I know there are a lot of criteria that determine whether or not a part is critical and should be kept in inventory. I was hoping someone had some formulas or strategic methods to identify these parts. Here are some of the criteria we are basing our descisions on but are still struggling with a solid policy.

1) Downtime Burden Rate Vs Cost of Part
(5Hr DT @ $1000/Hr Vs $5000 Part)
2) Repair Time Vs Lead Time
3) Failure History
4) Lead Time
5) Downtime

David,

Are critical spares different from insurance spares, in your case?

David,
The April/May edition of Uptime Magazine included an article titled When is Critical Really Critical - this may help your thinking.
I must confess to being the author of the article and can tell you that it doesn't give you a formula but there is a definition.
If you don't have th emagazine you can download the article from my website at http://www.InitiateAction.com/articles.htm.
Hope that helps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Phillip Slater,

Thank you for the information. As soon as I get a chance I will read and comment back.

quote:

Originally posted by Josh:
David,

Are critical spares different from insurance spares, in your case?

I'm not realy sure what the difference is between a critical and insurance spare.