By Lucas Deal, Editor
lucasdeal@randallreilly.com
Operations
Quick, find
me a part!
Best practices for getting the parts your
customers need – even when they're not in stock
A
customer comes into your
store and he needs a part.
You get the SKU, look it up in
your inventory management
software and nothing comes up. Been
there before?
You check again. Nothing. Then,
maybe you go back and look on a shelf.
Not there, either. Been there before?
You don't have what your customer
needs.
From here, that customer has two
options. He can walk out and go some-
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where else, or he can request you to find
the part.
Obviously you want them to choose
the latter, but how? How do you service a
customer when you don't have what they
need?
In situations like this, having best
practices and operating procedures
to quickly get that part can be a game
changer. You're never going to have
everything — no one is, and customers
know that — but if you know how to get
anything fast you can become someone a
customer can rely on.
Below are three steps toward creating
a parts procurement best practice for
your facilities.
Step 1: Acquire information
Once a customer tasks you with finding
a part, first make sure you know exactly
what they need.
Get as much information as possible,
including SKU, serial number, manufacturer, and model information of the part,
a deadline for when they need it and the
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6/21/13 9:11 AM
