Initial provisioning and spare parts inventory network optimisation in a multi maintenance base environment

Aviation spare parts provisioning is a highly complex problem. Traditionally, provisioning has been carried out using a conventional Poisson-based approach where inventory quantities are calculated separately for each part number and demands from different operations bases are consolidated into one single location. In an environment with multiple operations bases, however, such simplifications can lead to situations in which spares - although available at another airport - first have to be shipped to the location where the demand actually arose, leading to flight delays and cancellations. In this paper we demonstrate how simulation-based optimisation can help with the multi-location inventory problem by quantifying synergy potential between locations and how total service lifecycle cost can be further reduced without increasing risk right away from the Initial Provisioning (IP) stage onwards by taking into account advanced logistics policies such as pro-active re-balancing of spares between stocking locations.