Need Advice On Inventory

[Eddie8]

Hello shop management gurus!

I have to perform an inventory of my stock. I have a few questions and would like your opinions on what you guys do.

Question1= Do you guys enter a part into inventory everytime you purchase a part even though its probably a part you wont stock?

Question2= Do you leave parts in inventory with a zero quanity count or negative count?

Question3=Is it best to wipe out the inventory that i have and re-enter everything i have in stock?

Question4= any tips and tricks you have for me would be appreciated

Thanks!

[steven kiser]

Personally, i don't enter rarely used parts into inventory. However if you're high volume and want to track pricing i would. What i'm trying to say is if you search price and quality for a specific part and settle on a supplier for it, you may want the information readily available in the future to aid in your search time.

I have a parts store across the street and two others withing 20 minutes. I can look at their inventory and pricing and order on line so my shelves are barren compared to when i was in another location. I stock filters, fluids, and such along with a hardware selection that's huge. It really drives me crazy looking for odd stuff, waste of time and money. Holding up a tech while i send someone on a two hour trip for a clip turns a dollar item into a 100 bucks.

I'll add again, if you stock a decent supply of parts and your supplier wants to do a tag over look at the pricing of the new supplier. My point revolves around a tag over of my brake stock. The new company was 20% less than the current one so by doing a tag over i lost 20%. I made the take back all my present stock and resupply me with the new one and saved 800 bucks that i added to my inventory. Be carefull of tag overs.

[Eddie8]

Thanks Steve for the insight. Wow, 30 views and only one reply? Any other replies would be much appreciated....

[Tim Martin]

Well, first of all, for us here, a part has to sell several times a year and has to be a difficult item to get quickly to be a stock item. We do not keep track of items that we do not stock. Neither do we have items with a zero in stock unless we are out of stock on them. I look at it this way: Why should I be a parts stocker when I have within 6 miles of my shop 6 parts places that all have delivery. Auto Parts stores around here are as common as pizza joints. In 10-15 minutes I can have parts delivery so the only parts I keep are the hard to get items and parts that move very often. We are a labor factory not a parts store.Keeping inventory can be a real financial burden unless they are moved at least 6 times a year. KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid is the motto Vinny Waterhouse told us some years ago. As steve already said, little clips, fasteners, and the little things are what we tend to keep on hand. We do alot of diesel work here so we keep the fuel line connections, clips, etc for them that the dealer doesn't even stock. Try taking the wiring harness clips or the fuel lines off a Duramax only to have the little spring clip zing to somewhere. Then after you can't find it, you call the dealer only to hear the guy say "No we don't have it for you but we can get it. Be tomorrow sometime". Trust me, I been there too often in those times. I got the willeys of it and now keep that kind of stuff on hand all the time.

More questions? Shoot!

[ricmorin]

OK. Here goes.....

Question1= Do you guys enter a part into inventory everytime you purchase a part even though its probably a part you wont stock?

Yes. I don't want to have to enter the same info twice. Plus it's easy to see if you sold a part before during a price check because it's green.

Question2= Do you leave parts in inventory with a zero quanity count or negative count?

Zero yes, negative no.

Question3=Is it best to wipe out the inventory that i have and re-enter everything i have in stock?

That's up to you. I like knowing what I bought and when I bought it. And I hate duplicating my efforts for any reason.

[nickscarcare]

The only stuff I have on inventory is like everyone else says the fast mover stuff or fluids and things that are a must. I am on the edge of town here, but I can still get parts in 20 minutes, which is good. Don't like anymore money laying here than I have to. I don't sell lots of tires, but the ones I do, I order overnight, install the next day, if it is an emergency, I have a tire store that I have a good dealings with, and we trade work back and forth, I send some stuff their way, they send me big jobs that they don't do my way.