It may cost time and money, but getting a handle on inventory can pay dividends
As the calendar turned at many truck fleets across the country, holiday celebrations were replaced with the odious chore of doing yearend inventory in parts shops. While no one enjoys doing parts inventory, it is vital for efficient maintenance operations and a fleet’s bottom line.
“I’ve pulled $150,000 in unwanted, obsolete parts off of shelves before,” says Darry Stuart, president and owner of DWS Fleet Management Services, which helps fleets modernize and streamline their operations. “That, obviously, is a worst-case scenario.”
Having even a slightly disorganized parts shop can cost a company money every day. “If a technician’s time is worth a dollar a minute, and you have a guy hanging out at the parts window for half an hour waiting for someone to find a part – it isn’t hard to see the hit your operations are taking,” Stuart says.
Every second that a truck sits in a shop is a second the truck isn’t hauling freight. “One of your trucks might be in the shop for 30 minutes while someone tries to find a missing oil filter, then maybe another 30 minutes to get one delivered,” says C.J. Parsneau, inventory manager for LKQ Heavy Truck Division. “Minutes can turn into hours when you are running a large fleet. This will result in days, if not weeks, of combined downtime – time your trucks could be on the road.”
Painful but necessary
Organizing a neglected parts shop is a monumental task and, since no one wants to do it, it can get put off for months, sometimes years. “I’m working with a fleet now, and the parts situation is a disaster,” Stuart says. “It’s going to take us at least two months to sort out and organize it, and most fleets understandably don’t want to deal with that. There’s too much other stuff going on.”
Once the decision is made to reorganize a shop, a fleet should call all hands on deck and rebuild the shop almost from the ground up. “You have got to go in, pull everything out, strip the shop down, clean it, paint it and then reinstall your shelving and reorganize your inventory,” Stuart says. “You can’t do it halfway and be successful.”
The other mistake Stuart sees often is a fleet manager who decides the shop needs to be reorganized and simply tells the parts manager to do it since it’s his responsibility anyway. Because the job is simply too big for any one person to do, Stuart recommends assigning a five- or six-man team. Give it a deadline and have it do nothing else but work on straightening up the shop. “It’s hard to do, especially in today’s business climate, but it’s the only way to ensure success.”
“You can’t do it halfway and be successful.”
– Darry Stuart, president and owner, DWS Fleet Management Services
Once the hard work is done, everything should be sorted, labeled and counted. “Once you’ve done that, your repair times will improve because your parts department will be running like a Swiss watch,” says Stuart.
