Protecting Critical Spares

Protecting Critical Spares with Jessica Carpenter from Cortec
A critical spare is a component that is essential for any manufacturing operation. Typically they have a second set of critical spares anytime that a piece of equipment would have something break, whether it be a motor or any hosts of things. They keep a second operational spare in the warehouse just incase something goes down.
Question:
Why is it so important to protect those critical spares and other assets in warehouses?
Answer:
Typically, when the assets are received from the manufacturer, they are placed in the warehouse on a pallet, and left there until needed. It could be 10 years later, and when they go to get that asset, it could be in cardboard, or several cycles of humidity and temperature, which would cause the part to have condensation form when it came in contact with wood or cardboard, and then it would have corrosion on contact and also just in the air space. Sometimes they are just sitting in open air in the warehouse, and dirt and debris can collect on them, and they are kind of just a second thought. No one considers the issues that will occur if that component is rusted or hasn’t been turned for baring houses. They are in dire need of de-rusting it or having to replace it.
Question:
When you are working with manufacturers, what kind of stuff do you see when you go in before the Cortec products are in place? Are there any stories that you can share, like “I went to go use BLANK, and then this was the result because it was an operational spare”?
Answer:
Yes, we see it all the time. I have one customer who has a whole entire warehouse of rusted parts and they spend their time de-rusting it and using a wire wheel to prepare it so they can use it. We did a write-up on what that cost was, 8 hours of someone working to de-rust a part at $30 per hour vs. if they were to use a VCI bag, which would cost $3.00. So there is huge benefit in preserving that asset up front versus trying to repair it on the backside.
Question:
What was the downtime between when they needed to use the part and when they were able to use the part. Is that any part of that calculation?
Answer:
For sure, that happens all the time. For that specific customer, it would have been a couple of days because they had a lot of inventory that they could de-rust. But during COVID, people realized that the supply and demand ended and the lead times were so long. They would have to wait 12–18 months to replace a part if it wasn’t operational. This has become a big concern for large companies to make sure that the assets are protected. It’s also a return on the investment, because if you have to scrap a part that is usually is in excess $100,000, that is a lot of money to be throwing away. So they are realizing the importance of protecting it up front.
Question:
What kind of upfront protection can Cortec provide?
Answer:
We have a whole group of products that can be used for asset protection. It depends on what stage you’re in. If the parts are sitting on pallets and completed rusted we would create a program that would help de-rust those parts, clean them, and then package them into VCI bags. Or you could label them, and note when they were packaged, and create a program to determine how long those can sit on the shelf. And then there is also program we protect assets that are sitting outside. With products that have UV protection in it and if that film with UV protection is compromised, we would have a second layer on the asset itself.
Question:
Let’s say that I am a warehouse manager, and I am new to this position, and I am looking at my parts and I have some that are rusted, and some that aren’t rusted. I want to make sure that I am putting a program in place where anything new that comes in. I am protecting top to bottom. Do you have prebuilt programs that someone could talk to a sales person and have a “take it out the box solution”?
Answer:
I think that every situation is going to be different based on what the warehouse manager or the company in general, what their expectations are. Is a Cortec sales person could work with a warehouse manager to take an inventory of the assets and consider which ones are replaceable and which ones need to be scrapped. Consider the value of each one and the downtime it would take to replace that asset. Evaluate what condition they are in. If they are stored inside, or outside. And then to determine how long those assets need protection. And a lot of times, those time frames isn’t known, because you don’t know when one of your components, essential for operation will go down. But to come up with a plan on how long you want protection for and when to followup on it, and to make sure that it’s being protected when it comes the end of the length of time that was initially considered. We would determine if it needed to be cleaned, de-rusting and then determine what packaging with rust preventative products would be best for those assets. Whether they are going to be stored inside or outside.
To get a solution, you are going to have to talk to one of the experts. Take a look, and have conversations.
There is also the consideration of internal components like gear boxes, and compressors. The internal space that might not have any oil in it or fuel where the air space inside of the component needs to be protected. We can fog different products in there, depending on what the asset is, to protect internal corrosion as well.
Question:
When it comes down to it, the cost of asset protection vs. when you need to replace/clean parts to be used and stored, what is a good cost comparison on cost protection?
Answer:
Even on the low end of things, that would sit on the shelf in a warehouse, would consider $5,000-$15,000 at minimum for some of the components. Generators, compressors, gearboxes, all of those things are a lot of money. To protect them, you are looking under $30 to protect that asset. It is pennies considered to what the asset is actually worth.
Cortec can do more than just offer recommendations, they can offer a turn-key service. They have a group of people that can do the warehousing applications as well. They will do all the work for your organization.
Corrosion on spare parts manufacturing industry Protecting Critical Spares