Maintenance Warehouse: What it is, Elements, Keys and More

El Maintenance warehouse and spare parts, supplies and general hardware items, is one of the most important means in the area.

It is considered important because it must be able to supply the Workshops and Guilds with the least possible delay; on the other hand, its stock must be kept at an economic level. Then, the Maintenance warehouse must keep its stock within a balance between both limits.

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Items in the Maintenance Warehouse

stocks They are the most primary elements, and are all the stored materials and objects.

Stocks
The warehouse stock level is made up of elements that can be grouped into six main concepts:

a) hardware: They are all elements of general use, the application of which is not only directed to the work itself, but also to auxiliary and complementary tasks (screws, ropes, wires, nails, paintwork, etc.);

b) Supplies: They are considered as such all those elements that are applied directly, but generally, to all jobs (fuels, solvents, lubricants, ferrous bars, pipes and valves, bushings, sheets and plates, etc.);

c) universal spare parts: They are all those replacement elements that can be applied to all types of machinery or equipment (bearings, seals, gaskets, crapodinas, etc.);

d) rspecific spare parts: They are design elements, such that they cannot be replaced by universal spare parts or supplies. They are supplied by the original manufacturer or by certain suppliers.

e) common spare parts: They are specific spare parts or supplies that can be exchanged between identical or similar equipment (electric motors, speed reducers, couplings, etc.);

f) sets: The warehouse also stores a series of assembled sets, equipment components. These sets, for replacement, can be new or reconditioned in the company's own workshops or in other workshops.
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Keys to having a good maintenance warehouse

But what are the keys to achieving optimal spare parts and maintenance warehouse management? Below, you can see the most important points that will help a company achieve its objectives in this field.

1. Have a high level of planning

Every maintenance warehouse must be planned in such a way that it allows the proper use of assets. Thanks to this planning, it will be possible to have access to the references that the company has stored.

In order to ensure that all points are met correctly, it is essential to have all the necessary material for maintenance. In this way, having a industrial supplies supplier will guarantee us the peace of mind of always having a updated warehouseIn relation to this, it is vital to take into account the following point.

2. Updated inventory

The inventory is the stored set of materials, articles or goods that can be used for marketing or for personal benefit. In this case, it will reflect the set of maintenance related spare parts and the company's machinery field. A correct inventory will reflect all the movements that have been carried out in the warehouse.

Not only is the ordered list of stored goods collected here, but we can also reflect important data about the stored material through short descriptions.

On the one hand, inventory adjustment will allow any unexpected demand to be met immediately. On the other hand, it will establish a balance between two interests: technical and economic.

They will also be directly related to the executive area of a company with a spare parts management department and a maintenance warehouse. In this sense, having an updated maintenance inventory, as we pointed out above, will help us to quickly resolve unexpected problems.

3. Maintenance warehouse management tools

There are computer software tools created to properly manage the tasks specific to the area of storage. These tools will help us to manage, with sufficient efficiency, the spare parts inventories available in the warehouse. They will also allow us to determine various functions, such as: spare parts control most requested by the company or the asset turnover.

Warehouse movements

An efficient warehouse is a service sector, dynamic and economically managed, to which must be added its speed of response, like any other service. In its operation, a series of movements of income, exits, elimination and return are verified.
Of elements.

On the other hand, the staff in charge of the warehouse has important administrative tasks, which involve stock control and operational tasks.

These are the movements that are verified:

1. Review of stock levels

The review of the stock levels of an item (material type, economic order lot, safety stock, etc.) is carried out by a warehouse employee; it is advisable that inventory review tasks are carried out by:

1) every three replenishment orders;
2) whenever the material is out of stock;
3) annually for slow-moving items.

2. Removal of inventory materials

If after reviewing stock levels the employee determines that it is not advisable to keep an item in inventory, he or she should prepare a report and send it to the department manager or chief for review and approval or rejection of the disposal of the material. If the material is obsolete, he or she should prepare an immediate disposal notice so that records and files can be updated.

3. Inclusion of a new item in the inventory

When a new item needs to be included in inventory, the interested party should request a registration of the item in the Warehouse, together with the specifications and available drawings of the item. The material file will then open.

Purchasing will determine the possible suppliers, note them on the material sheet and register them in
the "Inclusion Request" There replacement, price of the item and other necessary data. This last document will be sent to Inventory Control so that the item is classified and its inclusion in inventories is approved.

4. Reception of materials in warehouse

The warehouse employee receives the materials and copies of the "Reception Report" and compares them to verify that the received material matches what is indicated in the report. Subsequently, and in the event that there are pending orders to be fulfilled, the user will be notified of the arrival of said items.

5. Removal of warehouse materials

When items are to be withdrawn from the warehouse, the requester must prepare a “Material Withdrawal Voucher” and obtain approval from a supervisor with an authorized signature. The voucher must be given to the warehouse manager, who will verify the availability of the requested items.

In the event that there is not a sufficient quantity of the required materials, the existence of possible substitutes will be checked by means of the Material Existence Card.

The materials are delivered to the user and the voucher is sent to the Inventory Control employee to update the perpetual inventory records and to request, when necessary, the purchase or manufacture of said items.

6. Return of warehouse materials

The requester must fill out a "Material Return Voucher" and present it to the warehouse manager, who will check whether it is properly prepared. In case of doubt about the good condition of the item, the intervention of a Quality Control employee must be requested, who will check whether the material meets the company's quality standards.

7. Minimum storage standards

To store a spare part, repaired part or subassembly, follow these rules:

ID: They must be perfectly identified with the store code on the Card using indelible writing;

Protection: The stored pieces will be partially (or completely) protected to avoid damage; anti-corrosion greases, waxed paper, crates, pallets, frames, beds, etc. will be used;

Location: The determination of the location of each piece can be done topographically, that is, following a diagram, or literally, in written form.

Importance of the maintenance warehouse

The management of spare parts and maintenance warehouse It is usually one of the main tasks that the maintenance department of any corporation focuses on. Its main objective is to achieve the usability, in the shortest possible time, of those assets belonging to the entity.

Optimal management of the maintenance It benefits every company, as it reduces time in multiple processes, such as in production itself, by having a lower number of breakdowns.

In addition, costs arising from the possible waste of unnecessary raw materials are also minimised. These costs can also be caused by other reasons, such as abnormal and unusable production of goods caused by machine errors.

Consequences of its Bad Administration

At this point, the warehouse is no longer just a “simple place to store new and used things” but must be considered a real management area that must be managed as such. That is, it can become, due to poor stock management, an area that
cause serious losses.

And these would be the main reasons for poor warehouse management:
— excess stock: in this case there is overinvestment and the resulting financial burden, to which must be added the depreciation of stock due to technological obsolescence and ageing;
— Deficient stock: this affects construction and maintenance programmes, often resulting in high amounts of lost profits.

Can you have more than one maintenance warehouse?

It may be convenient to keep the central warehouse separate from the maintenance warehouse. This division could present some advantages, which are the following:
— quick access (proximity) for Maintenance and Workshop personnel;
— less administrative procedures.

However, the following disadvantages can be mentioned:
— administrative decentralization, which implies a duplication of subsequent controls;
— perhaps more space needed for storage and duplication of moving equipment;
— more personal.

It is certainly more convenient to have a single warehouse, but experience shows that the requirements of new construction, improvement works, daily maintenance and long shutdowns of equipment and operating facilities require having an orderly warehouse that is administratively and physically arranged (in one or several places in the factory or plant) in such a way as to efficiently meet the requirements of the Maintenance area.

For this reason, in many firms, the general warehouse is separated from the warehouse intended for the aforementioned purposes, especially in cases where there are several plants separated from each other by a considerable distance.