Food Engineering’s 2016 Replacement Parts and Components Trends Survey identifies the “who, what, why and how” of replacement parts purchasing, inventory maintenance, condition monitoring and related topics. The key objectives of the survey are to identify the type of job functions involved in replacement parts and components decisions; replacement parts and components industry professionals rely on; the most important factors when selecting a supplier; and maintenance replacement and inventory management strategies that are currently utilized. In the survey, nearly half of the polled food and beverage manufacturing personnel reported spending less on replacement parts and components in 2015 than in the previous year, with the median spend decreasing from $300,000 to $100,000. The mean expenditure also fell from $1,136,249 in 2014 to $866,426 last year—a 24 percent decrease.