Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85369
PARTS MANAGEMENT to be proactive in planning your inventory, " Wilson says. "Market demand drives your inventory, so you want to try to look at your fleet and know what they are going to need." This means closely examining equipment needs, the parts and components used on that equipment, hauling schedules, routes and road conditions. Careful recordkeeping is an- other vital element. Consistent- ly tracking repairs – types of breakdowns, repair times and parts used – gives an operation a baseline as to the types of re- pairs it handles more routinely. Wilson says a fleet probably won't see two repairs that truly are identical, but with research and consistent recordkeeping, it can identify trends and com- mon problems – and the parts stock to meet those needs. Wilson recalls the open- ing of Empire's location in Brookhaven, Miss. "When we opened that facility, we did a study of the demographics of the trucks in the area so we knew what types of problems were common to our potential customers," he says. "We wanted to know what to expect." After completing the study, Empire created a list of "mission-critical parts" that would be a priority to stock and reorder on a consistent basis. The list was designed to speed up the process of completing common repairs and provide the service center with an ad- equate amount of inventory for problems seen most frequently. "Your goal has to be to have a realistic inventory of usable parts available at all times," Stewart says. 2: AUTOMATE THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS Computers do many things for truck fleets today, and one of their most powerful capabilities is to process and organize different streams of data into a single, coherent message – a blessing for a swamped fleet manager trying to gain insight into parts procurement and stock. Selecting the right program for an operation – and then giving the software accurate information to process – is vital to success. Frame Service's parts department has a computer software system that logs all parts sold and used in repairs. The system is designed to reorder stocked parts automatically once they leave the shelf and to update inventory. The system allows parts manager Sue Platt to see what is coming off the shelves quickest, but it also reveals what isn't selling or moving – and she uses that information to gain a better understanding of her customers and their needs. "The program does a great job, but it doesn't see everything, " she says. "It can't look into the future and see a customer is planning to bring in several trucks, or see that the weather is changing or that a new part has made an- other one obsolete. You still need the human element for that sort of thing. Before any stock orders at Frame Service are finalized, a staff member checks " the computer-generat- ed order against con- sumer trends, customer information and other outside factors so that Platt orders a suitable quantity of any part at any given time. "If we are having a run on something, we will be aware of that," she says. "The comput- er will know we are out of what we had on the shelf, and it will automatically order parts to refill the shelf. But it doesn't realize we may need to order more than we typically use if outside factors are in play. Another possibility is to relinquish some inventory " control to vendors that specialize in a specific prod- uct. One such example is Tire Centers (TCi), which recently unveiled its new Track My Tread software program. "We know from talking to fleets that tire management is a particularly tough part of the whole parts inventory puzzle," says Nate Kirian, vice president of marketing for TCi. Track My Tread is an online tool designed to allow fleets to see and control FRAME SERVICE'S PARTS DEPARTMENT HAS A COMPUTER SOFTWARE SYSTEM THAT LOGS ALL PARTS SOLD AND USED. tire assets throughout their lifecycle. From purchase to repairs to retreading and on to the scrap pile, the customer has visibility and control at his finger- tips, providing him with accurate reporting and a true total cost of ownership throughout the tire's lifecycle, Kirian says. 60 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | APRIL 2012