Auto Parts Inventory - March 12, 2024
When it comes to your service shop, inventory is king. Without it you would not be able to operate, finish jobs or ensure your customer leaves satisfied.
The problem is, maintaining an accurate, up-to-date and organized inventory can sometimes be pushed aside for more immediate tasks such as purchasing special order parts, pulling parts for technicians, and getting to the next customer.
As a result, inventory is not properly added to or removed from the system, parts go missing and sometimes, jobs get closed without the full list of materials being billed. But taking the time now, to ensure your inventory is accurate, will actually help make these day-to-day responsibilities easier while allowing you to achieve your departmental goals.
Pro Count West has listed just some of the ways maintaining an accurate inventory can make day-to-day responsibilities easier for your parts department:
Knowing what you have in stock and how long it will take to get a part is critical to determining how long a job will take and when you can get it done. By maintaining an accurate parts inventory record, you will be able to confidently determine whether or not you have what you need to fix a customer’s vehicle now or whether they will have to bring their vehicle in another day when they have been ordered and delivered.
We’ve all experienced the negative impact of a poorly managed inventory at one point or another.
A customer brings their car into the shop for repair. Once the problem has been diagnosed, the parts department looks in the inventory system to determine whether the parts are there. Seeing that they are in stock, you let the customer know you can do the job quickly but then, when you go to pull the parts, you realize something is missing. Maybe it has been misplaced. Maybe it was used on another job and not billed out. Whatever the reason, you now have to call and tell the customer it will take longer and they won’t be happy.
That is why it is critical that your parts department runs as efficiently as possible.
Whether the customer is looking to purchase parts for an at-home repair or is bringing their car to the shop to be fixed, having the parts on hand and being able to locate them quickly has a huge impact on a positive customer experience. The more time it takes you to produce the necessary parts, the less impressed your customers will be.
Sorting through a haphazard parts inventory can be tedious especially when you know your time would be better spent reducing inventory costs by researching new vendors or working out better deals with current vendors, minimizing obsolescence through improved forecasting, increasing the efficiency of the parts department or any other number of tasks that would improve your bottom line.
By effectively organizing your parts and knowing the current inventory situation means that your staff will spend less time looking for parts and more time doing tasks that are focused on improving the organization.
These are just some of the ways that a well-managed inventory can help you more effectively use your time while also better meeting your departments objectives such as, increased customer satisfaction, more completed jobs and reduced costs.
For more information of how a well-managed inventory can help you or to discuss how we can help, contact us today.
