Looking for a Parts Consulting firm

Toyotaguy · Post by **Toyotaguy** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 9:23 am

Hello, I am looking for a good parts consulting firm. Someone to take a look at how my department is running and give us ideas on how to and where we need improving. I know my department has a lot of potential but need the third party to convince the owners of what is needed. Looking for someone or a company that is to expensive but can do the job right. I am in the NY region. I do aprox. 450,000 a month is total sales and run an average 212,000 in inventory. Thanks ROb

[This message has been edited by Toyotaguy (edited 11-16-2001).]

fburrows · Post by **fburrows** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 11:15 am

Rob:
Chuck Hartle of PartsEdge.com is one of the moderators of this forum and he is highly regarded as an expert in inventory and parts management. If he is not available I would certainly get a recommendation from him.

------------------
Frank Burrows
Automotive Business Solutions
frank@autobusiness.org

David S · Post by **David S** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 4:44 pm

Toyota offers free of charge Fixed Operations Consulting.

Write me for details.

Farfinator · Post by **Farfinator** » Sat Nov 17, 2001 5:17 am

Toyotaguy,
I am concerned that you feel you do not have enough credibility yourself. Yeah, you can hire someone to back you up, but the fact that YOUR opinion appears undervalued kinda says something in and of itself about your relationship with the dealer.
I don't know how you have presented your ideas in the past, but I would recommend you concider why your proposals/ideas aren't well received, and fix that issue first! You need to establish your own credibility.
Maybe you just need to present you ideas differently, like a professional buisness plan. A formal accounting of costs and projected returns of your proposals. Demonstrate a well thought out plan that will produce a tangible and quantifiable benefit and you will more likely gain the respect and support you are lacking.
By the way, what areas of improvement have you had difficulty getting support on? Maybe this forum can offer you some specific guidance on presentation.

Chuck Hartle · Post by **Chuck Hartle** » Sat Nov 17, 2001 11:13 am

First of all, thank you Frank. Second of all, David Summers is one of those Toyota fixed operations specialist for Toyota, and he knows his stuff.

Contact David and if you still want another option, feel free to email me. Free is better in this case!

As for farfinator, he brings up some good points. First of all, if you are averaging $450K per month in sales with a 30% profit margin (speculating) on a $212K inventory, your cost of sales would be about $310K per month. This means that you would have somewhere around 17 gross turns on your inventory if we annualized it out!

As Far is trying to point out, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM HERE? Typically, to see an inventory like this, I would say the only possible problem you have is that maybe you need some more inventory. When I see a store turning it's inventory more than 13 times, I start to see a point of diminishing returns. You end up working much harder to maintain this level rather than increase the inventory to take the pressure off this type of turn. Based on this, it looks like you have somewhere around a 20 day supply of inventory here. What are you looking to accomplish by having a consultant come in?

Thanks,

Chuck Hartle'

Toyotaguy · Post by **Toyotaguy** » Mon Nov 19, 2001 9:50 am

Thanks everyone so far for your answers. I am not looking for someone to come in here and look over my inventory. That i know how to do. I know that we have some problems here and to be honest everything we try to change it just doesn't seem to work out. I know every dealer has some sort of problem with its inventory. My inventory problem isn't about dollars and cents its about being correct. In july I had my inventory done for the first time in two years.(i have been the parts manager for 9 months) at that time about 50% of the parts had to be adjusted in some way. I am really trying to eliminate as many errors as possible. I double check everything that is inputted and even do daily inventory checks. This is still a problem here. I have a pretty good relationship with my owners. They are cheap but fair. I know I don't know everything about the parts business. This is why, if someone can come in here give me some pointers on a bunch of subjects maybe we can even make this a better parts department. I have tried going through my local dpm. But one excuse after the other. Well thanks again...

DJWCPA · Post by **DJWCPA** » Wed Nov 21, 2001 11:29 am

I am a CPA in the metropolitan NY area. I specialize in consulting to auto dealerships and also have a wide network of associates in the tri state area dealing with fixed operations. If you would like to discuss the specific areas of concerns, I can arrange to either handle the engagement myself, or put you in contact with someone to help you.

Chuck Elliott · Post by **Chuck Elliott** » Sat Nov 24, 2001 9:22 am

Just as a FYI:
A business division of ADP is the ProfitPoint Group which is comprised of
MNI (Mike Nicholes, Inc.)- Parts for ADP R&R, etc.
ASC Retail Consulting (ASC)- Service
Performance Inc. - 20 groups, financials, etc.
Car!nk - Custom Programming
Traver Technologies - Front End (Sales)

We can as the other posting perform anything from an assessment to "full blown" department restructering.
For further information please call me at my office: 800-345-2398 x 3931 or email at
CELLIOTTMNI@AOL.COM

Visit our website at WWW.ADPPPG.COM

Chuck Elliott
Senior Consultant
MNI / ASC

dantana · Post by **dantana** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 6:05 pm

Mike Nicholes - if you're really serious.

dbrown · Post by **dbrown** » Mon Jan 21, 2002 10:30 pm

We have used Don Wood from "Bob Pearson Enterprises" for several years now and are very pleased, he has a very good plan that works. His e-mail is "ukdon@msn.com". Give him a try, you'll be pleased.