Abstract—This paper presents a methodology for developing
a spare parts inventory management system with a focus on the
nuclear power sector. Often, demand for spare parts is highly intermittent
and cannot be accurately forecasted through traditional
methods. Examples include nuclear power generation equipment,
ground space systems, and aircraft engine parts. We take a datadriven
engineering management approach and develop a four-step
methodology for spare parts management in such environments.
These steps comprise an influence diagram for identifying relevant
factors, weighting of influences through the analytic hierarchy process,
grouping parts according to inventory criticality indices, and
the development of base stock inventory policies for each group.
This approach allows the system to be actively managed within
a continuous improvement framework through employee engagement
and input, and mathematical assumptions are not made in
the models. To our knowledge, no such integrated, comprehensive
methodology for spare parts has been developed. The techniques
employed in this research can be effectively used together to holistically
manage the entire spare parts process, or they may be used
separately to manage portions of the process. This paper provides
an overview of the methodology, and the entire approach is illustrated
via a test bed nuclear power generation facility.
Index Terms—Decision making, electric supply industry deregulation,
inventory control, nuclear facility regulation, numerical
simulation.