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Ensuring the smooth operation and longevity of industrial assets – such as the machinery used in manufacturing or the equipment powering material processing – is fundamental to business continuity and sustainability worldwide. But it’s not just the industrial sector that depends on effective maintenance and repair; critical infrastructure services like railways, data centers, and energy generation also rely heavily on these operations to function seamlessly. In every industry, maintaining and repairing assets is not just important – it’s essential to keeping the world running.
However, managing MRO is not without its challenges. Companies often face unscheduled downtimes, resource mismanagement, and a lack of operational and financial visibility – all of which threaten business continuity. However, one can summarize them as follows:
- Experiencing unscheduled asset downtime: leading to disruptions in operations and expected service levels.
- Over/Under utilization of resources and labor: impacting costs or expected service levels.
- Lack of visibility: Limited transparency into MRO operations makes it difficult to track performance and justify investments.
- Disconnected management: across functions such as maintenance, procurement, and finance teams.
- Inventory management issues: Costly over/under inventory stocking, impacting working capital requirements or expected service levels.
Most companies manage MRO with scheduled maintenance activities as recommended by asset vendors and manufacturers, often within the constraints of warranties. However, these planned activities don’t account for unexpected breakdowns or failures. Furthermore, MRO is frequently handled with a top-down approach constrained by budgets, making it reactive rather than proactive.
- Create visibility: Gain insight into future material and resource requirements.
- Optimize inventory levels: Avoid over- or under-stocking while meeting or improving asset service levels.
- Connect key business functions: Foster collaboration between finance, procurement and maintenance operations.
To begin the transformation, it’s essential to assess the current state of your MRO processes. Identify gaps and envision a future state that leverages the right technology to support your goals. Such technology is SAP Integrated Business Planning for MRO (“SAP IBP for MRO”).
SAP IBP for MRO High Level Process Steps
SAP IBP for MRO supports a planning process and calculates component and resource requirements (that is, spare parts and workforce) for medium to long-term planning horizons for asset intensive industries facilitating the following:
- Prevent asset outages: Ensure critical parts are available when needed, avoiding downtime due to missing components.
- Lower safety stock: Reduce the need for high safety stock levels, freeing up capital for other uses.
- Enhance parts planning: Improve forecasting for spare part requirements, leading to better resource allocation.
- Ensure labor availability: Align workforce scheduling with maintenance activities to avoid disruptions.
- Optimize resource utilization: Determine the exact labor resources needed for specific maintenance tasks.
- Align maintenance and supply plans: Synchronize maintenance schedules with supply chain operations.
- Integrate with project systems: Connect material and resource requirements with project activities for better coordination.
- Collaborate with vendors: Integrate key material and resource needs with suppliers to streamline procurement.
SAP IBP for MRO Demand and Inventory Review: Visibility to material and resource requirements
SAP IBP for MRO Financial Review: Visibility to material and resource investments
Since 2013, Westernacher has been at the forefront of supply chain planning innovations with SAP IBP. We have the expertise and experience to support your transformation journey.
Ready to transform your MRO? Let’s talk.
