Calculator

MRO Price Variance Savings Estimator

Estimate annual and monthly savings from MRO controls: reducing off-contract spot buys, capturing price variance savings, and reducing expedited fees.

This tool is educational and operational. It is not legal, engineering, or financial advice.

Processed in-browser. Nothing is stored.

Inputs

Required

$

Required

Formatting only.

Off-contract lever

%

Percent of total spend that is spot buys or outside contracted pricing.

%

Percent savings when moving off-contract spend to contracted pricing.

Price variance lever

%

Estimated overpayment on contract spend due to SKU sprawl and inconsistent pricing.

%

Percent of the variance you realistically capture through governance and standardization.

Expedited fee lever

%

Percent of total spend that is rush shipping, premiums, or fees.

%

Percent of expedited fees you can eliminate with controls.

Implementation and notes

$

Cost to implement controls. Used for payback.

Used in memo output.

Optional context for stakeholders.

Results

Enter inputs and click Generate.

Assumptions

  • This is an estimate. Use conservative inputs and validate by spend trend after controls are installed.
  • Savings levers can overlap. Keep assumptions conservative to avoid double counting.
  • Off-contract savings depends on catalog adoption and enforceable buying rules.
  • Price variance savings depends on SKU normalization and vendor price file governance.
  • Expedited fee savings depends on clear emergency definitions and exception reviews.

How to use

  1. Enter annual MRO spend and conservative assumptions for each leakage lever.
  2. Review the savings breakdown and baseline transparency to sanity check inputs.
  3. Copy or download the memo to align finance and operations on the plan.
  4. Validate savings after controls are installed and update assumptions quarterly.

What results mean

Estimated annual savings combines off-contract pricing improvements, price variance capture, and expedited fee reduction.

Savings percent of spend shows total annual savings as a percent of annual MRO and parts spend.

Payback period divides one-time implementation cost by monthly savings to estimate recovery time.

Common pitfalls

  • Double counting savings across off-contract, price variance, and expedited fee levers.
  • Using aggressive assumptions without validating catalog adoption rates.
  • Skipping expedited fee cleanup because it feels small, even though it adds up fast.

Definitions

MRO spend: Maintenance, repair, and operations spend for parts, consumables, tools, and small equipment.

Off-contract spend: Purchases outside contracted pricing or preferred suppliers, often driven by urgency.

Price variance leakage: Overpayment caused by SKU sprawl or inconsistent pricing across vendors.

Expedited fees: Rush shipping or premium fees tied to emergency purchasing behavior.

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release