In many firms, there are "invisible" or
"hidden" pools of MRO materials. This result from
workers stockpiling consumable or repair materials not used
when originally withdrawn from stock and, although they are
physically available, are not visible to the maintenance
inventory system and, therefore, are not known to exist to
workers in other parts of the factory where they might
otherwise be utilized. Instead, more of the same materials are
purchased, resulting in unnecessary spending. In addition,
without a proactive inventory management process, obsolete and
inactive spare parts and other MRO materials tend to
accumulate over time, tying up cash on inventory that will
likely never be used.
