Designing a Recommendation System for Spare Parts Replenishment

Efficient spare parts management for production asset maintenance is challenging due to the volatile nature of spare part demands. Additionally, procurement of industrial spare parts is becoming more unstable with fluctuating lead times for materials. Therefore, material planners continuously need to react to changes in the supply and demand of spare parts during spare parts replenishment. A recommendation system for spare parts replenishment could support material planners in decision-making in an uncertain environment. Recommendation systems require user trust to reach user acceptance. This paper suggests a design for a prototypical application for a recommendation system, focusing on system transparency and user control. The design is developed in close collaboration with material planners in contextual interviews, and focus groups. The prototype is evaluated in a small usability study in terms of usability and user trust. Our findings show a high emphasis of users on understanding system recommendations.