Last week I posed this question to a Dealer..spontaneously . Now I am curious on a broader scale........
" If a Dealer is not getting the performance from their Sales Managers, F&I Managers, GM's , Service Directors that they need to keep business vital..they replace them quickly. However...why do they permit chronically incompetent Parts Managers to remain in their positions for years..or...elevate someone to operate this department on the cheap.."Cause he can look up parts really well. This incompetence can have a direct and dramatic impact on the overall performance and cash flow of the facility.
Had a great discussion with a group of factory reps over this very question who tossed it out on the table in frustration.
Input?
Parts Directors`?
6 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Parts Directors`?
by Farfinator » Sat Nov 17, 2001 5:54 am
Paradise;
Having been a Parts Manager, this is a no brainer!
This situtation is bore of 4 fundamental problems:
1. Dealer Principles and GM's are more often than not breed from the Sales domain and have relatively little Parts experience.
2. The Parts Department doesn't have a quick and easy monthly, manufacturer produced guide like CSI to signal issues, and a good many GM's don't know how to even run a Part's Manager's report much less read one.
3. The Parts Department is not, in most instances, any where near as significant a profit center as sales.
4. Parts success has no "immediate" impact on Bonus Revenues and allocations.
Watchdogging a Part's Department requires at least a fundamental knowledge of Inventory Management, a clear understanding of the DMS system's Part's Management reports, a clear understanding of critical benchmarks of performance and the principle factors that influence them, and the DESIRE to invest more than the 5 minute monthend glance at a report to access and guide its management.
Ask a GM, when they have responded to issues of $ p/RO, or fix it right the first time, whether the Part's Manager was ever called to account for their fill rate to the shop. Most haven't got a clue as to its impact, much less how to even examine the information. They are simply uneducated.
As for maintaining cheap, incompetant soles:
It's EASY! And, the impact of failure can always be defered to the incompetant, weak Parts Manager rather than the lazy, fool that hired him.
You see, how can someone, who has little idea how the Department is supposed to work, effectively access the skills of a potential hire? How can their performance be guaged, if you don't understand the criteria?
Having been a Parts Manager, this is a no brainer!
This situtation is bore of 4 fundamental problems:
1. Dealer Principles and GM's are more often than not breed from the Sales domain and have relatively little Parts experience.
2. The Parts Department doesn't have a quick and easy monthly, manufacturer produced guide like CSI to signal issues, and a good many GM's don't know how to even run a Part's Manager's report much less read one.
3. The Parts Department is not, in most instances, any where near as significant a profit center as sales.
4. Parts success has no "immediate" impact on Bonus Revenues and allocations.
Watchdogging a Part's Department requires at least a fundamental knowledge of Inventory Management, a clear understanding of the DMS system's Part's Management reports, a clear understanding of critical benchmarks of performance and the principle factors that influence them, and the DESIRE to invest more than the 5 minute monthend glance at a report to access and guide its management.
Ask a GM, when they have responded to issues of $ p/RO, or fix it right the first time, whether the Part's Manager was ever called to account for their fill rate to the shop. Most haven't got a clue as to its impact, much less how to even examine the information. They are simply uneducated.
As for maintaining cheap, incompetant soles:
It's EASY! And, the impact of failure can always be defered to the incompetant, weak Parts Manager rather than the lazy, fool that hired him.
You see, how can someone, who has little idea how the Department is supposed to work, effectively access the skills of a potential hire? How can their performance be guaged, if you don't understand the criteria?
- Farfinator
Parts Directors`?
by Farfinator » Sat Nov 17, 2001 5:55 am
Paradise;
Having been a Parts Manager, this is a no brainer!
This situtation is bore of 4 fundamental problems:
1. Dealer Principles and GM's are more often than not breed from the Sales domain and have relatively little Parts experience.
2. The Parts Department doesn't have a quick and easy monthly, manufacturer produced guide like CSI to signal issues, and a good many GM's don't know how to even run a Part's Manager's report much less read one.
3. The Parts Department is not, in most instances, any where near as significant a profit center as sales.
4. Parts success has no "immediate" impact on Bonus Revenues and allocations.
Watchdogging a Part's Department requires at least a fundamental knowledge of Inventory Management, a clear understanding of the DMS system's Part's Management reports, a clear understanding of critical benchmarks of performance and the principle factors that influence them, and the DESIRE to invest more than the 5 minute monthend glance at a report to access and guide its management.
Ask a GM, when they have responded to issues of $ p/RO, or fix it right the first time, whether the Part's Manager was ever called to account for their fill rate to the shop. Most haven't got a clue as to its impact, much less how to even examine the information. They are simply uneducated.
As for maintaining cheap, incompetant soles:
It's EASY! And, the impact of failure can always be defered to the incompetant, weak Parts Manager rather than the lazy, fool that hired him.
You see, how can someone, who has little idea how the Department is supposed to work, effectively access the skills of a potential hire? How can their performance be guaged, if you don't understand the criteria?
Having been a Parts Manager, this is a no brainer!
This situtation is bore of 4 fundamental problems:
1. Dealer Principles and GM's are more often than not breed from the Sales domain and have relatively little Parts experience.
2. The Parts Department doesn't have a quick and easy monthly, manufacturer produced guide like CSI to signal issues, and a good many GM's don't know how to even run a Part's Manager's report much less read one.
3. The Parts Department is not, in most instances, any where near as significant a profit center as sales.
4. Parts success has no "immediate" impact on Bonus Revenues and allocations.
Watchdogging a Part's Department requires at least a fundamental knowledge of Inventory Management, a clear understanding of the DMS system's Part's Management reports, a clear understanding of critical benchmarks of performance and the principle factors that influence them, and the DESIRE to invest more than the 5 minute monthend glance at a report to access and guide its management.
Ask a GM, when they have responded to issues of $ p/RO, or fix it right the first time, whether the Part's Manager was ever called to account for their fill rate to the shop. Most haven't got a clue as to its impact, much less how to even examine the information. They are simply uneducated.
As for maintaining cheap, incompetant soles:
It's EASY! And, the impact of failure can always be defered to the incompetant, weak Parts Manager rather than the lazy, fool that hired him.
You see, how can someone, who has little idea how the Department is supposed to work, effectively access the skills of a potential hire? How can their performance be guaged, if you don't understand the criteria?
- Farfinator
Parts Directors`?
by Chuck Hartle » Sat Nov 17, 2001 10:25 am
Farfinator,
I agree with some of your observations, but this is coming from a group of factory reps. We could sit and judge just about every department we wanted to. Personally, I respectfully disagree with the parts operation being a small profit center. When it comes to return on investment, parts can be the best of them all, if run right.
I want to throw a question back to PARADISE and I hope I get a response. Ask a parts manager what he/she thinks of their factory parts rep. and I think you would get the exact same answer about how factory reps feel about them. The manufacturers constantly throw new reps into the field with no clue on how a parts operation is run and now you have the blind leading the blind in many instances. Good factory reps, and there are many of them,( just as there are many good parts managers), know how to help the parts manager in inventory management. When factory reps start becoming educators instead of sellers, marketers, and policemen, you have the beginning of solving some of the lack of education in the parts department.
The best factory reps I have seen understand that the key to getting the parts manager to purchase more of the right products effectively is to educate them to the process.
All too often factory reps come into a parts operation, show a parts manager how bad he is doing with statistics and percentages, instead of showing him/her how to fix it.
After traveling around the Country for the past 3 months, it has also become painfully evident that it is not only hard to find a good parts manager, but it is hard to find a parts manager at all! In three areas of the Country that I recently visited, the factory reps said that they had more than a handful of dealers looking for a parts manager.
Finally, without getting to long winded here. Parts needs service and service needs parts. The two are joined together and really form a single profit center with two bottom lines. When it comes to fill rate in the service drive, I truly believe that this is what most parts managers understand better than anything in their department. You have to remember, and this will open a can of worms, that in many cases the service department is the largest cause of forced stock and obsolescence in the parts department. Technician and service writer speculation and the failure to fulfill special orders "CHOKE" a parts department with parts that take up useless shelf space that could be used for the right parts if more effort where exercised by service to work the problem more effectively.
To get to a point, as I have thrown out quite a few general observations here, is that not only do parts managers need more training, but so do factory reps! Some of the best factory reps I have seen learned on the job and were self-motivated. By the way, this is the same for the best parts managers I have seen.
Chuck Hartle'
I agree with some of your observations, but this is coming from a group of factory reps. We could sit and judge just about every department we wanted to. Personally, I respectfully disagree with the parts operation being a small profit center. When it comes to return on investment, parts can be the best of them all, if run right.
I want to throw a question back to PARADISE and I hope I get a response. Ask a parts manager what he/she thinks of their factory parts rep. and I think you would get the exact same answer about how factory reps feel about them. The manufacturers constantly throw new reps into the field with no clue on how a parts operation is run and now you have the blind leading the blind in many instances. Good factory reps, and there are many of them,( just as there are many good parts managers), know how to help the parts manager in inventory management. When factory reps start becoming educators instead of sellers, marketers, and policemen, you have the beginning of solving some of the lack of education in the parts department.
The best factory reps I have seen understand that the key to getting the parts manager to purchase more of the right products effectively is to educate them to the process.
All too often factory reps come into a parts operation, show a parts manager how bad he is doing with statistics and percentages, instead of showing him/her how to fix it.
After traveling around the Country for the past 3 months, it has also become painfully evident that it is not only hard to find a good parts manager, but it is hard to find a parts manager at all! In three areas of the Country that I recently visited, the factory reps said that they had more than a handful of dealers looking for a parts manager.
Finally, without getting to long winded here. Parts needs service and service needs parts. The two are joined together and really form a single profit center with two bottom lines. When it comes to fill rate in the service drive, I truly believe that this is what most parts managers understand better than anything in their department. You have to remember, and this will open a can of worms, that in many cases the service department is the largest cause of forced stock and obsolescence in the parts department. Technician and service writer speculation and the failure to fulfill special orders "CHOKE" a parts department with parts that take up useless shelf space that could be used for the right parts if more effort where exercised by service to work the problem more effectively.
To get to a point, as I have thrown out quite a few general observations here, is that not only do parts managers need more training, but so do factory reps! Some of the best factory reps I have seen learned on the job and were self-motivated. By the way, this is the same for the best parts managers I have seen.
Chuck Hartle'
[This message has been edited by Chuck Hartle (edited 11-17-2001).]
- Chuck Hartle
Parts Directors`?
by Farfinator » Tue Nov 20, 2001 6:56 am
Hi Chuck,
I agree with you entirely.
Just wanted to explain my jaded perception of the Parts Dept. I am from CT, where real estate is at a premium. More often than not, I have seen the parts operations here treated like the "Red-Headed step children."
While sales and service are getting face lifts and expanding, the lowly parts departments are relegated to an antiquated, diminishing postage stamps to operate out of. Despite the cost/benefit, GM's resist the price tags on high density storage options to liberate space, so you end up stiffled. Thousands on bathroom renovations without a blink, but zero on the parts department. If actions speak louder than words, than I have to believe this suggests a complete lack of respect for the department, and an absolute lack of interest in its profit potential.
At a Saab store in Greenwich, CT, my Parts Department did 180K p/m with 140k inventory, out of a 20x20 nook with a 15x12 mezzanine and a 25 ft box out back! I couldn't store a single fender if my life depended on it! We were land locked and this property alone was in excess of $6 million. On the edge of NY, I had unlimited potential for wholesale, but no way to execute, and was told in no uncertain terms that ownership was adamantly uninterested in developing a wholesale business-"There wasn't enough profit in it!" That's it-done.
I apologize that many of my opinions and reactions are biased by experiences such as this.
I agree with you entirely.
Just wanted to explain my jaded perception of the Parts Dept. I am from CT, where real estate is at a premium. More often than not, I have seen the parts operations here treated like the "Red-Headed step children."
While sales and service are getting face lifts and expanding, the lowly parts departments are relegated to an antiquated, diminishing postage stamps to operate out of. Despite the cost/benefit, GM's resist the price tags on high density storage options to liberate space, so you end up stiffled. Thousands on bathroom renovations without a blink, but zero on the parts department. If actions speak louder than words, than I have to believe this suggests a complete lack of respect for the department, and an absolute lack of interest in its profit potential.
At a Saab store in Greenwich, CT, my Parts Department did 180K p/m with 140k inventory, out of a 20x20 nook with a 15x12 mezzanine and a 25 ft box out back! I couldn't store a single fender if my life depended on it! We were land locked and this property alone was in excess of $6 million. On the edge of NY, I had unlimited potential for wholesale, but no way to execute, and was told in no uncertain terms that ownership was adamantly uninterested in developing a wholesale business-"There wasn't enough profit in it!" That's it-done.
I apologize that many of my opinions and reactions are biased by experiences such as this.
- Farfinator
Parts Directors`?
by Paradise » Tue Nov 27, 2001 10:10 am
I apologize for the delay..Thanksgiving travelathon.
I have been fortunate to have had wonderful , supportive reps..knowledgeable and from the roots of actually working in various fixed operation positions. I have also had some..completely void of any working knowledge of automotive retail or fixed operations..period. Ink still drying on degree. Some, I have actually felt like I needed to sit down with milk and cookies and a coloring book .
It indeed would serve the manufacturers far better to implement part of the reps
preliminary training... OJT in a functioning, rapid-paced facilities parts and service department. It does seem they are acclimated to delivering stats and selling various factory packages. I imagine their rationale is limited to the Inventory Management seminars they offer throughout the year. They should also enforce targeting those facilities who's stats are slipping and dispatch educated/operationally trained DM's TO educate and excite.
Something else I noticed over the years...I was only offered ONE seminar that concentrated on marketing..led by someone who had new and innovative marketing
ideas,tactics outside the proverbial tired old box. I always love leaving a seminar on
fire..ready to go back and attack. After 23+ years of attending a broad spectrum of Parts
Management /Inventory Control seminars..I may single-handedly hold the record for neck
snapping whilst dropping off..unintendedly..to sleep while some fella with a bad toupee drones on about "Days of Supply". Some serious re-vamping needs to happen within the training/ seminar world.
Another minor blurb within this vein .What is up with the factories cutting reps back and many covering over 150 stores in their districts? Why bother with a rep at all ! Just stuff their material in the update packages ! With warranties extending..and the balloon of rapid sales due to pop at some point..focus will shift to fixed. Vast support will soon be needed.
This WILL become the dealers primary profit center of the future. Are the manufacturers
gearing up for the shift?
From what your travels are illustrating..sounds like we are ripe for some entrepreneur to pounce on developing a solid parts management/marketing/ placement school.
There are many mentalities behind why parts and service always seem at odds with each other. Thankfully I did not have to suffer through this type of dysfunction..I saw the hand writing on the wall, went forth and married the service director . We truly did have one common goal. We gathered our collective employees together and operated as one common department. No departments problems were minimized over the other's. No
muscles flexed. Well...ok. I mismatched all his socks after one nasty battle over one
particular technician who chronically blamed parts when he would play Madamn Cleo attempting to fix a car and bled my projected SOP allotment dry monthly. I'm human.Passive aggression. However, my loyalty to the function of moving cars rapidly and efficiently through service was my priority..therefore, was my staff's priority. Constant inventory analysis , keeping our collective ears to the tech's ground of what trends in vehicle failures were developing were acute to beef up appropriate parts before they hit
national backorder.Expanding inventory when necessary to keep SOPs at a minimum.
Constant fluid communication between departments. The more vehicles we could move
through service, the more money we all made.Bottom line. That was a line of logic my
entire staff could relate to. Efficient volume = profits.
One of my largest disagreements with dealer mentality/ management placement is the
placement of the service manager over the parts manager..and/or visa versa. They should
be shoulder to shoulder in voice , talent, responsibility and accountability. I have witnessed many legitimate, serious dysfunction's remain chronic due to the dealer-appointed leader in fixed operations having no experience in the other departments. Therefore..the other department manager barely treads water in attempting to get their voice heard or to exact real change to correct a bad situation. It always seems to breed obvious bias. I have seen tremendously gifted parts managers
victims of a shop totally out of control at the hand of an out of control service director demanding every part needed picked up at other dealers..bombing all bottom lines.I have also witnessed top of the line service managers brought into failing facilities..old parts managers still hiding in back moldy office..lit via single bulb hanging from rope..sabotaging through sheer incompetence, apathy and arrogance of tenure every revitalizing move the new service manager enforced. All managers should stand
independent and be heard equally. I am not an advocate of layered management within
one facility..such as..appointing a Fixed Ops Manager within a single facility operation over the service and parts manager. It normally seems to morph into redundant service management. If you hire strong, professional managers they should be competent enough to stand and operate without another large paycheck to support.
However..the bottom line to all this is...not factory reps and their disabilities..or the typical old squabbles between departments which can lead to volumes of messaging in this forum.....it is ..why are dealers so hesitant to address, replace, train, pay attention to weak or incompetent parts managers when they would rapidly replace, train, and pay attention to all other key managers . Could Farf be close to addressing the reality by stating the background of most dealers is from sales through the ranks and one tends to avoid the management one really cannot relate to skill-wise or mentality-wise? The parts manager is operating a retail store within a retail store. I would have to ask a dealer....If you had a few million to invest in a
free-standing parts store..hopeing to one day franchise like a NAPA...would you put your current manager in charge of all facets of planning, start up, human resources, marketing and operations ? Hmmmm? As stated in many parts seminars...does the dealer turn to his parts manager on the golf course and ask this manager for advice on the dealers personal investment strategy? Is this truly the....'Weakest Link"?
I have been fortunate to have had wonderful , supportive reps..knowledgeable and from the roots of actually working in various fixed operation positions. I have also had some..completely void of any working knowledge of automotive retail or fixed operations..period. Ink still drying on degree. Some, I have actually felt like I needed to sit down with milk and cookies and a coloring book .
It indeed would serve the manufacturers far better to implement part of the reps
preliminary training... OJT in a functioning, rapid-paced facilities parts and service department. It does seem they are acclimated to delivering stats and selling various factory packages. I imagine their rationale is limited to the Inventory Management seminars they offer throughout the year. They should also enforce targeting those facilities who's stats are slipping and dispatch educated/operationally trained DM's TO educate and excite.
Something else I noticed over the years...I was only offered ONE seminar that concentrated on marketing..led by someone who had new and innovative marketing
ideas,tactics outside the proverbial tired old box. I always love leaving a seminar on
fire..ready to go back and attack. After 23+ years of attending a broad spectrum of Parts
Management /Inventory Control seminars..I may single-handedly hold the record for neck
snapping whilst dropping off..unintendedly..to sleep while some fella with a bad toupee drones on about "Days of Supply". Some serious re-vamping needs to happen within the training/ seminar world.
Another minor blurb within this vein .What is up with the factories cutting reps back and many covering over 150 stores in their districts? Why bother with a rep at all ! Just stuff their material in the update packages ! With warranties extending..and the balloon of rapid sales due to pop at some point..focus will shift to fixed. Vast support will soon be needed.
This WILL become the dealers primary profit center of the future. Are the manufacturers
gearing up for the shift?
From what your travels are illustrating..sounds like we are ripe for some entrepreneur to pounce on developing a solid parts management/marketing/ placement school.
There are many mentalities behind why parts and service always seem at odds with each other. Thankfully I did not have to suffer through this type of dysfunction..I saw the hand writing on the wall, went forth and married the service director . We truly did have one common goal. We gathered our collective employees together and operated as one common department. No departments problems were minimized over the other's. No
muscles flexed. Well...ok. I mismatched all his socks after one nasty battle over one
particular technician who chronically blamed parts when he would play Madamn Cleo attempting to fix a car and bled my projected SOP allotment dry monthly. I'm human.Passive aggression. However, my loyalty to the function of moving cars rapidly and efficiently through service was my priority..therefore, was my staff's priority. Constant inventory analysis , keeping our collective ears to the tech's ground of what trends in vehicle failures were developing were acute to beef up appropriate parts before they hit
national backorder.Expanding inventory when necessary to keep SOPs at a minimum.
Constant fluid communication between departments. The more vehicles we could move
through service, the more money we all made.Bottom line. That was a line of logic my
entire staff could relate to. Efficient volume = profits.
One of my largest disagreements with dealer mentality/ management placement is the
placement of the service manager over the parts manager..and/or visa versa. They should
be shoulder to shoulder in voice , talent, responsibility and accountability. I have witnessed many legitimate, serious dysfunction's remain chronic due to the dealer-appointed leader in fixed operations having no experience in the other departments. Therefore..the other department manager barely treads water in attempting to get their voice heard or to exact real change to correct a bad situation. It always seems to breed obvious bias. I have seen tremendously gifted parts managers
victims of a shop totally out of control at the hand of an out of control service director demanding every part needed picked up at other dealers..bombing all bottom lines.I have also witnessed top of the line service managers brought into failing facilities..old parts managers still hiding in back moldy office..lit via single bulb hanging from rope..sabotaging through sheer incompetence, apathy and arrogance of tenure every revitalizing move the new service manager enforced. All managers should stand
independent and be heard equally. I am not an advocate of layered management within
one facility..such as..appointing a Fixed Ops Manager within a single facility operation over the service and parts manager. It normally seems to morph into redundant service management. If you hire strong, professional managers they should be competent enough to stand and operate without another large paycheck to support.
However..the bottom line to all this is...not factory reps and their disabilities..or the typical old squabbles between departments which can lead to volumes of messaging in this forum.....it is ..why are dealers so hesitant to address, replace, train, pay attention to weak or incompetent parts managers when they would rapidly replace, train, and pay attention to all other key managers . Could Farf be close to addressing the reality by stating the background of most dealers is from sales through the ranks and one tends to avoid the management one really cannot relate to skill-wise or mentality-wise? The parts manager is operating a retail store within a retail store. I would have to ask a dealer....If you had a few million to invest in a
free-standing parts store..hopeing to one day franchise like a NAPA...would you put your current manager in charge of all facets of planning, start up, human resources, marketing and operations ? Hmmmm? As stated in many parts seminars...does the dealer turn to his parts manager on the golf course and ask this manager for advice on the dealers personal investment strategy? Is this truly the....'Weakest Link"?
- Paradise
6 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Return to Dealers & General Managers
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests