Spare parts supply
The supply of spare parts is a manufacturing and organizational task that manufacturers of durable consumer goods and capital goods have to devote to. For short-lived goods, spare parts are usually not supplied or only to a very limited extent.
Securing the supply of spare parts in the technical area is a corporate management task that should not be underestimated. Downtimes and downtimes of machines and production facilities due to spare parts that cannot be procured or can only be procured with a long delay in production or assembly of companies can have a significant impact on the company's success.
It is normally expected that spare parts will be commercially available for about ten years after the end of production of consumer goods . A supply of spare parts is not provided if the technical development suggests that comparable objects with significantly higher performance will be available in the future at the same or lower prices. Examples include computers , microprocessors , and memory chips .
A supply of spare parts requires organizing production, warehousing and distribution to those sales areas in which a durable good was used. The supply of spare parts can be a high-ranking company interest, among other things because of the sales value that can be achieved here. The contribution margins are also usually higher than for new business. With many capital goods , manufacturers are forced to sell at extremely low prices. Then it is important to include the extent to which the operation of the capital goods could result in long-term earnings in spare parts, the pricing of which could possibly far more than compensate for a loss in the case of a new sale.
However, since this effect is not unknown even among customers, it is also counteracted, be it through an obligation on the part of the supplier to deliver spare parts in the future on the basis of fixed price lists , or be it by customers relying on the development of a secondary market , the possible one Excessive earnings expectations of a manufacturer can create a damper (e.g. in the automotive industry ).
organization
The spare parts business can be integrated into the new business or operated and calculated as a more or less independent unit, be it as a "business unit" or as an independent company. One example would be Volkswagen Genuine Parts Logistics as a company that controls the networking of the OTC .
Sometimes the manufacturers of new goods completely separate themselves from the supply of spare parts for older products and leave both the stocks of spare parts for older goods and the information required for production (drawings and parts lists) to specialist companies. There is also such a service from companies that have specialized in the maintenance and repair of expensive machines and systems from lost manufacturers (example: machine tools).
Especially in capital goods marketing , a functioning spare parts supply with short response times and well thought-out spare parts logistics can also make a major contribution to differentiation from the competition and thus also positively influence new business.
Capital goods
When selling long-life capital goods (e.g. in plant engineering ), customers usually ask the plant provider to create lists immediately with the new plant, and the possible delayed delivery of the predictable spare parts (for wear and tear) over several years at the same time as the purchase agreed.
In the case of industrial plants, the distribution of deliveries between sub-suppliers is often a problem. Example: a plant construction customer wants a large mill to be installed as a second plant next to the first plant delivered ten years ago. Together with the new system, a comprehensive spare parts package is to be supplied for both systems. Sometimes the old electric motors are no longer available in the same design. Or the manufacturer of the gearbox is unable to build another gearbox of the same type based on the old drawings. Then it is often redesigned in order to bring both the old and the new system to a newer and mutually compatible status, because the customer (understandably) wants to be well equipped with a set of spare parts for a possible failure of both the existing and the new system .
The often long delivery times for spare parts mean that buyers of special systems buy extensive spare part packages with the system. Since these increase the investment costs considerably (approx. 5–10% of the system volume are spare parts), supply concepts are often sought that ensure fast supply and keep the operator's capital commitment low. There are different concepts for this. Consignment warehouses are only suitable to a limited extent because the system manufacturer cannot take back the parts (dedicated equipment). Much more effective is a concentrated definition of the necessary spare parts to be kept in stock during construction and assembly. Essentially, the question is: How can the availability of the system (95-99%) be ensured and which parts would have a significant impact on failure (risk analysis).
vehicle construction
When buying an automobile, you can plan that tires , clutches , brakes and exhaust will wear out and that service products (such as oil filters ) will be required. These costs can differ significantly depending on the vehicle manufacturer. Over a few years of the initial market success of Japanese vehicles in Germany, z. For example, it can be observed that spare parts that can only be obtained from the manufacturer (e.g. body parts or engine components) sometimes had twice the price level as the German mass manufacturers. Attempts to justify this plausibly were often high transport costs. The vehicle manufacturers are now organizing to set up their own old-timer units for the service and stocking of spare parts for very old vehicles, sometimes with corresponding prices for the spare parts supply.
It can be difficult with the supply of spare parts for components that “normally” do not become defective or whose primary materials have not been produced for a long time. An example of this is chrome in vehicles: chrome parts, especially the interior fittings, such as decorative strips on the doors, are almost impossible to obtain in some old vehicles and are sometimes sold at extremely high prices. Another example are manufacturing techniques that have long since died out, such as the applications of cadmium or the use of mechanical injection pumps. The most expensive regular spare part could be the eight-cylinder injection pump for a Mercedes 600 from the 1970s: 40,000 euros. Replacement solutions are sometimes necessary. Where there used to be cadmium, you have to chrome plating.
Regional differences
The supply of high-quality spare parts for vehicles and other technical equipment (e.g. power generation ) is often extremely difficult, lengthy and expensive in third world countries , since the manufacturers often do not have a logistical base in the individual countries and thus the import must take place via third countries.
Retrofit
Defects in old machines are often the trigger for extensive conversions to a partially modernized state . Example: Until around 1970, machine tools such as lathes , milling machines or boring mills were only built with cast machine frames. This has become too expensive nowadays. If an old machine suffers a gearbox damage, it is often better to completely dismantle the old drive and replace it with a modern CNC drive with electronic control. Then it is still an essentially old machine, but with possibly even better properties than newer machines whose frames are welded constructions. There are manufacturing companies that consciously buy old, inexpensive machines in order to have them converted to new technology when the first defects occur, while retaining the old frames, in order to have a modern, powerful machine with "old" casting technology and its Benefits to come.
Another trigger for retrofitting is often that spare parts for certain assemblies are no longer available, especially parts of the control system.
Such “spare parts supply” is, however, highly specialized engineering . It is then a package consisting of engineering, delivery of new parts and assembly.
swell
- ↑ Retrofitting in practice. ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Found on August 25, 2011.
