As a purchasing director, how do you strategically balance inventory costs against the risk of downtime when stocking critical spare parts like servo drives that have 6-month lead times but cost $15,000 each?

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That&#39;s a classic purchasing dilemma I face all the time! When dealing with high-cost, long-lead-time critical parts like those $15,000 servo drives, I use a multi-layered approach. First, I conduct a criticality analysis - I look at which equipment absolutely cannot go down without crippling production. For those mission-critical machines, I&#39;ll keep at least one spare on hand despite the cost.Then I use ABC analysis combined with VED (Vital, Essential, Desirable) classification. Your servo drives would likely be &#39;A&#39; items (high cost) and &#39;V&#39; items (vital to operations). For these, I calculate the true cost of downtime - not just lost production, but also rush shipping, overtime labor, and potential customer penalties. If a 6-hour downtime costs $50,000, that $15,000 spare starts looking like insurance rather than inventory.I also explore alternatives like repair programs, consignment stock with suppliers, or shared inventory pools with other plants. Sometimes I&#39;ll negotiate with suppliers for advance purchase discounts or guaranteed delivery windows. The key is treating these decisions as risk management, not just inventory management - you&#39;re buying operational resilience, not just parts.

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As a purchasing director, how do you strategically balance inventory costs against the risk of downtime when stocking critical spare parts like servo drives that have 6-month lead times but cost $15,000 each?

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