Clean up duplicate and incomplete spare-parts records in the material master

Added 2026-10-14

Role

maintenance manager / MRO planner

The problem

the spare-parts master data is full of duplicates and incomplete records, so parts are hard to find, stock is higher than needed, the same part gets bought twice, and obsolete parts are only discovered at reorder, which lengthens machine downtime.

Step by step

Export the spare-parts material master from the ERP or CMMS (description, manufacturer, manufacturer part number, plant, stock, price).
Have the AI group likely duplicates and fill missing manufacturer and part number fields from datasheets or a reference source.
A maintenance planner confirms each duplicate group and each correction before anything is merged.
Merge confirmed duplicates in the ERP, keep one master record and move the stock.
Add a check at part creation so new records are compared with existing ones before they are saved.
Track duplicates found, field completeness and spare-parts inventory value every quarter.

Tools

SPARETECH

Result

ElringKlinger (about 9,500 employees, automotive supplier) cleaned up more than 2,200 duplicates and adjusted over 9,000 records in three years; completeness of relevant material master fields went from 72% to 98% and creating new materials became 277% faster (vendor case study, SPARETECH).

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

Try it yourself

You are an MRO master-data analyst. Below is an export of our spare-parts material master [paste columns: material number, description, manufacturer, manufacturer part number, plant, stock quantity, unit price]. Find groups of records that are probably the same part (same manufacturer part number written differently, similar descriptions, same specs), and for each group list the records, why you think they match, and a confidence level. Also list records missing a manufacturer or manufacturer part number, and suggest a standard description format we could use. Do not merge anything yourself. Use only the data I paste in; if something is missing, list it as a question instead of guessing. Do not send, order, post or change anything in any system: produce drafts for my review and approval.

Material master export:
[paste]

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Sources

https://sparetech.io/customers/elringklinger