Introduction

Clean master data is crucial for effective cross-plant spare parts management. Duplicate, incomplete, and outdated data in the material master, on the other hand, leads to high inventories, increased procurement costs, time-consuming searches, and impedes transparency between plants.

ElringKlinger, a leading global system partner in the automotive industry, faced exactly these challenges. With the help of the SPARETECH app, they were able to significantly improve master data quality, sustainably reduce procurement costs, and optimize inventory management.

Initial situation: Uncleaned spare parts master data

In 2020, ElringKlinger faced a situation where the quality of spare parts master data was not optimal, with numerous duplicates and incomplete entries in the material master. A major challenge was the inability to determine the number of duplicates in the system, leading to unidentifiable spare parts.

The search function in the ERP system was rigid and only led to successful results with prior knowledge and significant time investment. Additionally, creating new spare parts in the system was complex and time-consuming, as all data had to be compiled manually.

The lack of a functioning obsolescence management system also meant that parts' unavailability was often only discovered during reordering. This led to longer machine downtimes and higher procurement costs.

Against this background, ElringKlinger's maintenance team recognized that it could not handle the challenges of improving master data quality alone. Therefore, they sought a software solution with the goal to "reduce spare parts inventory while ensuring high availability." (René Hackbart, Director Maintenance at ElringKlinger).

The success approach: Using the SPARETECH software solution

With SPARETECH, we found a well-suited solution that specializes in exactly this case, and after an initial free analysis of our data, we decided on SPARETECH as our partner.

René Hackbart | Director Maintenance at ElringKlinger

The quality of ElringKlinger's master data needed to be improved to reduce spare parts inventory while maintaining availability.

To achieve this, the data had to be cleaned, duplicates removed, missing or inconsistent data supplemented, and a system created to prevent the creation of duplicates in the future.

The SPARETECH app was the best software solution thanks to its unique reference database, which contains millions of spare parts records from thousands of original manufacturers, suppliers, and OEMs worldwide. Intelligent matching algorithms seamlessly connect these reliable product data with our customers' master data, creating data transparency, completeness, and reliability on the customer side.

This has enabled ElringKlinger to increase transparency across plants and ensure long-term master data quality.

The results: Cross-plant transparency in material master data

"SPARETECH has made our daily collaboration with our plants significantly easier. We can no longer imagine global and efficient spare parts management without the software."

Stefan Heinkel | Project Engineer Corporate Maintenance at ElringKlinger

In just three years of collaboration with SPARETECH, ElringKlinger has achieved remarkable results. The maintenance team has adjusted over 9,000 records and cleaned up over 2,200 duplicates. The completeness of relevant fields in the material master has been increased from 72% to 98%.

Additionally, ElringKlinger has avoided unnecessary procurement costs and sustainably optimized inventory levels, a key project maintenance goal.

Using the SPARETECH app, ElringKlinger now ensures that no new duplicates enter the ERP system, that the master data quality remains high, and that efficient cross-plant spare parts management is enabled.

We have also achieved a lot with ElringKlinger in product development over the past three years. New feature suggestions are always welcome, allowing us to continuously create new added value for ElringKlinger and all other customers.

Lena Luckert | Product Manager at SPARETECH