Hey team, I'm facing a real dilemma with our aging automation equipment. We've got servo motors and drives that are getting older and starting to show their age. I'm trying to figure out the smartest way to handle this - should we be investing heavily in stocking up on spare parts, or would it be better to develop our own in-house repair capabilities for these critical components?
On one hand, having spare parts ready to go means we can swap out failed components quickly and minimize downtime. But that ties up a lot of capital in inventory that might just sit on shelves for years. On the other hand, building up our repair skills could save us money in the long run and make us less dependent on suppliers, but it requires training, equipment, and might not be practical for every type of failure.
What's been your experience? Do you find that having critical spares on hand is worth the investment, or have you had success with developing repair capabilities that pay off over time? I'm especially curious about how you've balanced this with servo motors and drives specifically.