Guides & resources
Guides for the people who keep industrial equipment running
Practical, plain-English guides for maintenance, engineering and purchasing teams: identifying parts and reading nameplates, understanding conditions, sourcing obsolete equipment, migrating legacy PLCs and drives, sizing drives and breakers, buying from abroad, and getting value from surplus – plus an A–Z glossary.
Guides
Written by our team from everyday work buying, identifying, photographing and shipping industrial parts. General guidance only – always follow the manufacturer's documentation and your site's safety rules.
How to read an Allen-Bradley catalog number (and what “Ser B” means)
Bulletin numbers, module codes, suffixes, the series letter and firmware revision – and how each one affects whether a replacement will work.
New, new surplus, used, refurbished, for parts: what industrial part conditions mean
Plain-English meanings of every condition grade you'll see on surplus industrial parts, and the questions to ask before buying each one.
How to source obsolete and discontinued automation parts without long downtime
What to do the day a discontinued PLC, drive or HMI fails – and how to stop it from being an emergency next time.
SLC 500 end of life: keep it running on spares or migrate to CompactLogix
Where the SLC 500 stands, which spares keep one running, and how a phased move to CompactLogix keeps downtime short.
Finding obsolete Siemens, GE Fanuc and Fanuc parts: labels, versions and sourcing
How to read Siemens order numbers, GE Fanuc catalog numbers and Fanuc part numbers, which version details matter, and where surplus fits.
VFD basics for maintenance teams: sizing, replacing a failed drive and common faults
Sizing a variable frequency drive correctly, swapping a failed one with minimal downtime, and what the most common fault codes usually point to.
PowerFlex 525 vs PowerFlex 40: replacing a 22B drive with a 25B (or not)
Footprint, terminals, parameters, EtherNet/IP and Safe Torque Off – how to migrate from a PowerFlex 40 to a 525, and when not to.
Molded case circuit breakers: reading the ratings and finding a replacement
Frame size, trip rating, interrupting rating (kA), voltage and slash ratings, trip units and mounting – and a checklist for a safe replacement.
Selling surplus industrial inventory: how to get the best offer
What surplus buyers look at, how to photograph and list your parts, and the simple steps that turn a pile of spares into a fast, fair offer.
Plant decommissioning and facility cleanout checklist for owners, landlords and lenders
Planning, energy isolation, records, recovering value from inventory, removal and a broom-clean handback – a checklist for owners, landlords and lenders.
Data center electrical and controls spare parts: what to keep on the shelf
How to build a critical-spares list for power distribution, UPS, cooling and building controls, and how to rank what earns a place on the shelf.
MRO and industrial parts glossary: the terms buyers and technicians use, A to Z
Short, plain-English definitions of the words on labels, listings and purchase orders – from AIC to VFD – with links to the guides that go deeper.
How to read a servo motor nameplate: torque, speed, feedback, brake and fit
Torque, speed and current ratings, voltage class, encoder or resolver feedback, holding brake, flange and IP rating – and how to match a motor to its drive.
How to read Siemens order numbers (MLFB), product versions and firmware
What the 6ES7, 6SL3, 3RT and 3VA prefixes mean, where to find the product version and firmware, and what to check before you swap a Siemens part.
Reading a motor nameplate and sizing a replacement VFD
What every field on a NEMA or IEC motor nameplate means, and how to turn it into the right replacement drive: current, duty, input and derating.
Buying industrial parts from the US: a guide for international buyers
Payment in US dollars, shipping quoted after packing, duties and paperwork, and how to check voltage, frequency and certification marks before you buy.
Industry pages
The parts each industry buys most, and how we help with in-stock parts, sourcing and surplus.
Quick references
Item conditions
Exactly what each condition on our site means, including New Surplus.
Shipping
How and when orders ship, and what free shipping covers.
Returns
Our plain-English return policy, which covers every item.
FAQ
Answers to the questions buyers ask us most.
Can't find a part?
Send the part number – one line or a whole ISO list – and we'll check our shelves and our sourcing network.
KIV Industrial Parts is an independent seller of surplus industrial parts and is not affiliated with, or an authorized distributor of, any manufacturer named here. Brand names and part numbers are used only to identify products; they are trademarks of their owners. See our trademark notice.