Special order parts

[Michael McHenry]

I am always stuck with special orders.

I just started making the Service department
make appointments before the part is ordered.
I've been doing this for about a month and it has helped, but I'm still getting stuck a lot. Please tell me what your doing to combat
this.

Thanks,Michael

[David S]

Michael:

Special Orders have historically been a major issue between parts and service departments. The best method I have found to address this issue is to find a common ground when getting your service dept to open their eyes to the issue. Cash, money, cabbage, whatever you want to call it, the service department will refer to it as gross or hours.
Try tracking and calculating the amount of parts left in your inventory. Convert parts cost to labor gross profit lost. They may not respond in the first week, so I would suggest if possible you go back 6 months or a year and determine how much they have lost and how much you have lost. Show them all the data and how you came up with the calculation. Make it bullet proof. If these calculations dont open their eyes, they are likely to open your GMs or Dealer Principals eyes.
I sure would hate to run the bus over the service department, but this is business and more important it is the Dealer Principals business. He is paying you to look out for his/her best interest.
If you are interested in how I make these calculations feel free to email me.

David S.

[joe r]

I tied my special orders to an appointment
log in report generator. The appointment log is run daily and any special orders are
shown on the report. Then the service cashiers check to see that all the parts for each customer have been received. If yes,
they are called and reminded of their appointment. If no, they are called and re-
scheduled for one week later. Works great.
I'm on ERA but there may be a similar report
available on other systems.

[worldparts]

Start collecting e-mail addresses from your customers and notify them when their parts arrive by e-mail. Send reminders every day.


------------------
Bob Van Der Ploeg
bob@worldparts.com
http://www.worldparts.com
ICQ: 7660816

[Chuck Hartle]

Michael,

I just finished doing a broadcast for NADA's Skylink program called "Powertrain" where we tried to answer that question. David has the right idea.

Here are several suggestions that worked for the dealership I used to run.

As David mentioned, it begins with "Education Awareness". I had a meeting where I put the Service Advisors, the Parts Advisors, and the Technicians in a room together and showed them the amount of "forced stock" they were creating each month. Then I showed how much money was being left on the table based on that figure.
That alone went a long way in solving some of the problems.
The whole point of the program on NADA was to look at service and parts as a single profit center and begin combining pay plans with management and other key positions in the fixed operations that promoted unity. We did this and we hired a "special order" clerk whose salary was split between both departments that basically did what JOER was talking about.
Lastly, we developed a "accountability" pay plan for the service and parts advisors that penalized their commission for special order parts that went unfulfilled for warranty customers. In other words, when we had to return high dollar parts to the mfg and pay the restocking charges and when we did monthly returns with forced stock and received less than dealer net, it came off the gross profit line of the parts and service advisors.
It went a long way in helping the situation by reducing our forced stock problem by over 65%.
Look for more details in the next two articles in "The Parts Manager" on this critical issue!

Chuck Hartle'

[Gary J. Naples]

Hi Michael:

A successful special order process takes absolute collaboration and cooperation between the parts and service department. Both departments share the same customer and everyone benefits when the customer is served. Consequently, having an effective special order program means that all involved want to have an effective special order program. It cannot be a half-hearted commitment by either department.

Prescheduling is an important first step, but the process can't end there. Here are some additional tips:

Once the part is received, the parts department should mail a notification card to the customer. Also, the specific ASM/service advisor that ordered the part is given a copy of the special order form when the order is received so he/she can phone call the customer to set up a service appointment.

If the job is pre-scheduled, then the ASM/Service Advisor call to the customer will be to confirm the appointment.

Finally, review all special orders weekly, and purge special order parts at least every 30 days but not greater than 45 days. Inform the appropriate ASM/Service Advisor of the purged order for final customer folow-up.

Create a purge log of the purged special order parts, whether returned to stock or to the supplier, for management review. Include part number, part cost, how it was ordered, and who ordered it.

Constant review and accountability will help facilitate the process.

Hope this helps you.

Gary J. Naples

[David Cates]

Special orders seem to be a problem in a lot of the dealerships I have worked with lately. We have implemented several Special Order systems over the last two months (on the in-house computer system).

Your computer system should have a Special Order system. In many cases, this functionality was never set up when the system was installed. This was either because the dealer / parts mgr did not want to do it at the time, or it was one of those we will come back and do it things that never happened. Originally the Special Order software left a lot to be desired. (I speak primarily about ADP, as I was with them 12 yrs, but I think it holds true for the other vendors as well). The installers did not understand the product, and what was left was a product that was not being used, as it was difficult to maintain (i.e. labor intensive). But the software has gotten better / user friendly.

The Special Order feature on most systems is part of the Parts Inventory software, so in many cases it is another part of the system being paid for, but not being utilized. The main advantage is the tracking capabilities offered by automating your special order system. Parts and service personnel can quickly look up the status of a special ordered part order date, order quantity, receipt date, etc). There are also good reports on the system that will help you keep track of these parts. On the ADP system, and I think most of the others, the service department receives an alert in the RO write-up screen when a customer with an outstanding order brings their vehicle in the shop. Also, you can easily print special order notices on a laser, or other printer, immediately after receipting the part.

While these automated systems are not perfect (what is?) and in some cases require some additional steps, we have had successful implementations in these dealerships. We have eliminated many of the questions of when and if a part was ordered, service advisors have access to more information to keep track of their customers with parts ordered, and have eliminated some of the time spent by parts personnel trying to find order status on these parts for service advisors. If youre not currently using the special order features on your in-house computer system, it might be worthwhile to take a look at it.