Glossary

MRO (maintenance, repair and operations)

In short

MRO stands for maintenance, repair and operations, the spare parts, consumables and supplies a maintenance team holds and uses to keep assets running. It covers everything from a bearing or a belt to filters, lubricants and cleaning materials. Managing MRO well means having the right part on hand when a job needs it, without tying up cash in shelves of stock you rarely touch, which is a balance reorder points and good records help you strike.

MRO (maintenance, repair and operations)

MRO stands for maintenance, repair and operations. It is the broad category of spare parts, consumables and supplies that a maintenance team holds and uses to keep assets running, as distinct from the goods a business actually sells. A bearing, a drive belt, a pump seal, a box of filters, a drum of lubricant, a packet of fasteners: all of it is MRO, and managing it well is a quiet but real part of keeping equipment available.

How MRO works

The job of MRO inventory is to have the right part on hand the moment a work order needs it, without locking up cash in stock you rarely use. Those two goals pull against each other. Hold too little and a repair stalls while you wait for a part, with the asset down and the job open. Hold too much and you have money sitting on shelves, parts that age, and storage you have to manage, for components that may never be fitted.

The usual way to balance this is the reorder point: the stock level at which you reorder an item, set so a replacement arrives before you run out, based on how fast you consume it and how long resupply takes. Critical spares, the parts whose absence would keep an important asset down, often justify holding more, which is where MRO meets criticality analysis. The rest can be held lean.

What it tells you

Good MRO management shows up as fewer jobs stalled for parts and a maintenance team that is not constantly improvising. It also produces useful cost information. Parts are frequently a large share of maintenance spend, so recording what is consumed on each work order lets that cost roll up against the asset. Over time, that tells you the true cost of keeping a piece of equipment running, which is one of the inputs into deciding when to repair, when to overhaul and when to replace.

MRO connects to several other ideas in maintenance. Reorder points and critical-spares decisions lean on criticality analysis. The consumption record feeds the cost view a reliability programme uses, alongside measures like MTBF and MTTR.

How it relates to Cohiva Control

Cohiva Control includes parts and inventory built for MRO. Parts are tracked with reorder points, so you can see when stock is running low and avoid the quiet stockouts that delay repairs. Parts consumed on a work order are recorded against that work order, so the cost rolls up against the job and the asset, giving you the true cost of keeping equipment running rather than just a labour figure. Because the parts sit in the same system as the work orders, the asset register and the depreciation ledger, the maintenance and the money stay joined up. See parts and inventory, criticality analysis and MTTR for the connected ideas.

Part of the Cohiva platform

Cohiva Control is part of the Cohiva platform. Leisure operators often run it with Cohiva Complex, and finance teams connect it to Cohiva Crunch for the general ledger. Explore the platform at www.cohiva.app.

Frequently asked questions

What does MRO include?
The spare parts and components used in repairs, the consumables used in maintenance such as filters, lubricants and fasteners, and the operating supplies that keep a maintenance function going. It is the inventory behind maintenance work, as distinct from the products a business sells.
Why is MRO inventory hard to manage?
Because it pulls in two directions. Too little stock and a job stalls waiting for a part, with the asset down. Too much and you have cash sitting on shelves and parts that may never be used. Reorder points and a clear record of what is consumed help you hold the right amount.
What is a reorder point?
It is the stock level at which you reorder a part, set so a replacement arrives before you run out, given how fast you use it and how long it takes to resupply. Tracking reorder points stops the quiet stockouts that delay repairs.
How does MRO relate to maintenance cost?
Parts are often a large share of maintenance cost. Recording the parts consumed on each work order lets that cost roll up against the asset, so you can see the true cost of keeping a piece of equipment running and decide when repair stops making sense.