What is MRO?
MRO exists in many places, including industrial suppliers, operations, and manufacturing plants, but does not consist of materials that are part of the finished production product.
In short, maintenance repair and operating supplies MRO is the equipment, and upkeep of that equipment, within a facility that makes the final product but is not the final product itself. Every company that manufactures something of use deals in maintenance repair and operating supplies every day.
MRO includes, but is not limited to, the facility’s physical maintenance and building and every system that functions within the business.
Different Types of MRO
Typically, we can split MRO into more than one area. These include the maintenance and repair of infrastructure and production equipment, material handling, equipment maintenance, and tool maintenance.
Infrastructure
The repair and maintenance of the building’s infrastructure or facility in which your operations take place include roof and door maintenance, window repair, and regular upkeep of loading docks and bays. Also covered under infrastructure MRO is landscaping, parking lot or garage care, pest control, snow removal, HVAC services, and overall general services such as cleaning, light replacement, and garbage pickup.
Any maintenance and repair that the structure of your facility needs falls under infrastructure MRO. You cannot successfully run a vendor managed inventory system or produce effective supply chain management without maintaining your building’s foundation.
Production Equipment
If you work in the production equipment industry, you’re familiar with production equipment maintenance, repair, and operations. Industrial supply companies understand the logistics of production equipment MRO well, as the constant production of products such as the bandsaw and bandsaw blades requires careful and efficient maintenance.
A few fantastic examples of production equipment MRO include specialized machinery maintenance, sheet metal brakes, and drill presses. If this machinery is not operating flawlessly, the opportunity for injury arises, making preventative maintenance for many businesses, including vendor managed inventory and the manufacturing of industrial supplies, a must.
Material Handling
Material handling is a broad term and contains various machinery and operating systems within a building or facility. This machinery can include permanent installations, such as conveyors, to heavy machinery in the form of pallet jacks, storage systems, and forklifts.
Various companies that use robots to pick and pack a finished product (candy, makeup, some food) will find that material handling MRO is in their regular rotation. For obvious reasons, it’s essential to keep all material handling equipment in pristine working condition. When relied upon, improper service and maintenance can end in disastrous results, product malfunction, or shipping delays. It can cost the company greatly.
Tool Maintenance
Most manufacturing industries have tools that are smaller than the massive and mid-sized machinery that assist in product construction. Not classified as a direct spend, these tools help in production activity but aren’t part of the finished product. They include clamps, cutting tools, hand drills, adhesives, abrasives, fasteners, and more.
There are quite a few factors that go into tool maintenance MRO, including monitoring and controlling the storage area to ensure that theft is not an issue and all tools come back in the same condition in which they left. This area of MRO extends to material management and expenditure, and it’s common for many companies to utilize vendor managed inventory here, to replenish supplies, particularly consumables, such as glue, drills heads, nails, steel fasteners, and stainless steel fittings.
What Types of Companies Use MRO?
MRO is a considerable part of a more significant supply chain, and it ensures that business proceeds as usual, without any hiccups that might cause delays in manufacturing. Any company that uses production lines, computer systems, robotics, heavy and light machinery, IT functions, or janitorial and landscaping services employs MRO.
It encompasses a wide range of business operations, and it’s vital to keeping everything running smoothly. Many businesses use MRO because, for the most part, it’s a natural process of daily operations. These include:
- Food manufacturing and service industries
- Automobile and machinery manufacturing
- All sectors that produce manufactured goods
- Medical equipment and PPE manufacturers
- Aerospace and additional engineering industries
- Machinery repair
- Auto and vehicle repair
- Trucking manufacturers and repair
Getting the Most Out of MRO
Maintenance repair and operations are part of every business. The extent of MRO utilization may not be at the same level, but it’s always an element.
There are thousands of suppliers that offer MRO services, each of them with the ability to tailor their assistance to your companies’ needs. If you intend to keep business processes running efficiently, you have got to have an MRO plan in place.
The sole existence of MRO solutions is to maintain manufacturing methods without fail. This efficacy is especially necessary within medical and PPE manufacturing industries because they rely heavily on operational capabilities.
A good relationship with your MRO company will fuel your production and propel your business forward. It will save you time and money while avoiding operational mishaps, and it’s an extremely effective piece of proactive management.