Non-comparable MRO material master identities impose significant cost and risk to your Company (more than your team or function). It’s a solvable problem if an item identity taxonomy is applied and the catalogue is rationalized. Payback is well less than a year, benefits will continue, teams will perform better and be happier. It’s a business opportunity with great ROI.
Most asset intensive companies running ERP or CMMSs do not have a well thought out MRO item identity standard. It was not needed in pre-centralized business systems. Software vendors and Systems Integrators left master data quality issues to clients in implementation projects. “Not my part ship Chief” is an old Navy expression about not taking responsibility for something not your assignment. That’s reasonable, but a new reality was created when we centralized MRO material masters. Structured comparable MRO item identities became valuable, but those responsible didn’t have the skills or experience to deal with the challenge.
A logical hole exists in MRO item identification. We want a single record in the system to represent each real-world MRO item we need. Most companies have very limited capability to compare records. The common Data Governance check is to compare Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPN) when new items are requested, new capital projects add items, or a merger project happens. Regretfully the data quality of the MPN field itself is notoriously poor allowing multiple versions, and only partially identified items into service causing confusion and mistakes for system users.
There are standards available that have been applied but not fixed the MRO identity problem. These include appending UNSPSC codes, a classification or grouping of similar items standard, not an identity standard. There is ISO 22745 Open Technical Dictionaries that can be applied to MRO item identities but lack practicality in addressing the challenges of legacy MRO catalogues. It is best used as a catalogue at source method for new builds.
To see the business problem of MRO identities, it helps to look at it from the point of view of a Maintenance Planner searching for a part. Many possible items are available having varying descriptions, MPNs and blank MPNs for the item you need. Several may have been used in previous work orders, there is a puzzle to solve that shouldn’t be there. Similar challenge exists for procurement and warehouse staff, all causing unnecessary pain.
The cost of business as usual is high and unnecessary.
Your MRO can run better soon.
Let’s talk about your MRO.
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