quickly— especially common wear parts— can significantly reduce the amount of time needed to get a machine back to work. The most efficient and economical way to do this is to proactively stock common wear parts in your fleet inventory.
Before you start shopping, though, ask yourself these questions:
• What equipment is critical to our services— and what common wear parts does it use?
• What are the common wear times for parts we use?
• How would I characterize the parts?
The answers will give you a better idea of what parts are critical to keeping your fleet up and running.
Once you understand what parts you will need to maintain your equipment, start breaking down the specifics of the type of inventory you should stock. For machines that are integral to your services, you will want to have fully stocked spare parts. Even if a machine is new, that doesn’ t eliminate the need for spare parts.
Maintaining an inventory list with lead time and delivery information is also important. If there are parts that are regularly difficult to source or with known delays, those should be kept in your inventory. For example, they may only be available from a single vendor or must be shipped from overseas.
The organization process should include classifying parts. For example, designating parts as critical will help you prioritize them for ordering.
Uptime Matters
Equipment uptime has a direct impact on a company’ s revenue. This means that when downtime does occur, whether for planned maintenance or unexpected issues, convenient access to parts and services can get a machine back to work as quickly as possible, increasing productivity, reducing cost of ownership and maximizing your investment.
18 • 515-955-1600 • August 2025