Multiple warehouses
The central one, each branch’s, and each technician’s van. Each with its own manager and its own stock.
Feature
The part you’re missing costs more than the one you have spare
A breakdown waiting on a part multiplies the cost of the downtime. And a warehouse full of material nobody uses is idle money. The middle ground is only found by knowing what actually gets consumed.
What is spare parts management in maintenance?
It’s the control of material consumed while maintaining: spare parts, consumables, expendable tools and installation material. It differs from a commercial warehouse in two ways. First, demand is driven not by sales but by breakdowns, so it can’t be planned with a sales forecast: it’s planned with the consumption history per piece of equipment. Second, cost doesn’t end at the purchase, because every part has to end up charged to the work order and the asset it was fitted to; otherwise there’s no real maintenance cost per machine.
How a maintenance warehouse spirals out of control
Rarely all at once. Always the same causes.
- The technician grabs the part and doesn’t log it, because they were in a hurry and the paperwork was back at the office.
- The stock in the system and the stock on the shelf haven’t matched in months.
- People buy "just in case", because nobody trusts the data.
- Duplicate material exists under two different codes, one for each person who created it.
- Nobody actually knows which part each piece of equipment really consumes, so the minimum stock level is a guess.
What the system controls
Just enough for the data to keep itself accurate, without turning the warehouse into a separate job.
Consumption charged to the work order
Material is charged from the work order itself, from the phone too. It’s the only moment the technician will actually record it.
Batches with expiry dates
For material that has one: sealants, oils, chemicals, gases. With its manufacturing date, its cost and its traceability.
Minimum stock per item
Each item has its own threshold, so a shortage is caught before it’s needed, not when the technician is already on site.
Cost and sale price
Cost price and customer price per item, which is what lets you value a work order and know the margin on materials.
Transfers with approval
The technician requests material from another warehouse and the manager authorizes it. The movement is recorded, not a phone call.
Families and references
Items grouped by family, with brand, model and the manufacturer’s original reference. That’s what stops the same part being created three times.
Synced with your ERP
Items can come from the ERP so you’re not maintaining two separate masters of the same thing.
Shall we look at it with your way of working?
Leave your details and we will get in touch to see whether we fit. No commitment, no lock-in period.
The inventory keeps itself accurate, or it doesn’t stay accurate at all
Every warehouse system works fine in the first month. What decides whether it still works by month six is whether logging consumption is part of the job or an extra step. That’s why material is charged from the work order and from the phone, at the exact moment the technician closes what they did: if it means going back to the office and opening another screen, it doesn’t happen. The practical result is that the inventory no longer needs an annual general count to balance out again, and the cost of every job includes the real material rather than an estimate.
From what’s missing to what gets bought
Once consumption is recorded, purchasing stops being a gut decision. Minimum stock flags what needs restocking, the history shows what each equipment type actually consumes, and the supplier order comes from that instead of a list written from memory. In operations with availability contracts, this also enables the opposite of what usually happens: instead of stockpiling everything just in case, you keep the critical part —the one that stops the line— on hand and drop the rest.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to material left over from a job?
It goes back to stock, and that return is almost never logged. It’s one of the most frequent reasons the theoretical and real inventory stop matching: five parts get charged to the order, three get installed, and the other two go back to the van without anyone noting it. Making returns as easy as charging is what keeps the stock trustworthy over time.
Should we track all material in the system, or only the important stuff?
What gets charged to work orders, which is usually less than it seems. Screws, consumables and small hardware create a disproportionate amount of control work for the value they carry, and end up discouraging the team without adding anything in return. What’s actually worth controlling is what has real price, what needs lead time to restock, and what can’t be missing when it’s needed — a much smaller and much more manageable set.
What do I do about material that gets consumed and nobody logs?
It’s the underlying problem of almost every maintenance warehouse, and it’s not solved with controls but with low friction: if charging a part from the phone takes two taps inside the job sheet the technician is already filling in, it gets charged. If it means opening another screen back at the shop, it doesn’t, no matter how many instructions are given.
Can each technician have their own warehouse?
Yes. You can define as many warehouses as needed —central, branch, van— each with its own manager and stock, and move material between them with a technician request and manager approval.
Can the technician charge material from the phone?
Yes, from the work order itself and even without coverage, like the rest of the technicians app. It’s what makes consumption actually get recorded instead of postponed.
Does it track expiry dates?
Yes, for material managed by batch: each batch carries its code, manufacturing date, expiry date and cost, with traceability of which work orders it was consumed on.
Does it warn when an item runs out?
Each item can have its own minimum stock, so the shortage is caught before a technician shows up on site without the part.
Do I have to keep items in two places if I already have them in my ERP?
No. Items can be imported from the ERP through the available integrations, so the master stays a single one.
Bring your spare parts list
In the demo we’ll see how it would be organized and what it’d take for the stock to balance out without general inventories.