How to Stock the Right Parts for Your Fleet Operation

For fleet operations, it’s important to stock the right parts – at the right time – to run an efficient shop.

Having the right parts in stock needed to complete a work order can help technicians finish tasks quickly as they don’t have to wait for the requested parts to come into the shop.

However, keeping too many spare parts on-hand in the parts room can cause fleet operations to lose money on overstocked parts. This can also reduce the amount of inventory turns, which can impact an operation’s budget.

To make sure your fleet operation is stocking the right parts, use these tips.

Have an Organized Parts Room

Keeping the parts room organized can make it easy for staff members to identify which parts are in stock and which need to be ordered. This can prevent operations from ordering an excess of a type of part because the staff is unable to locate it.

An organized parts room should have designated locations for each part. This can include labeling parts by row, shelf and bin number. All parts should be kept on the shelving units and off the floors for safety reasons. All smaller parts should be placed in bins or boxes to keep them organized.

Hire a Knowledgeable Parts Room Staff

Having a dedicated staff to operate the parts room can benefit the entire shop. This allows employees to learn the ins-and-outs of the parts shop and the location of each component, enabling them to quickly find parts as they are needed to complete work orders. This group will also be familiar with how often parts are used, letting them know how quickly to restock.

Keep an Accurate Inventory

Performing regular inventory can help fleet operations have an accurate count of how many of each part are on-hand. This can help alert operations to which parts need to be reordered and also track which parts have a surplus of spares on the shelves.

To keep inventory updated, it’s important to perform it regularly. Using barcoding tools can help fleet operations perform inventory quickly and often. Also, after creating tags for each part, employees can easily scan the parts out of inventory into work orders using barcode scanning tools.

Monitor Parts Inventory Turns

Ideally, fleet operations should turn their entire parts inventory at least four times a year. If you’re not turning your inventory over as often as you should be, it can signal you are stocking the wrong parts. This can include keeping obsolete parts on shelves or ordering a surplus of some parts.

Use Fleet Management Software

Fleet management software can help fleet operations monitor their parts inventory and help alert operations to when parts should be reordered.

Barcoding tools can be connected to fleet management software solutions, allowing fleet operations to update their inventory directly into the software.

Operations can also set up parts to automatically re-order when the inventory hits a certain threshold. So, for example, if the re-order trigger was set to two, each time the inventory dipped below two the system would automatically re-order a pre-determined number of that part. This helps operations ensure they have enough on-hand to not run out, and yet not overstock the part.

To learn how RTA Fleet Management Software’s parts management tools can benefit your operation, contact us today to schedule a demo.