare Parts inclusive of

         Location number
         Part number
         Part Name
         Description/Specification
         Unit of measurement

We don’t have to think of ROP (: Re-ordering point) as we implement it in the CSPW since the Int-K doesn’t apply for the re-ordering point method of the parts replenishment since one Int-K has to be attached with one part.

How to implement the Int-K after preparing the storage

The Int-K has to be allotted per parts. For example, O-ring A003 for a painting machine. A003 is packed with a plastic with sealed since it is a standard package delivered by a supplier. So, we allocate an Int-K to this plastic. There must be some ways of allocating the Int-K to the parts such as attaching with a rubber band, inserting into space of shelf of the rack, or wrapping by a wire, avoiding the Int-K detaching from the parts or plastic. Once the maintenance staff have consumed the parts, then they have to remove the Int-K from the parts. Upon the parts requesting to the CSPW, they will bring the Int-K to the CSPW. When they get the parts, they attach the Int-K to the parts then A003 will have to be stored on the designated shelf along with the location number which was assigned already. Since the parts are still assets of the company, the maintenance staff members have to monitor the inventory.

The Int-K of inter-plant

The Int-K between the CSPW and the maintenance storage in another plant. The basic procedure is the same as the Inside-plant, except for the location of the building. If the distance is quite considerable, a staff member of the CSPW could bring the parts as a delivery system between the CSPW and the maintenance storage of the other buildings.

The Int-K is a tool for connecting the CSPW and the maintenance storage. The CSPW governs the control of the Spare Parts. And they allow the maintenance to store some critical Spare Parts with minimum quantity.

Numbers of the Int-K are tallied with the numbers of the Spare Parts. If the size of the Spare Parts is small like a spring washer, I recommend that they set a standard unit package by a small plastic that has, for example, 10 pieces of the washers to control the parts easier. Once they opened the plastic to consume 1 piece of the washers, they removed the Int-K from the plastic then bring the Int-K to the CSPW for replenishing a set of washers. And that’s a time when the said inventory has been consumed by the maintenance storage and the inventory data needs to be updated by the storekeeper of the CSPW.

Inventory level

The CSPW allows the maintenance storage with minimal level of inventory. Since we apply for one Int-K for one Part Number of the Spare Parts, the number of the Int-K depends on the Spare Parts variability. Also, they need to update the Spare Parts list periodically. Accuracy of the inventory is a must. The CSPW personnel should audit the inventory in the maintenance storage regularly.

Conclusion

The Int-K is a connecting tool between the CSPW and the maintenance storage for the critical parts. Since those parts in the maintenance storage still belong to the CSPW, the storekeeper of the CSPW is responsible for monitoring the Spare Parts even inside the maintenance storage. The Ink-K is a practical tool and an inexpensive way to meet the demand of the maintenance.