Conrad Greer & The Risks of Broken Data (Part 1)
Inventory management for Spare Parts remains one of the most underestimated drivers of operational excellence and cost control in asset-intensive industries. This four-part blog series is based on a detailed and practical discussion with Conrad Greer, Founder of SPC Results Inc., who is widely recognised as a leading expert in spare parts and supply chain optimisation. Greer draws upon decades of hands-on experience spanning oil & gas, utilities, and rail industries, sharing real-world insights into the systemic challenges and solutions surrounding spare parts management.
Throughout this series, you'll:
- Understand why standardisation and data integrity underpin successful spare parts management.
- Learn how poor MRO data directly impacts financial and operational performance.
- Discover how to implement structured taxonomies and maintain clean catalogues for your inventory management.
- Explore how AI and Machine Learning are revolutionising MRO processes.
In this first post, we follow Greer’s unique career—from naval engineering to ERP consultancy—and the invaluable lessons he has learned about spare parts data along the way.
From Navy Precision to Civilian Complexity
Greer’s early career as a Marine Engineer Officer in the Canadian Navy exposed him to the rigor of military logistics under the NATO Codification System (NCS). Under NCS, every component has a clearly defined and standardised identifier, ensuring full traceability, interoperability, and logistical efficiency across NATO member states [1].
"For Star Trek fans, I was basically Scotty," he jokes. "We always knew exactly what we had, and where to find it."
This approach provided predictability in maintenance operations and guaranteed zero ambiguity when sourcing or replacing parts—every detail of the inventory management was tracked and accessible.
A Shock in Civilian Industries
Upon entering the civilian world, Greer led SAP implementations for large, asset-intensive industries. He was struck by the stark contrast in spare parts management: inconsistent descriptions, vague classifications, and fragmented processes. Parts were seen as secondary tools, not strategic assets of inventory management, he observes.
“The people in the procurement warehouse were there to support the maintenance operations team to keep their assets running. That was the focus, so MRO and spare parts kept cropping up.”
In civilian industries, spare parts were treated as an afterthought—supporting tools rather than mission-critical components.
When Data Fails, So Do Mergers
A particularly revealing project involved merging two SAP-enabled refineries. Despite operating similar assets, their spare parts databases were incompatible. Duplicate checks yielded almost no matches, highlighting the chaos caused by inconsistent naming and data structures.
It wasn't a software issue. It was a data identity problem:
“We did our duplicate checks and got next to nothing so we tried to find an explanation. This is where it started to dawn on me–it was not the ERP software. This wasn't just an SAP story, this was all of the CMMS's and ERPs. There was something about the identity of the items.”
This project illustrated a broader industry issue in inventory management: organisations invest heavily in systems but neglect the foundational data quality needed for those systems to function.
This is precisely where solutions like SPARROW.Clean come into play. Designed to address the root causes of inconsistent item identities, SPARROW.Clean applies structured taxonomies and AI-powered enrichment to harmonise spare parts data across systems—ensuring that ERP and CMMS platforms can function as intended, without being undermined by poor data foundations.
The Legacy of Tribal Knowledge
Historically, maintenance operations technicians knew which parts to order based on personal experience and relationships. However, as organisations migrated to ERP systems, this tribal knowledge got lost, causing operational blind spots.
Now, people rely on ERP search fields instead of experience—but the systems often fail them:
“We went from the old experienced maintenance guy that knew the parts, called suppliers to get the right ones and whose crib notes went into local systems. The chaos, in my mind, became bigger when we started centralising on enterprise systems.”
Operational Risks from Poor Data
The consequences of poor spare parts data in inventory management extend far beyond inconvenience. In reactive maintenance, technicians are left scrambling. In planned maintenance operations, delays still happen because catalogue clarity is missing:
“On the one hand, there are companies that are primarily reactive. If something breaks, they have to go get parts which might be difficult to find. They search for the thrust bearing they need but get 52 possible answers. They have to spend a lot of time on the phone, as the system isn’t helping but hindering the situation. That's the reactive side of maintenance. On the other hand, there are now a lot of companies that are pretty advanced and plan their work. They don't schedule jobs until the parts are available. Their loss is the wait time from planning to material receipt.”
In high-risk sectors like oil and gas, poorly identified materials can cause dangerous situations:
"If you have the wrong material spec and that drain line rots out, it might explode in use. It might start a fire, causing a life-threatening environmental disaster."
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), unplanned outages in industrial facilities can cost millions annually, with safety risks often linked to maintenance errors caused by data gaps [2].
Inventory Bloat and "Squirrel Piles"
Beyond safety, poor data management inflates inventory costs. Technicians unable to trust inventory management systems often hoard parts in unofficial storage locations known as "squirrel piles," creating hidden stock. It isn't a people problem. It's bad data.
A 2021 Deloitte report found that nearly 60% of surveyed manufacturers reported difficulty accessing accurate inventory data, leading to surplus inventory and wasted capital [3].
Conclusion
Mismanaged spare parts data is not simply an IT issue—it is a business-critical concern with far-reaching operational, financial, and safety consequences. Investing in data quality and spare parts standardisation isn’t just about improving catalogues—it’s about safeguarding uptime, reducing risk, and unlocking efficiency.
===> Coming Up in Part 2: We explore how to quantify the hidden costs of poor MRO data—and how to build a strong business case for improvement.
Sources:
[1] NATO Support and Procurement Agency. NATO Codification System (NCS) Overview. Retrieved from: https://www.nspa.nato.int/about/ncs
[2] International Energy Agency (IEA). The Role of Digitalisation in Energy and Industrial Safety, 2022.
[3] Deloitte. 2021 Global Manufacturing Industry Outlook: Achieving Digital Maturity.
