How to Cleanse Your Spare Parts Data

Once you have identified that your spare parts data needs to be cleansed, it is time to look into conducting a materials cleansing project. A cleansing project has many benefits for your company’s maintenance processes, operations, procurement efficiency and ROI, however it can be a length and challenging process. A cleansing project can take months and knowing where to start and end can be tricky, especially when handling tons of spare parts data.

The following steps provide a glimpse into the scope of a materials cleansing project and highlight some of the integral milestones that help ensure your cleansing project is as effective as possible.

Set Up Your Spare Parts Data and Objectives

Before you begin your materials cleanse, you must carefully analyze your existing spare parts data. This includes determining what poor-quality spare parts data is costing you the most and how you are going to report on the progress of your materials cleanse. It is important to determine exactly what your company is attempting to achieve with your materials cleanse, as well as the specific metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you will use to track your achievements throughout the cleansing process.

Determine Naming Conventions

Before you can begin cleansing your spare parts data, you may need to decide what naming conventions in your EAM system must be changed or updated so that all your spare parts can be easily identified according to a uniform naming system. This may mean developing best practices for creating abbreviations, classifications, or descriptions of spare parts. This may also include creating a rule book to help workers understand your spare parts dictionary and ensure there is consensus around the names of spare parts in your EAM system moving forward.

Set Your Standards

Standardizing your spare parts data means creating a standard for the way that your spare parts data is entered into your EAM system. This can include names, attributes, descriptions, or other information such as units of measure or research sources. Standardizing your spare parts data enables your maintenance workers to quickly locate and classify parts and improves collaboration and communication across your company’s various teams and sites.

Data Cleansing Commences

After you have established your spare parts dictionary and the standards you will implement, you can commence the data cleansing process. This involves carefully combing through your spare parts data and enhancing it in multiple ways, such as resolving missing or ambiguous descriptions or attributes, linking spare parts to their parent equipment, and deciding what plant-specific information should be kept and what should be discarded.

Review and Reload Your Data

There’s no use in carrying out a cleanse if some of your low-quality spare parts data remains unchanged after the project. An internal team or external consultants should conduct a quality assurance check to verify that the spare parts data now meets an acceptable level of accuracy and completeness before it can be reloaded into the EAM system. Once you have verified your spare parts data is cleansed, you can begin the process of transitioning it back into your EAM system.

Consider Investing in a Materials Cleansing Solution

Following these steps helps ensure your materials cleansing project successfully optimizes your spare parts data. A cleansing solution makes it possible to easily add or delete information, search up spare parts quickly, and standardize the naming conventions of equipment in your system.

If you would like to learn more about how our solutions can help you cleanse your spare parts data, book a demo, and our team would be happy to help you!