Getting accurate pricing quickly while reconditioning a vehicle can sound as realistic as pigs flying. Add pricing rules for internal orders, and that seems truly impossible to get correct on the first try.
While we don’t have airborne pigs (yet), there is a way to speed up your parts process tremendously. Let’s review some familiar problems in the parts process and ways to improve them.
The Manual Entry Headache
Imagine a parts counterman, we’ll call him Brad. He types part number after part number into the system to fulfill an order for a 2021 Chevy Equinox that just entered the shop. It needs new brake pads, rotors, and a filter replacement before being placed on the lot for sale. He enters the cost of each part and its status, which means he’s entering at least 12–15 characters multiple times.
Consider how long, on average, it takes Brad to enter information for each RO he touches using this method. It might seem like five minutes here and there, but it adds up over a month. With an average of 210 characters per part, 20 work orders per day, and roughly 21 working days per month, Brad spends hours each month simply typing and retyping characters into the system.
Imagine losing roughly three hours every month. That’s the time it takes to watch both VHS tapes of Titanic. And that’s without making any typos. It’s only a matter of time before he hits the wrong key, leading to transposition errors. Every mistake he makes adds to the clock, only further delaying the entire reconditioning process.
Even when Brad gets the numbers right, the price he enters in the system often doesn’t match the price listed in the parts catalog. This forces him to go back, double-check, and painstakingly re-enter every digit and letter, hoping the next round will finally line up with the ticket at invoicing. Each little discrepancy becomes another hurdle, slowing him down and making his workday longer and more stressful.
A Smarter, Integrated Parts Workflow
In a perfect world, manual entry isn’t required. Picture a system that:
With an improved process in place, Brad imports his pick list with everything he needs at his fingertips: prices, availability, automated selection of part status (in stock or needs ordered), and notifications sent directly to the parts counter and advisors when parts on the reconditioning work order are approved.
It’s as simple as choosing what’s needed from the Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC), adding it to a file, and selecting the part to see what the price is.
There is no longer a need for Brad to key in parts numbers when he can easily access all information through the EPC. Now he can spend that time sourcing parts and assisting customers and technicians.
Breaking the Cycle
Parts counter people overcome numerous inefficiencies in their daily operations. Far too often, they’re stuck spending hours each month re-entering data, double-checking part numbers, and piecing together information just to get accurate pricing on each line of a reconditioning work order. Wasted time in this area is amplified when quoted jobs aren’t approved.
But there’s a way to break this cycle. By leveraging this
integration, you can supercharge your reconditioning parts process, eliminating time-consuming manual steps and drastically reducing errors.
