Hydrocarbon Processing - February 2021 - 73

Supply Chain
solution providers, including
a provision to view the test
certificates, photographs of the
component, etc. Send requests
through the software to all
team leads. There should be
various ways to narrow down
the search (e.g., by make, model,
size, rating, end connections,
manufacturer's part number,
supplier part number) and to
search by synonyms, and accept
wild cards and keywords. Also, it
should be able to look for alternate
dimensions (e.g., if inches are
specified, it should also locate
equivalent sizes, such as mm).
7. Arrange for a technical
presentation by the vendors that
have submitted their quotations.
8. Negotiate and place the order to
the selected vendor and decide
on the cost-sharing formula for
software and annual licensing fees.
9. Customize and upload the item
master dump and provide training
to team leads.

10. Go live and allow team leads to
train other users of the ERP.
The exercise can be completed in 3
mos-4 mos and the payback can be less
than 1 yr. The author has developed an
application for inventory sharing (FIG. 1)
that can-in addition to the usual search
criteria available in the aggregator software-locate the item even if it is misspelled. It can look for alternate dimensional standards (in. vs. mm, hp vs. kW,
etc.), display photographs of the item
selected, view detailed specifications and
test certificates, and more.
As an example, suppose company
" Q-chem " is in urgent need of a bearing
shoe for its compressor and searches for
the part by entering the part number in
the software, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The
search has produced three SKUs, one held
by Q-chem and two held by Company A.
There are duplicate SKUs in Company A:
one SKU is declared as non-moving and
stock is available for disposal; whereas the
second SKU of Company A shows a " general, " meaning it is in use and required to
be stocked and replenished. Thus, com-

panies can also identify multiple codes
and merge the duplicate stocks. In this
example, Q-chem would send a request
to Company A to sell the non-moving
SKU to them after verifying that the spare
part is properly preserved by Company A
by viewing the photo of the component.
Company A will readily sell the item as it
is non-moving with them. This is a winwin situation for both organizations.
LITERATURE CITED
Iyer, K. R., " Reduce inventory by eliminating multiple parts codes, " Hydrocarbon Processing, June 2004.
2
Iyer K. R., " Shape up your system for stocking spare
parts, " Chemical Engineering, June 2004.
3
Iyer K. R., " The secret of getting your inventory under
control, " Chemical Engineering, September 2005.
1

K. R. IYER is Head of Manufacturing
Excellence for Indorama India Pvt.
Ltd. and has more than 36 yr of
experience in the areas of projects,
reliability and maintenance, and
inventory control of large refineries
and fertilizer and petrochemical
plants. He has authored numerous technical articles
for various national and International journals. Mr. Iyer
holds a B.Tech degree in mechanical engineering
and an MBA degree from South Gujarat University.
The author can be reached at kiyer@indorama.co.

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