VI. Procurement of Parts, Materials and Services

A. INTRODUCTION

The timely availability of parts, materials, and services is a key element of a strong and effective maintenance program. Correct parts and materials in good condition are necessary to maintain design configuration and maintenance requirements for activities during normal operating periods and to support both forced and planned outages. Services periodically are needed to provide unique or supplementary maintenance support. An effective materials management process ensures that parts, materials, and services are available when needed. Proper care of parts, materials, and equipment is required from the time an item is received until it is installed in the station. This includes all phases of receiving, inspecting, handling, storing, retrieving, and issuing material. It also includes the return of unused parts and material to the warehouse.

Many personnel are involved in some portion of the materials management process. Policies and procedures are established to clearly define the company and station responsibilities and to ensure that proper parts, materials, and services are purchased, received, inspected, handled, and stored so that they are easily retrievable and usable when they are issued to support maintenance activities. These policies and procedures must be understood by materials management personnel and other groups that interface with the materials management process, such as purchasing, quality assurance, quality control, engineering, operations, and maintenance.

B. GUIDELINES

30. Procurement

XXI. a. Policies and Procedures

Establish policies for early identification and timely procurement of parts, material, and services. These policies must be understood by materials management, materials engineering, systems engineering, design engineering, procurement engineering, purchasing personnel, and other plant personnel who interface with the procurement process, such as maintenance managers and planning and scheduling personnel. Prepare procedures specifically to describe the responsibilities of the company and station personnel involved in the procurement function. Include specific activities in these procedures that describe the procurement process. Establish a system as part of the design change process to update spare parts needs and remove outdated and obsolete materials from the stock system.

XXII. b. Procurement Initiation

Timely procurement of parts, materials, and services for maintenance activities can be enhanced by considering items such as the following:

· early identification of "long lead-time" items

· selection of procurement sources based on approved vendors and past vendor performance

· thorough classification of parts; identification of appropriate quality; and engineering, environmental, shelf-life, preventive maintenance, and vendor technical manual requirements

· review of "like-for-like" or similar spare parts in replacement of obsolete, unavailable components, including technical evaluation of such parts

· update of spare part stocking levels following design modifications, including removal from stock of any items made obsolete by design modifications

· participation in a pooled spare parts system with other units within the company or with other companies (Additionally, informal communications with other utilities to establish commonality of stocked items is a method to avoid overstocking.)

· comparison of usage rate and lead time to ensure adequate stock and avoid inappropriate (too high or low) inventory of an item

· identification of proper handling and storage provisions during shipping to avoid damage

· update of spare part modification and part number changes upon vendor notification

· use of commercial dedication when necessary

XXIII. c. Procurement Control

Develop and maintain controls throughout the procurement process to help obtain parts, materials, and services in a timely manner. Provide controls such as the following:

· Verify reliability of supplier performance. This can be accomplished by audits, inspections, or surveillance of supplier facilities, processes, methods, or records relevant to the part, material, or service provided.

· Segregate deficient or nonconforming items from accessible conforming materials and ensure deficiencies resolved in an effective and timely manner. Promptly initiate technical reviews to aid in the resolution of these items.

· Control and maintain records to provide documentation of acceptability for qualified parts and materials and to ensure traceabiIity of parts and materials.

Pre-engineered procurement specifications are available for applicable items to expedite the procurement process. Provide a process for acceptable substitution to obtain parts that are no longer available from the original supplier that have new identification numbers or different material specifications. Provide engineering and maintenance experience to support this process.

Appropriate personal review design requirements to ensure that upgraded or substitute parts are consistent with the application of the part and component. Retrievable documentation supports the identification of inspection and testing results that confirm the qualification and acceptability of the part.

Develop emergency procurement and an expediting process to obtain parts, materials, and services that are needed immediately to support safe and reliable operation. Clearly identify need dates for parts, materials, and services that require emergency procurement. This may include establishing predefined blanket orders with suppliers to expedite the procurement process.

Establish a parts and materials reorder system that provides stocked material availability for anticipated usage and minimizes unnecessary inventory. For example, a minimum/maximum stock level could be established to determine when to initiate reorders (the minimum level) and limit the amount ordered (the maximum level). Control changes to these levels by a review of usage history, maintenance experience, and other economic order quantity data.

When developing minimum/maximum levels, identify and consider parts or materials that have multiple applications or are used in more than one system or piece of equipment.

The stores group and other user groups track procurement progress and take necessary measures to meet maintenance and outage schedules. An effective system tracks the status of a part from the time need is identified by the maintenance request until the part is made available to the craftsmen. TraceabiIity to the maintenance request is maintained.

XXIV. d. Services

Identify the need for specialized services from vendors early to provide for timely submittal of bid proposals and contract awards. When possible, provide for general service agreements so that services can be supplied at short notice.

31. Material Receipt, Inspection, Handling, Storage, Retrieval, and Issuance

XXV. a. Receipt and Inspection

Upon receipt, qualified materials management personnel inspect parts, materials, and equipment before acceptance for storage or use to verify that the material delivered agrees with the approved purchase documentation, is packaged in accordance with purchase order specifications, has necessary product control requirements furnished by the vendor such as special storage or shelf-life information, and appears to be in good condition. In the case of designated critical items that are important to reliable operations, physically inspect the items to ensure that the vendor has supplied what was ordered, that the necessary formal documentation has accompanied the shipment or is otherwise on hand, and that items appear to have been received in an acceptable condition. Engineering staff and maintenance personnel may be needed to assist in the inspection of more complicated parts, materials, and equipment. Engineering staff and quality control personnel approve any deviation from design specifications of material or equipment received before it is accepted or returned into the stores system. An acceptance tag or label placed on the received material may be used to signify that the receipt inspection was satisfactory and that the applicable requirements have been met. Provide a separate receiving and inspection area and a separate hold area. The latter area is used to hold material and equipment that has not been officially received into the stores system because of a nonconformance. Nonconforming material is clearly tagged or labeled and segregated to prevent inadvertent issue. Establish a tracking or follow-up method to resolve nonconformance problems promptly. Develop a method to accept material that has been repaired or reworked by maintenance. Whenever materials or parts are repaired or reworked, suitable testing and inspection requirements are specified by engineering to ensure the material or part will perform acceptably when placed in service. This method should also address material that has been issued and is sent back to stores. Update warehouse documents to reflect receipt of the material and any shelf life or preventive maintenance requirements.

XXVI. b. Handling

Prepare procedures for items requiring special handling instructions. Include items such as the weight, size, orientation requirements, chemical reactivity, radioactivity, and susceptibility to temperature, humidity, physical shock, damage, or electrostatic sensitivity. Clearly identify sling location balance points, method of attachment to the load, and other pertinent factors in handling the load. Sound handling practices are followed whether a specific procedure is used or not. Hoisting equipment should be certified by the manufacturer and indicate maximum loads to be handled. The inspection program for hoisting equipment and rigging is applied to items that are used in the stores operation. Properly train and qualify personnel required to operate cranes, forklifts, and other lifting equipment.

XXVII. c. Storage of Material and Equipment

Material and equipment should be stored in a manner that provides appropriate protection and ready availability for its intended use with due consideration for environmental conditions. For example, perform preventive maintenance on large pumps and motors (more than 25 horsepower) that are in storage. This includes periodically checking energized heaters; periodically changing desiccant, meggering motors; rotating shafts on pumps and motors; changing oil on rotating equipment; and meeting other maintenance requirements specified by the vendor. Also, develop a method to provide controlled access to storage areas. Establish controls for field storage of consumables such as lubricants and solvents to ensure they are stored, identified, and properly used.

Provide a shelf-life control program for items with finite storage lifetimes, such as gasket material, rubber components, silicon sealants, certain paints, photosensitive chart paper, photographic material, certain pre-lubricated bearings, capacitors, resins, chemicals, reagents, and organics. Also, track complete assemblies containing these items so stock that has exceeded its shelf life is not issued. Any material reaching the end of its shelf life should receive proper engineering analysis with appropriate vendor input to extend its storage lifetime or should be disposed of and reordered. Determine the method of disposal taking into account environmental restrictions that may apply to some of the materials above. Consider material lead times in the reorder date so that sufficient material with good shelf-life is ready for issue.

Establish a method to identify parts or materials that are designated for maintenance activities or modifications. Methods such as staging, physical or electronic tagging, or other designations could be used.

Promptly document items placed into or removed from stores so the stores inventory accurately reflects current status. Indicate the location of materials and parts in the warehouse, stores issue room, or other designated storage areas in the stores record system.

Periodically inspect the stores issue room(s) and warehouse areas (for example, quarterly). These inspections include stored parts and materials, fire extinguishers, and eyewash stations. The following are examples of items to be inspected and corrected if improperly stored:

· Corrosive chemicals are segregated and not near equipment and metal stock.

· Flammables are stored in appropriate containers and fire-rated cabinets.

· Stainless steel components are protected from direct contact with other metals, particularly carbon steel.

· Relief valves, motors, and other equipment are stored on their bases.

· Elastomers and polypropylene parts are properly stored in areas not exposed to light.

· Machined surfaces are protected.

· Hazardous chemicals or solvents are stored in accordance with Material Safety Data Sheet instructions.

· Equipment internals are protected from intrusion of foreign materials.

XXVIII.

XXIX. d. Retrieval and Issuance

Parts, materials, or equipment removed from storage receives the same care as when stored. Establish procedures to control parts, toxic or hazardous chemicals, solvents, materials, and equipment after issue to ensure proper chemical control, including use in the correct application, and to maintain traceabiIity. Complete all receipt documents and inspections before an item is issued. For safety-related and environmentally qualified spare materials and parts, maintain proper documentation to ensure tractability. Prior to use in the plant, remove all extraneous packing material from items to reduce fire hazards that are generated when parts are unpacked at the work location. Develop a parts, materials, and equipment catalog that allows personnel to determine what is available for issue. Include a cross-reference listing that provides information such as the manufacturer part number, station or part number, noun name, and component or system for which the part is used. This catalog could assist in more efficient planning or execution of maintenance activities.