MRO spares are often the source of a familiar business tension.
Finance wants to reduce unnecessary inventory, free up working capital and avoid dead stock. Operations wants the right spare parts available when critical assets need them. Both are right.
The problem is that many spare parts decisions are still made without a shared, factual basis. One team sees a store full of expensive items that may not have moved in years. Another sees the risk of production stopping because one critical component is not available when it is needed.
This is where Spare Parts Optimisation changes the conversation.
Instead of asking whether an organisation has “too much” or “too little” stock, a better question is:
What is the value-based consequence of not having this spare part available when it is needed?
Pragma will explain this approach in an upcoming webinar on its Spare Parts Optimisation solution.The webinar will be presented by André Jordaan, Partner Consultant.
Why MRO spares need a different approach
Maintenance, repair and operations spares are not the same as normal inventory.
Many MRO items move slowly. Some may not move for years. Others are inexpensive and used frequently. Some are critical to asset availability, while others have very little operational consequence if they are not immediately available.
This makes blanket inventory rules risky.
Reducing stock across the board may look good from a working capital perspective, but it can leave critical assets exposed. Holding too much stock, on the other hand, ties up capital, increases the risk of obsolete items and creates unnecessary carrying costs.
The real value lies in understanding which spares matter, why they matter, and what the business consequence would be if they were not available.
A model both Finance and Operations can trust
Pragma’s value-based Spare Parts Optimisation model is designed to help organisations determine the right stock levels by considering cost, risk and operational consequence together. It takes into account factors such as holding cost, ordering cost, lead time, stock-out probability and the monetary consequence of non-availability. This gives teams a factual basis for deciding which spares to carry, at what level, and why.
For Finance, this means inventory decisions can be justified in business terms. For Operations, it means asset availability and downtime risk are not ignored in the pursuit of lower stock levels. For the organisation, it means moving away from opinion-based debates and towards evidence-based decisions.
What attendees can expect to learn
During the webinar, André will unpack what MRO spares are and why they require a different optimisation approach from standard inventory.
Attendees will gain insight into why historical demand alone is not always enough to determine stock levels, particularly for slow-moving or critical spares. The session will also explore how the probability and consequence of a stock-out can be translated into monetary value, enabling better decisions across Finance, Operations, Engineering and Maintenance.
The webinar will also show how a value-based approach supports more confident discussions around working capital, operational risk and asset availability.
Most importantly, attendees will see how Spare Parts Optimisation helps organisations carry the right spares, at the right levels, for the right reasons.
Join the webinar
Webinar: When Finance and Operations Agree on Spares
Date: 20 August
Time: 15:30 SAST (UTC+2)
Platform: Zoom
Registration: Click here to register
If your organisation is trying to reduce unnecessary inventory without increasing operational risk, this webinar will provide a practical way to rethink MRO spares.
The right spare parts strategy should not be a compromise between Finance and Operations. It should be a shared decision, backed by facts.
