Perpetual Inventory

[dsprice]

Too much inventory is falling off the vehicles or else not being turned back in when not used. I'm considering the par level per van and starting an inventory system based on service tickets.

How do yall work it? Does it even work? Pros and cons? Any suggestions based on your experiences would be greatly appreciated...

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

[54regcab]

Simply logging the inventory on each truck will be a help. Techs don't know if you are matching to tickets or not.

[waterpirate]

It has been my experiance that a sloppy truck leads to sloppy work and wasted time looking for parts and stuff. It is also a reflection on the mindset of the technician and the company.
Trucks must be well organised and kept stocked and clean or else productivity suffers. Many a gifted technician can not keep a truck stocked and organised. If you help them by provideing correct adequate storage for the stock and their tools, as well as a " truck stock " list based on past service tickets you will be amased at how much happier and productive the work is.
It will also be easy for you to track stock from the warehouse to the truck to the ticket and quickly see where stock is being lost.
The absolute key to good service ticket time is haveing the truck stocked with the right stuff, not all the stuff.
Hope this helps
Eric

[gregp]

on what office staff etc. you have. If you go by replenishing parts from tickets, what is the turn-around time? Do the techs call in after each call? If so, they could tell the dispatcher what part(s) they used. Do the techs come into the office each day? Either way, you will have to make someone in the office responsible for re-stocking parts. We DO NOT under any circumstances let our techs go to parts houses. Also, you must do a regular inventory on each service truck.

[408-COUPE]

It has been my experiance that a sloppy truck leads to sloppy work and wasted time looking for parts and stuff. It is also a reflection on the mindset of the technician and the company.
Trucks must be well organised and kept stocked and clean or else productivity suffers. Many a gifted technician can not keep a truck stocked and organised. If you help them by provideing correct adequate storage for the stock and their tools, as well as a " truck stock " list based on past service tickets you will be amased at how much happier and productive the work is.
It will also be easy for you to track stock from the warehouse to the truck to the ticket and quickly see where stock is being lost.
The absolute key to good service ticket time is haveing the truck stocked with the right stuff, not all the stuff.
Hope this helps
Eric

Excellent post. In the old days my uncle worked for a company who would pay someone to clean YOUR truck if you didn't..
I can't tell you how many times I've went on our other techs trucks and there's brand new thermostats and runn caps and start kits etc just under the seat that I promise would have just sat there if I didn't have them clean the truck.
As my dad taught me MAKE IT A HABIT. When you buy new stock, put it in the right spot, when your done with a tool put it up where ou found it. It will take more time later when you just throw it somewhere than if you just out it in the right spot. It's not hard and I know we don't always want to, but it's for the best. And I've found once I make something a habit, it's just second nature. Plus it feels good having a clean truck.

[meh70087]

Sounds as though you need to do some hiring and firing. If my employer had to
Keep track of what is or is not on his truck I'd have to
Find a new job. It would take a full time person just to keep track of all the parts on everyones truck

[beshvac]

Sounds as though you need to do some hiring and firing. If my employer had to
Keep track of what is or is not on his truck I'd have to
Find a new job. It would take a full time person just to keep track of all the parts on everyones truck

It's really not that hard.......

Beginning inventory- you are just counting whats on a truck not an entire warehouse :)

Plus

Puchases from a purchase order system per truck

minus

Ending inventory-what's on the truck at the end of the month


Then

Match with tickets of items sold

The only ones who complain are the sidejobbers....or the ones "selling a part" directly that does not show up on the ticket......helping a "buddy" after hours (nobody will notice).....


Here is a lesson I learned long ago......every company has a theft problem and it's up to you to keep it small or let it grow large.

[gregp]

goes for refrigerant. We weigh the new drum before giving it to the tech and mark the weight on the cylinder. The tech weighs it after each use. They know exactly how much they use. They enter that on the ticket and we keep a running total in the office.

[meh70087]

Guess it's really nice to have worked for such good people and have TRUST in each other to do what's right ! I hate side work but do find myself helping people from time to time . With that said if I were to use anything that does not belong to me off of the truck , I simply replace what's used . I keep track of my bosses stuff so he does not have to.

[dsprice]

Some good pointers. My guys call in after every job so I think listing parts with dispatch is the thing to do for truck stock. We have a parts runner for the big stuff so I'm basically trying to keep track of tstats, boards, etc...

We do random on-site inspections and that's when we find parts thrown in the back or under the seat. I agree about being clean and organized...but how to enforce it?

Right now all my techs come in every morning. This is something else I want to change. I'm working towards dispatching them directly to their first call...which goes with the inventory system and the best way to go about it.

After reading some of y'alls input, maybe set up 2 techs one day a week to come to shop and match inventory to tickets? Hmm...I need a more clear plan before I move on this.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

[rickboggs]

I'm headed out to clean up my truck

[waterpirate]

Rather than call it enforcement, how about a reward system. We do not punish anyone, but we reward techs that set the standard or above. We do all kinds of stuff. Gift cards to places they like to shop or go is one way. Restraunts, gander mountain, ect.

Do your techs have their own tools or company supplied? If you go from company owned and provided to a list of tools that each tech has to have, you will see a big diferance in the way things are done.

Do you pay flat rate or hourly? Paying flat rate does not allow for a sloppy ineffecient tech, if they are the former, they owe you money at the end of the week.

You need to develop this inventory, storage, and implement it. Standardiseing all the trucks also helps as techs can move from truck to truck, or assist another tech without haveing to look for key tools or items.

This may sound rigid, but through boundaries and controls you get a more compliant happy and effecient EE, as well as more profit.
hope this helps
Eric

[skippedover]

How you present tracking inventory to your techs can make or break a system. If the tech 'buy in' to the new procedure, you'll get much better results. I'd recommend you approach it from a re-stock for efficiency angle. You may even be able to get a wholesaler to keep track of the stock for you! They'll have a salesman or parts runner replenish stock used. So you inventory the truck one time, then whatever comes off, automatically gets put back on, nothing more, nothing less. Having a master stock list for the trucks is a great advantage. Our software tracks the inventory and it's been a boon to finding who has what and where the variables are. But it makes it much easier to know at a relative glance whether a particular part is in stock and if so, in stock where? Which truck or warehouse?

I'd also recommend dispatching directly from home. We use our answering service text messaging capability to send the morning dispatch. Then the men call in when they're on scene. We get very good co-operation on that issue and find that often many of the men will actually be calling in 'on site' 5 to 10 minutes before work actually starts! With just 5 -guys, we're picking up about 1-hour per man per day over coming into the shop each morning. That's 5-hours per day, 20-hours per week gain with no increase in payroll burden or overhead.

[gregp]

Some good pointers. My guys call in after every job so I think listing parts with dispatch is the thing to do for truck stock. We have a parts runner for the big stuff so I'm basically trying to keep track of tstats, boards, etc...

We do random on-site inspections and that's when we find parts thrown in the back or under the seat. I agree about being clean and organized...but how to enforce it?

Right now all my techs come in every morning. This is something else I want to change. I'm working towards dispatching them directly to their first call...which goes with the inventory system and the best way to go about it.

After reading some of y'alls input, maybe set up 2 techs one day a week to come to shop and match inventory to tickets? Hmm...I need a more clear plan before I move on this.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

the techs come in every morning cuts into your productivity and increases non-billable hours. We have a warehouse person/parts runner that meets the techs on a job every day, takes tickets for the next day (or any new tickets for the same day) and takes parts that the techs told dispatch they have used. This keeps the techs working and the paperwork is processed in a timely manner. Very rare do we have techs in the shop/office. I keep a running inventory in Excel for each service truck.

[billygoat22]

I wish I could get the restock w/o too much turnaround time. Used to restock when go past supply house, asked them what I could get that needed to be restocked. Now it could be days or week or more b4 get some items in. weekly parts order now.

Keep pretty tight track of truck inventory- only a few limited items stay on there over a year w/o use, otherwise I "destock" them from the truck.

Keep in mind I do elec service changeouts, service oil/gas/ht pump/boiler/air cond/ptus and do some install or changeouts, so pretty broad inventory. I like universal parts, and stock up if doing a bigger job than a service call.

How do you handle warranty parts and turning in money and tickets if no morning stop at office? Many times its after office hours when I finish, and with the non-inventory lean running nowadays, parts aren't in the day before.

[Some Dude]

It has been my experiance that a sloppy truck leads to sloppy work and wasted time looking for parts and stuff. It is also a reflection on the mindset of the technician and the company.
Trucks must be well organised and kept stocked and clean or else productivity suffers. Many a gifted technician can not keep a truck stocked and organised. If you help them by provideing correct adequate storage for the stock and their tools, as well as a " truck stock " list based on past service tickets you will be amased at how much happier and productive the work is.
It will also be easy for you to track stock from the warehouse to the truck to the ticket and quickly see where stock is being lost.
The absolute key to good service ticket time is haveing the truck stocked with the right stuff, not all the stuff.
Hope this helps
Eric

Whatever :gah: , stick to thumbtacks and bailing wire and let us do the real work.

[waterpirate]

Do you support or dissaggree with the portion you highlighted? I am confused by your response.
Eric

[Some Dude]

Do you support or dissaggree with the portion you highlighted? I am confused by your response.
Eric

The statement i posted in bold is complete nonsense.

btw, my van isnt the cleanest and my paperwork is wretched

[danielworkerbee]

We dispatch to the clients home for an 8:00am on M, W & F.
Office on Tue = turn in uniforms and invoices, re-stock and meeting ( Pricing, Memo on HX's & Company procedures ).
Office on Thur = pickup uniforms ...ect, and Meeting for Technical Issues.
We are starting ride-a-longs next week that will happen with each guy about every 6 weeks.
luck dan

[waterpirate]

The statement i posted in bold is complete nonsense.

btw, my van isnt the cleanest and my paperwork is wretched

The majority of the world would disagree with your premise. I know nothing of your quality of work, nor work ethic in terms of logistics and supply, so I will not comment.

What I will comment on is that attitudes like yours are their own worst enemies. Statements like " it works for me" or " do not mess with my system" are self defeating.

As proffesionals we must put ego and huberous away, and get help with the things that we will admit that we are not the best at. Great technicians are seldom organised or the best owners or managers of a business. The converse is aslo true.

It stands to reason that you should seek help, education and understanding on the side of the fence that is not your strong suit. To dismiss it as being un-important to your business plan is ego not reasoning talking.

None of us are experts at it all. The definition of a truly talented individual is one who will admit things that they need to work on, and seek help to get better at it.

If I had to choose between efficiency, i.e.a clean van and lost revenue, i.e. wretched paper work, I would choose the not clean van so at least I did not lose the revenue due to wretched paperwork for the work that I did do.

This is just my opinion and not an attack. It takes all kinds of people to make the world hot and cold. I agree to dis agree with your statement about mine being nonsense.
Eric
The new guy on the block

[dsprice]

The only tools the company supplies are recovery machines and nitro regulators. Techs supply everything else. My department focussed on rnc with only two guys plus me that does warranty work when warranty department is busy or there is a high end HO, say a builder's personal house. If I condemn a coil or motor at one of these calls, a runner will bring the part and usually have it to me in 20 minutes. As for retail, different department at the company, they use an overnight runner to collect money and parts from vehicles.

So, could we use the overnight guy? Probably but we have about 150 techs on that route already and talking about adding another 50. I'm being asked to create a system separate from theirs. Honestly, I'm not at all comfortable with the thought of some guy getting into my vehicle in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping. What if some crackhead is breaking in and I dismiss the noise cuz I think its the runner? What if its the runner and I think its some crackhead? The latter could get real ugly real fast...

TMI, I know...so basically my guys don't need a wide range of inventory. I like the idea of incentive over enforcement for clean and organized vehicles. I like the idea of parts used when calling dispatch at the end of the job. So now its about restocking vehicles daily with inventory and supplies. If a tech needs another bottle of nitro he can call it in. "Grocery lists" will have to be turned in a day or two early before the tech runs out. Sounds like I'll ask the company to hire a runner dedicated to rnc.

Input has helped a lot guys. Any more suggestions are greatly appreciated. Company wants to see my plan on May 15 and wants it up and running June 1.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

[Flashg21230]

I worked for a company that kept tight control on inventory,all techs had to sigh for their inventory.as we used inventory .it was the secretary job to subtract the inventory as we used it.or add it when we went to the supply house.once a month or so we had to reinventory each truck with another tech.if your inventory didnt match with the company's total,they would debit money from you check for cost of missing items. I don't know how they decided if it was our fault or the secretary not doing her job.

[Glennhvac]

Been a long time but if I remember correctly the firm I worked for had multipart invoices. One was printed 'parts' and what you used was waiting for you in a bin the next time you stopped in. Naturally fittings and stuff like that was almost impossible to really track.

[carmon]

we do new housing.... I see the metal my guys bring back to the shop.... than goodness they are honest..if they were not I would loose a fortune...

[magelfries]

skippedover, we do kinda the same thing. All the trucks are standardized, and our asset tracking software (http://www.cg4.com/) that each tech has access to keeps track of everything and they need to keep track of their own equipment and they're held accountable for that, but because of that (slight) rigid-ness we also make sure they're trucks have appropriate storage and organizational equipment. Most of our techs like it because they don't ever have to worry about remembering off the top of their head what they used, when, where and why.

[magelfries]

ps, sorry, GREGP, I forgot to point out the link I put in there on our asset tracking software, it's not a perfect fit for everyone, but I hope it helps. ;)

[dsprice]

UPDATE

Thank you everyone for your replies and input. Here is what we came up with and will go live on Monday.

A standard par has been assigned for all vehicles and each piece has a stock number.
Work orders and parts specific to the jobs will be delivered to each tech during the evenings.
When each job is complete, dispatch will confirm job specific parts were installed. Any additional parts used off of truck will be listed by number and quantity.
Any money collected will be placed in a lockable bank bag.
Any job specific parts not used along with money collected will be picked up by delivery guy when he drops off the next day's tickets and parts. Delivery guy will also replenish all vehicle inventory used the previous day and recorded by dispatch. Uniforms will be picked up and dropped off the same way.

So here goes nothing! Thanks again everyone who gave ideas. Its much more difficult to spell it out but I think we have developed a good starting point and kinks will be ironed out based on pattterns.