Item Reduction (IR) Program
The Defense Standardization Program Office's (DSPO) Parts Management Program provides processes to improve parts selection by requiring a systems engineering approach to parts management planning. The IR Program is an integral part of Parts Management and it can be an effective tool for inventory management when adequate resources are available to execute it.
DSPO Standardization-Related Document (SD) SD-23: Department of Defense Item Reduction Program Guidebook
Background
The purpose of the IR Program is to reduce the number of sizes, and kinds, of items in the Federal supply system that are generally similar in form, fit and function. Goals of the IR Program programs include: reduced costs, standardization, commonality, efficiency, and reduced proliferation of assets in the DOD inventory.
The IR Program employs the use of IR Studies that consist of three key elements:
- Identifying items for elimination from the supply system
- Coordinating proposed family relationships (i.e., interchangeable or substitutable items) with the recorded military and federal users of the items to ensure all technical requirements are satisfied
- Eliminating the non-standard items from the Federal supply system including updating the Federal cataloging system
Benefits
There are a range of benefits of an effective IR Program. Completed IR studies result in non-standard items no longer being procured and any remaining stock being used to satisfy requisitions until the stock is depleted. Once the stock is depleted, any requisitions for that item are fulfilled automatically by the standard item. Benefits of a successful IR study include increased Materiel Availability (Am) and cost savings associated with the elimination of non-standard items.
Important note: Although both are managed by the DSPO, IR is not synonymous with Parts Management. Among the differences, procedures for IR are found in SD-23, while procedures for Parts Management are found in the SD-19, Parts Management Guide. See the DAU logistics blog post entitled “Parts Management & Item Reduction: Two Sides of the Same Coin” to learn more about the similarities and differences between these two important programs.