What we learned holding critical spares through a Mongolian winter
Stock is only useful if it can move. Three winters in, here is what actually determines whether a part reaches site.
Holding local stock is the easy half of the promise. The hard half is that a part in a warehouse in Ulaanbaatar in January is not automatically a part on site in January.
What actually delays a part
Very rarely the road. Much more often: incomplete tag information on the request, so the wrong variant is picked; packaging that is not rated for the temperature the load will sit at overnight; and elastomer components stored cold and installed cold without conditioning.
That last one caused us a genuine failure in our first winter. A seal set delivered and fitted at minus twenty-eight failed within days. The part was correct. The installation temperature was not, and nobody had told the crew the material needed to be brought up before fitting.
What we changed
- Elastomer items ship with a conditioning note stating minimum installation temperature
- Temperature-sensitive stock is packed to hold above its floor for 24 hours in transit
- Requests are confirmed against equipment tag, not description, before picking
None of it is complicated. All of it came from getting something wrong first.
