Maintenance and supply chain teams depend on accurate parts information to keep operations running efficiently. When parts catalogs become fragmented or redundant, locating the right item takes longer, inventory costs rise, and procurement decisions slow down field and maintenance work.
As organizations scale assets and suppliers, parts duplication and inconsistent naming conventions create hidden inefficiencies that compound over time. This challenge led a maintenance-intensive organization to modernize how parts information was managed and accessed across supply chain and operations teams.
The challenge: fragmented catalogs driving cost and delay
The organization managed a large internal parts catalog alongside multiple external vendor catalogs. Over time, inconsistent naming, incomplete metadata, and duplicate entries made it difficult for users to confidently identify the correct part.
As a result, teams experienced several operational challenges:
- Excessive time spent searching for the right parts
- Duplicate catalog entries created unknowingly
- Increased inventory and procurement costs
- Slowdowns in maintenance and repair workflows
- Limited visibility across internal and external sources
These inefficiencies delayed work execution and increased the risk of ordering redundant or incorrect items.
The turning point: modernizing parts discovery and governance
Leadership recognized that improving parts management required more than catalog cleanup efforts. What was needed was an intelligent, user-friendly way to search across all available sources while reducing duplication at the point of request.
The objective was to embed advanced search directly into parts management workflows—enabling faster discovery, better reuse of existing inventory, and stronger catalog governance.
The solution: AI-enabled catalog intelligence
The organization implemented an AI-enabled parts catalog management solution that integrates conversational chat and semantic search directly into the parts workflow.
The solution connects internal catalogs with external vendor data, applying continuous updates and intelligent matching to identify equivalent or near-duplicate parts. Users can search naturally, quickly locate the most appropriate option, and avoid creating redundant entries.
By surfacing existing parts and alternatives upfront, the solution streamlines procurement decisions and improves catalog quality over time.
The impact: faster searches and reduced duplication
The solution delivered clear operational improvements across maintenance and supply chain operations:
- Meaningful reduction in time spent locating parts
- Significant decrease in redundant catalog entries, strengthening inventory and procurement discipline
- Improved visibility across internal and external parts sources within a unified search experience
By improving parts discoverability and reuse, the solution accelerated maintenance workflows while reducing unnecessary inventory growth.
Strengthening inventory efficiency and maintenance productivity
Beyond immediate efficiency gains, the AI-enabled catalog solution established a scalable foundation for better inventory governance. By reducing duplication and accelerating part discovery, the organization improved maintenance productivity while strengthening supply chain discipline and cost control.