Global Spare Parts Search
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In industrial manufacturing, few areas are as essential and routinely underestimated as MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operations). For many manufacturers, MRO is still seen as a background function. It keeps the lights on, supports production, and occasionally draws attention when a part is missing and a machine goes down. But in most boardrooms, it’s rarely discussed as a lever for profitability, efficiency, or transformation.
But the data doesn’t lie.
Our latest report, The MRO strategy gap: The overlooked lever for margin growth, based on a global survey of 300 manufacturing executives, reveals a systemic problem hiding in plain sight. Spare parts management, how companies buy, track, and use the parts that keep production running, is quietly undermining margins, slowing progress on digital transformation, and tying up millions in working capital. And while most executives know something isn’t working, few are acting on it.
However, forward-looking leaders are starting to take notice.
Opportunity is on the table, but MRO is not
Most manufacturers are operating under a fundamental contradiction. On the one hand, they are trying to reduce costs, improve uptime, and extract greater performance from every function. On the other hand, they are managing spare parts through fragmented systems, inconsistent processes, and incomplete data.
When MRO gets a seat at the table and is optimized within a business, our report shares that the majority of manufacturing executives see margin gains. For most, these improvements fall within the 1-4% range. That may sound modest on paper, but in practice, it can be transformational.
Consider a large manufacturing company with $2 billion in annual revenue. A 4% improvement in operating margin translates to $80 million in added value. That is capital that can be reinvested in innovation, used to absorb supply chain shocks, or passed through to the bottom line. In a sector where margins are often tight and efficiency is everything, even a 1% improvement can deliver a meaningful competitive advantage.
At scale, incremental gains are anything but small.
And yet, despite that opportunity, just 34% of manufacturing executives see optimizing MRO as a strategic priority. That disconnect is costing manufacturers more than they may realize.
Underestimating MRO is not a local challenge. The global MRO software market was valued at just $5.2 billion in 2024, with projected growth to $8.9 billion by 2033¹. This stands in stark contrast to broader digital transformation spending, such as ERP systems and Industry 4.0 initiatives, which attract far greater investment across enterprises, often dwarfing MRO allocations.
This disparity reveals a critical organizational blind spot: while companies pursue ambitious digital agendas, tools tailored to streamline spare parts management receive only modest funding. The result is persistent inefficiency in MRO functions holding vast hidden value.
Throughout the report, we see that when MRO is not prioritized, inefficiencies compound. Teams overstock parts “just in case,” tying up capital in unused inventory. Critical parts are still missing when needed, resulting in longer downtime. And procurement is flying blind, often buying parts that are already in stock, which leads to high inventory spend and ranks as procurement and supply chain executives’ number one challenge.
All together, the industry is seeing overspend, stockouts, and friction between functions that should be working in lockstep.
Two teams, one shared problem
MRO sits at the intersection of two core functions: operations and procurement. Operations teams are responsible for ensuring equipment runs efficiently and minimizing unexpected downtime. The costs of failure are steep: unplanned downtime now costs the world’s top 500 industrial firms an estimated $1.4 trillion annually, or 11% of revenues, with losses in automotive, for example, reaching up to $2.3 million per hour². Operations teams rely on having the right parts available, in the right place, at the right time to keep production lines moving.
On the other side of the table, procurement is tasked with sourcing those parts cost-effectively, managing supplier relationships, and controlling inventory spend. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, manufacturing inventory spend increased for the 9th consecutive month in June 2025³. This is no easy task to manage.
Both functions are critical, but often misaligned. Operations may prioritize availability and uptime, while procurement focuses on cost and compliance. Without shared visibility and standardized processes, this tension leads to inefficiencies: overstocked shelves filled with unused parts, emergency purchases at premium prices, increased waste, and ongoing friction between teams. Aligning these two functions around a common view of MRO is not just an operational fix; it’s a strategic opportunity. The survey found that the same underlying issues currently affect both teams: poor inventory visibility, siloed systems, and inconsistent spare parts data.
From the operations side, 32% of maintenance teams report both excess inventory and stockouts. They are holding more parts than they need, yet still lack the right ones when needed. This leads to unplanned downtime and unnecessary firefighting.
Figure 1: Top MRO challenges currently faced by operations teams*
*Question allowed more than one answer, and as a result, percentages will add up to more than 100%
From the procurement team’s perspective, the story is no better. 48% of leaders cite the challenge of high inventory costs, and 44% call out the pain of long lead times for critical parts. They are under pressure to spend smarter, but without access to complete or reliable inventory data, they continue to reorder parts that may already exist on a shelf elsewhere in their own production network.
Figure 2: Top MRO challenges currently faced by procurement and supply chain teams*
*Question allowed more than one answer and as a result, percentages will add up to more than 100%
These are two sides of the same coin. And the systemic problem underneath both is a lack of visibility and transparency across sites.
Without visibility, the scale and cost of inefficiencies remain hidden. Teams may not realize they are carrying excess stock across sites, duplicating part numbers, or relying on outdated and inconsistent data. As a result, these issues often appear less urgent than they are, not because they are minor, but because they are obscured by poor information.
The lack of accurate, consolidated spare parts data masks waste and prevents early intervention. It also limits the ability to make informed decisions around procurement, replenishment, and standardization. With greater visibility, organizations would be far better equipped to identify and address these inefficiencies. With greater visibility, the business case for MRO optimization becomes more apparent and urgent, elevating it from a maintenance issue to a strategic priority with measurable impact on margins, uptime, and operational resilience.
Inventory is growing, but value is not
One of the most evident signs of MRO mismanagement is when inventory levels are climbing, but utilization is not.
22% of spare parts remain unused for five years or more. That means that one in five parts purchased today will still be sitting on a shelf in 2030. Meanwhile, tied-up capital in MRO inventory has risen by 12% over the past five years, and every executive we spoke to is feeling that pinch. And while these spare parts are sitting unused in warehouses, are manufacturing executives at least reconsidering ordering more inventory? Hardly. On average, manufacturing leaders are increasing their spare parts spend by 10% year over year.
The longer these inefficiencies go unaddressed, the more expensive they become. Aging inventory ties up working capital, takes up valuable warehouse space, and often becomes obsolete before it is ever used. As new equipment enters production lines and technology advances, unused legacy parts accumulate, which adds hidden costs year after year.
Figure 5: Five-year annual average trend in MRO inventory tied-up capital
What’s standing in the way of change?
Despite the growing problem and the opportunity for margin gains, not enough is being done to capitalize on it.
Part of the reason for this stasis lies in perception. MRO doesn’t carry the same weight as headline-grabbing initiatives like automation, AI, or smart factory systems. It feels tactical, not transformational. But that thinking overlooks a critical point: none of those advanced initiatives can succeed without reliable MRO practices underpinning them. A predictive maintenance program is only as good as the quality of your parts data. A digitally connected factory still grinds to a halt if a critical component is missing.
There are also real structural barriers. 58% of manufacturers describe their current MRO processes as only “partially standardized.” A single company might have one site with robust controls and centralized data, and five others still using spreadsheets. For example, material creation might follow a strict approval workflow at one location, while another allows technicians to enter new parts manually with no data validation. Only 8% of companies report fully standardized MRO across their operations. And the bigger the business, the more complex the challenge. Among those 8%, none of them are large enterprises.
Figure 8: Current state of spare parts management within organization
Figure 9: Current state of spare parts management within organization by company's annual revenue
Standardizing MRO at scale is not easy. It requires coordination across functions, change management, and investment in digital infrastructure. And the task's complexity increases significantly with organizational size. With every additional site, region, and business unit, complexity grows. Each location may have its own systems, naming conventions, and sourcing and management of spare parts. Compliance requirements vary by country, supplier networks are often fragmented, and site-level autonomy can make enforcing global standards a challenge.
But this complexity is why the gains from standardization are so substantial. Larger organizations have more redundancy to eliminate, more purchasing power to leverage, and more data to unlock. The effort to harmonize MRO across the enterprise pays off in greater visibility, reduced duplication, and the ability to scale best practices across all operations. For companies with global footprints, standardization is a competitive advantage.
Software is making a difference, just not widely enough
The report data shows that adoption of dedicated MRO software is low. Just 34% of companies have an MRO solution in place. However, the impact of MRO software for those who have adopted it is clear, delivering truly significant benefits. 96% of software users have reduced spare parts inventory, 78% have reduced MRO spend, and 39% report time savings on MRO-related tasks.
Want to see the exact numbers? Download the full report here.
These results are anything but theoretical. In one customer example, we saw a leading global automotive supplier achieve 98% master data transparency by optimizing purchasing data records and enriching them with verified manufacturer data. The result was a sustained, mid-six-figure reduction in global spare parts spend.
Another enterprise customer reported more than 50% efficiency gains in material creation and parts search. Clean data and a central source of truth had made all the difference.
These are operational wins. And yet, two-thirds of companies still manage MRO without a dedicated system, leaving that opportunity on the table.
What’s next for manufacturing leaders?
If you’re a manufacturing executive today, you’re likely facing intense pressure to deliver margin improvement, increase asset reliability, and accelerate digital progress. But the path to those goals doesn’t always require new technologies or headline investments. Sometimes, it starts with fixing the fundamentals.
This report shows that MRO is one of those fundamentals. It has been underinvested in for too long.
The companies that succeed in modernizing MRO not only reduce costs and complexity but are also better equipped to scale new technologies, respond faster to disruption, and operate with a level of visibility that supports long-term resilience.
Our full report dives deeper into the data and offers a clearer view of where manufacturers are falling short and how they can fix it. We answer questions, including:
- Operations vs. Procurement: What are both teams’ top challenges today, where do they overlap, and where do they go head-to-head?
- Today’s manufacturing wishlist: Which strategic priorities are at the top of the list for today’s manufacturing executives?
- Margins by numbers: What bottom-line gains are executives uncovering by putting the spotlight on this consistently overlooked area of the business?
Sources
¹LinkedIn, MRO Software Market: Deep-Dive Investment Scope And Impact of AI, 2025
²Siemens, The True Cost of Downtime 2024, 2024
³U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders July 2025, 2025