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I'm wondering what things or procedures have helped on your dealers lower the Service Campaigns parts inventory and boost Completion rates. We are trying to lower too the campaing parts obsolescence. Please, any data is highly appreciated.

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Lind@

Maybe not applicable to your situation but some manufacturers allow full return of direct shipped campaign parts without charging your return reserve. Usually this is a small policy buried somewhere, so I'd check the possibility of that. (Don't ask your rep ... call someone deep in the factory return program to find out for sure.) I usually start by saying, Suzuki lets us return these part why not you ... I am fibbing since I have no idea about Suzuki - but neither does anyone else so they are a good example to use. I find it is always more helpful when you ask something wacky to have a real life (or in this case made-up) example to get the factory people to at least check.

Second - run the factory information on every vehicle, every time. LOFs, used vehicle recon, everything! If you know what vehicles are affected by the recall parts you have all the better. If you have like 50 of something that only fits a 2002 Accord, then you can even spiff a small amount for it. (I like a draw board over a small spiff, because advisors seem to like the chance at $50 over the flat payment of .50).

Do a direct mail piece and have a recall Saturday. Most people don't do a recall because it is inconvenient. Promise them a quick in/out and maybe coffee and donuts and you'll get a good response. Dedicate a day to perform them all. Recalls can be quite a good money maker *if* the shop is optimized to handle them. If the process is set up like an assembly line, your techs can whip through them.




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** Rob, Editor Dealersedge/WD&S **
Help is only a message post away!
robc@dealersedge.com

Hello Linda

Do you have the capability to pull off into a spread sheet all the units in your sales history affected by the recall ?

If so this is one of the key ways to control your parts inventory. It allows you to determine the maximum units that might be coming in.

We usually order an initial order (as parts are available)of either 25 percent or 50 percent of the units we sold (percentage purchased is dependent on the dollar value of the parts involved).

This initial large buy in usually looks after the initial rush of units.

Consider, you will have about a 10 percent loss of units that have either been written off due to accidents or have moved away or chose a different more local dealership for servicing.

If these are warranty parts that are a one time only fix; I will place these warranty parts in a locked in source with a maximum and minimum quantity. No sales in 6 months phased out.
Very tight and very low values.

Or if it is a part that will likely be used as an on going replacement for years to come; it is placed in a parts group that has very low days supply such as 10 days. With the initial high volume of sales it will fill the days supply for quite a period of time; yet if sales in time dwindle so will the stock on the shelf. One to two years from now it can be put into regular stock source as it now adheres to most of parts sales nuances. I am a firm believer that generally a part should only be intercepted on the computer two times in its life cycle, else you simply create a great deal of manual work for yourself. Set up the computer and the controls correctly, follow your internal rules of thumb and let the system manage the fluctuation of stock sales..

In house we keep warranty parts and recalls in a separate rack or area. If a recall has three parts we keep them all in the same box or bin location, as well as a copy of the TSB or bulletin inside the box.

As a quick reference I have set up the warranty camp number to change up to the primary part number for the warranty job. This way if a tech asks "do you have parts for the 03-45 campaign"; we can key the bulletin number into our inventory system and immediately see the bin location and stock quantity on hand for that item.

Hope this is of assistance to you.


John

[This message has been edited by johnny o (edited 01-19-2005).]

Late getting a response in here, but we have had really good success with visiting used car lots and other dealers in the area and checking their inventories.

Actually, this has led to some nice additional work as the relationship has built. Certianly worth a try. After a personal visit by mgt, or at least a introductory phone cal, maybe a parts driver, or your shuttle driver could drop buy and do a quick inventor, and the service advisors could check for recalls etc.