Supply Chain Management Systems for Service and Replacement Parts: Players, Benefits, and User Recommendations
P.J. Jakovljevic and Olin Thompson - August 2, 2005

Who Are The Players?

The differences between new parts production supply chain and service and replacement parts supply chain are significant. Companies using conventional supply chain management (SCM) methods to track their service and replacement parts supply are failing to grasp the special needs of the aftermarket. Further , one can even differentiate between the inventory optimization approaches of new production parts. Pure distribution parts include finished consumer goods (not including fashion/apparel items due to their seasonality idiosyncrasies with a large number of items, large number of locations (whereby store levels can get out of hand), and with a desire for very high customer service levels (98 percent or more). The vendors that cater to these customers would be the likes of ToolsGroup. Mixed manufacturing and distribution for new parts require the exact positioning of parts. Exact positioning is highly important for manufacturing and configuring (postponement) purposes, because bill of materials (BOM) logic is heavily leveraged for inventory planning and optimization. Leading vendors in this market include Optiant, LogicTools, SmartOps, or i2 Technologies...