Inventory management of repairable service parts for personal computers: A case study

This paper notes, in recent years, an increase of interest in the field of service parts inventory-particularly in the computer industry. It explains that the computer industry is a highly competitive industry; products have to be repaired as quickly as possible, since slow repair can lead to loss of future business to competitors with better service reputations. The paper maintains that a good reputation is therefore closely linked to the availability of spare parts on the market. Using a real-life case study, it elaborates on the management and control of service-parts inventory and gives a brief overview of the contemporary literature on the subject. It presents the solution approach it adopted and the results of the study, which indicate that significant savings can be realized through good management of service-parts inventory.