If you are a mechanic or own a mechanic shop, then you have likely run into some vendor inventory problems as well. Mechanic inventory problems tend to cause a lot of problems for your business because you don’t know when a specific car is going to come into the shop. That means that certain types of parts will fly off the shelves, and other parts will stay there for years while waiting for the right type of car to need a tune-up.
So how do you make sure you are keeping on top of all the parts you need, while also not taking up a ton of space with all the parts you don’t need all the time? One of the best ways is to use VMI (vendor management inventory), where the vendor of your parts is the one who manages every part of their inventory in your business. Here are some of the best ways to ensure that your vendor managed inventory issues are going to be fixed up before they become massive problems for your business.
Track All Your Data, and The Data Of Your Vendor
You will need to share a lot of data, and receive a lot of data whenever you work with a vendor to manage your inventory. The vendor is going to manage your data and examine how much of their products are being sold per month, and then use this information to work with you and ensure that you never need to deal with a stockout!
You will also be able to see and use your vendor’s data as well, and use that to ensure that your sales go through. If you want to know what is VMI, then just know it involves a lot of data sharing, data sharing, and management that will keep your business afloat in that vendor’s particular stock!
Even with a vendor focusing on the stock management of their products for you, you don’t want to rely exclusively on that in order to get your inventory organized. While it might seem like the only way to figure out your inventory is to go down to your warehouse and start counting your stock one by one in order to get an accurate headcount, there is a much better way.
Using cloud based automotive inventory management software can help you make sure that your inventory is 100% ready to go and also available to you all the time whenever you need it. Additionally, most automotive software is able to work for you while working completely in real time as you use it. This allows you to have the most up to date information on your inventory without needing to check the warehouse again and again, which also allows you to sidestep stock shortages.
Don’t Be Afraid To Keep A Loose Grip On Rarer Parts
While you should have backup inventory for all of your common and constantly used parts that are going to be flying off the shelves every single day, you don’t need to take up valuable shelf space with a lot of extra parts for the rarer car repairs that only come in once a month or so.
You can keep only a small shelf’s worth of these rarer parts around, and then order and organize them as they are used. It’s certainly better than paying a lot of different costs for shelf space that you won’t use.
Organize Your Inventory Based On Use
For your mechanic business, having the parts isn’t as important as making sure you can find them whenever you need them. If your warehouse is organized like a pig sty, then you won’t be able to find the parts you and your customers need. So make sure to have a proper system that you remain consistent with for your warehouse, and make sure the parts and items you need the most are up front and accessible.
Talk To Your Vendors
Finally, the most important part of having a vendor managed inventory system is to talk to your vendors. Communicating with the people who are supplying you with the parts you need and making sure you have a proper relationship with them is going to go a long way in helping out your business.
So make sure to keep up a good rapport as well as a good relationship with your vendors, and you will be surprised at how much that ends up paying off for you.
