The management of the inventories of facturing equipment spare parts in Polish industrial enterprises

The purchase and storage of a real inventory plays an important role in carrying out the main manufacturing processes in an industrial enterprise. To optimize its level, with adhering to the rules of reducing the maintenance costs and carrying out production in uninterrupted manner, is a major challenge for manufacturing entities. The volume of stored maintenance part inventories is largely due to the method of using and maintaining the production equipment; therefore, for the effective management of the spare part flow it is essential to define the strategy of repairs of machinery and equipment. The selection of the equipment operation strategy and the resultant repair activities have a significant impact on the spare part purchasing process, which may be varying in character. The aim of the paper is to assess the method of managing spare part inventories in Polish industrial enterprises. The survey covered micro-, small-, medium-sized and large production enterprises (identified by the number of employees), based on the presumption that each of these types of entities, due to conducted operation processes, uses various technical facilities and it is possible to identify the management of that equipment in association with the flow of spare part. Based on the survey results, the paper discusses basic issues related to the consequences of the unavailability of parts, the preparation and structure of spare part orders, and the type of inventories that need to be considered when planning the storage of spare parts.