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AI finds duplicate and excess MRO spare parts across plants

Added 2026-10-14

Role

MRO / storeroom manager, procurement

The problem

Spare-parts (MRO) stock is decided plant by plant, with non-standard descriptions, several ERP instances and no cross-site view. The same part sits under different numbers in different plants, some sites overstock while others risk stockouts, and money stays tied up in parts nobody uses.

Step by step

1. Export MRO items, stock, usage and price from each plant.
2. Standardise descriptions (noun, modifier, key attributes) and group probable duplicates; have a storeroom expert confirm.
3. Find excess (no usage in 24+ months) and items below safe levels against criticality.
4. Update min/max and stocking policies, and transfer surplus between plants before buying.
5. Block new duplicates at item creation.
6. Track inventory value, stockouts and duplicates found.

Tools

• Verusen: used at the equipment manufacturer
• Others: GenAlpha, Prometheus Group, SAP MRO analytics; Excel or an LLM to group descriptions for a first pass

As reported by the source; most figures are vendor or self-reported and not independently verified.

Human review: cautions

• Anonymous vendor case study.
• Do not scrap 'unused' critical spares; long-lead insurance parts are kept on purpose.
• Confirm duplicates physically before merging item numbers.

You are an MRO analyst. I will paste spare-parts data: plant, item number, description, manufacturer part number, quantity, unit cost, last-24-month usage.
1. Group probable duplicates across plants and explain each match.
2. List items with no usage and their value.
3. Suggest transfers between plants instead of new purchases.
4. Flag critical-looking items that should not be reduced.
Do not merge items without stating your evidence.

Sources

• https://verusen.com/use_case/use-case-fortune-500-industrial-equipment-manufacturer/