MRO Category Management: How Leading Manufacturers Cut Costs and Complexity
Manufacturers managing billions in MRO inventory across dozens or even hundreds of sites face a persistent problem: fragmented procurement strategy. While category management is standard for direct materials, applying the same discipline to MRO often fails – siloed data, multiple ERP systems, and misaligned teams make it nearly impossible to get full visibility, let alone optimize.
But forward-thinking manufacturers are solving this. They’re not hiring more analysts or rewriting their ERP. They’re empowering MRO category managers with AI-driven visibility and a unified strategy across the supply network.
In this guide, we’ll break down:
- Why traditional MRO category management breaks down in large organizations
- How to structure an effective, AI-enabled strategy
- What outcomes are achievable when you get it right
Why MRO Category Management Fails at Scale
Category management works beautifully for direct materials. You know your suppliers, you control the spec, and volumes are high. But MRO? It’s messy.
- Disparate ERPs and data silos: Many enterprise manufacturers operate 10+ plants with 3+ ERP systems and conflicting material records.
- Low visibility, high carrying costs: Nobody has a single view of what’s stocked, what’s needed, and where there’s risk or excess.
- Misaligned goals: Sourcing wants lower prices, maintenance wants uptime, finance wants working capital back. No one has shared truth.
These breakdowns lead to bloated inventories, rogue spend, supplier duplication, and missed savings. The very structure that should unify decision-making actually fragments it.
Building a Modern MRO Category Strategy
To bring order to the chaos, manufacturers must shift from site-level decisioning to a network-level strategy powered by data.
1. Unify Category and Inventory Data
Start by standardizing and aggregating materials data across all plants. This doesn’t mean cleansing every record—it means overlaying AI to identify duplicates, variances, and at-risk parts across systems.
- Break down silos between SAP, Oracle, Infor, Maximo, and others
- Group materials into clean, standardized categories
- Identify where the same part is stocked under different names/SKUs
Example: A Fortune 500 pulp & paper company used AI to unify data across 110 U.S. sites and 4 ERP systems, reducing manual category reviews by 6,600 hours.
2. Conduct Spend and Stocking Analysis
Once categories are normalized, analyze spend by plant, supplier, and category to uncover:
- Where supplier duplication exists
- Which sites are over- or under-stocking
- How many parts are at risk of downtime
AI-powered tools surface these patterns in days, not quarters. The result: you know where to consolidate, renegotiate, and rebalance.
3. Shift to Network-Level Governance
Most MRO decisions happen at the plant level. That’s a problem.
High-performing companies centralize MRO category strategy into a unified governance model:
- Small corporate team governs stocking policies, supplier alignment, and risk thresholds
- Plant teams provide local context, but don’t make isolated decisions
- Cross-functional teams (procurement, ops, finance, IT) collaborate on strategy
This shift aligns incentives and accelerates execution.
Case Study: How One Manufacturer Recovered $55M in MRO Waste
Industry: Pulp & Paper
Company Type: Fortune 500 manufacturer with 110 U.S. sites
ERP Complexity: 4 disparate ERP systems
MRO Footprint: ~$1B tied up in inventory
The Challenge:
- No visibility across business units or systems
- 8-figure MRO write-offs every few years
- $100M+ in excess inventory over a decade
- Conflicting goals between procurement, ops, and finance
The Solution:
- Used Verusen to unify MRO data across all sites and ERPs
- Centralized category management to a team of 7 (down from hundreds)
- Shifted from siloed to network-level MRO decisioning
- Integrated sourcing, finance, ops, and IT around one strategy
The Results:
- Identified $55M in reduction opportunities
- Achieved $26M in verified savings to date
- Flagged 2,900 at-risk materials before outages occurred
- Eliminated thousands of hours of manual material review
Executive Quote:
“Verusen allowed us to see our materials footprint like never before. We cut redundant inventory, prevented outages, and saved tens of millions—without changing our ERP.”
FAQ: What Procurement Leaders Ask Before Starting
How clean does our MRO data need to be before we start?
It doesn’t. Verusen’s platform overlays your existing data as-is, using AI to standardize and analyze without requiring a cleanse first.
Will this work with our current ERP systems?
Yes. Verusen integrates across SAP, Oracle, Maximo, Infor, and more—even if you have multiple instances. No rip-and-replace needed.
How long before we see results?
Most customers identify savings opportunities within 30–60 days. Verified savings and ROI are often realized within the first 6–12 months.
What’s the biggest risk of doing nothing?
Continued inventory bloat, rogue spend, and avoidable downtime. The longer you delay visibility, the more value slips through the cracks.
Rethink Your MRO Category Strategy Before Budget Season Hits
Empowering your category management team with unified visibility and network-level strategy isn’t just a procurement win—it’s a business imperative. When you can align operations, finance, and sourcing around a single source of truth, savings follow fast.
Book a call with Verusen to see what your true MRO opportunity looks like.