6. Economic value of spare parts inventory

This stock of spare parts often represents a significant capital sum, and the project manager, unless it's the financial manager, may be tempted to limit expenditure on a thankless item that will never be put on the front line. How much, in fact, is the cost of spare parts stock? There's obviously no standard answer, as there are too many factors to take into consideration.

The type of activity plays a decisive role, but so does the geographical location of the production unit, which plays, or should play, a key role. If the plant is located in an industrialized country, within easy reach by telephone and overland transport of the producers of the goods it employs, or of their suppliers in the case of subcontracted parts, it can make do with a limited stock, enabling it to respond to emergency situations, but of course its suppliers must themselves be reliable,...