Inventory Management and Maintenance in Offshore Vessel Industry

An evaluation of the inventory policy at an offshore vessel company was conducted. Currently the items in inventory are used at random intervals as they are used only when parts fail. To solve the problem of reducing a very large inventory but keep enough to allow an uninterrupted service to the customer, we propose a real and economically efficient multicriteria inventory policy using inventory classification method integrated with a preventive maintenance program. The proposed method can be summarized in the following three steps: first, rank the parts according to both the lead time from supplier and the cost of downtime failure and use a matrix display to show the most critical items. In the second step develop a preventive maintenance program for the most critical parts to minimize downtime due to failure. Finally in the third step standardize most critical parts to reduce the inventory which saves the company money while maintaining the same level of service to its customers. Our study showed that the company with a very large inventory could effectively reduce its size by focusing on key parts. 1. Introduction Due to the increasing pressure for remaining competitive in the global market place, inventory management has become a major challenge for companies to reduce costs and to improve customer service. Most manufacturing and service companies large or small have some type of inventory. The items in inventory are there to make the day-to-day operations of the company more efficient and the flow of goods smoother. While too much inventory reduces capital that can be directed into other aspects of the company’s operations, not enough causes other serious problems such as loss of sales and customer dissatisfaction. The challenge then becomes to effectively coordinate the overall inventory so the optimal amounts are maintained [1]. While working with an offshore vessel company, we have witnessed the problems regarding inventory first hand. The company provides service to oil and gas companies in the Gulf of Mexico. They lease a vessel from the company for a predetermined price set by the job the vessel will perform while under contract. If the vessel is not maintained correctly and breaks, then it becomes unusable. The unusable time becomes a downtime for the vessel, resulting in a loss of revenue. At times parts are hard to find because the vessels work from off the coast of Alabama to the southern coast of Texas, especially in an emergency situation where the vessel is in need to be repaired and returned to work right away. Therefore, there is an