Earlier today, I received an email from Supply Chain Game Changer directing me to read an article about “Maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO).”
For those of you who have been following me on this blog for a while, you know that MRO procurement is near and dear to my heart. It dates back to the late 1990s and my work supporting contracts with the Department of National Defence and the New York City Transit Authority.
Based on this history, two things came to mind reading the above article:
When did MRO become an acronym for “Maintenance, repair, and overhaul?” As far back as I can remember, MRO products, such as parts, were classified as part of the Indirect Materials category, standing for Maintenance, Repairs, and Operations. Fearing that I may be having a senior’s moment, I did a Google search for MRO meaning, and with a few sparse exceptions, this is what came up (see image below). If I may, I would like to respectfully suggest that because procurement already has too many acronyms, we may want to refrain from assigning different definitions to the same acronym.
The second thought that came to mind – and I know I have used this analogy several times in the recent past, but it is still the best way to describe my thought process, reading the article – which is good in its own right, reminds me of the BIG news from my teenage daughter. One afternoon, she excitedly told me that she and her friends had discovered this new band, and I really had to listen to their latest music. She then proceeded to play The Beatles. I didn’t even try to explain how I had seen them on TV on the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s.
My point in writing this blog post is to understand what has awakened the awareness of the importance of MRO, which we have known about for some time. Does this mean it will gain short-term moderate traction, then go into hibernation until the subsequent generational reawakening in 15 to 20 years? Wouldn’t it make more sense to take the new-found realization and do something tangible with it so we don’t get another Jack-in-the-Box epiphany down the road?
Rather than rewriting my earlier work in the MRO world, I will share the links to the following three articles – I have much more than what I am sharing today, but this is a good starting point.
I applaud the writers from Supply Chain Game Changer for reigniting interest in MRO. With this new awareness, let’s do something more significant this time around.
Procurement Insights
How MRO Principles Are Crossing Industries?
Posted on July 5, 2024
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Earlier today, I received an email from Supply Chain Game Changer directing me to read an article about “Maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO).”
For those of you who have been following me on this blog for a while, you know that MRO procurement is near and dear to my heart. It dates back to the late 1990s and my work supporting contracts with the Department of National Defence and the New York City Transit Authority.
Based on this history, two things came to mind reading the above article:
The motivation for writing today’s post is the following article I wrote in March 2024 – When it comes to blockchain, AI, and algorithms for procurement, “there is nothing new under the sun!”
My point in writing this blog post is to understand what has awakened the awareness of the importance of MRO, which we have known about for some time. Does this mean it will gain short-term moderate traction, then go into hibernation until the subsequent generational reawakening in 15 to 20 years? Wouldn’t it make more sense to take the new-found realization and do something tangible with it so we don’t get another Jack-in-the-Box epiphany down the road?
Rather than rewriting my earlier work in the MRO world, I will share the links to the following three articles – I have much more than what I am sharing today, but this is a good starting point.
I applaud the writers from Supply Chain Game Changer for reigniting interest in MRO. With this new awareness, let’s do something more significant this time around.
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