Hello, this is Alex.

Let’s discuss today a topic that can be critical in the world of waste in collision shops: inventory management.

It’s well known, we like to have everything on hand in the shop. There is something reassuring about seeing shelves stocked with parts patiently awaiting a repair. But your cash flow doesn’t wait. It’s directly affected by poor parts management.

The Lean method refers to a pull system. Ideally, stock only what you really need. But why? If you stock too much, you waste space and money, and even risk having your parts damaged along the way.

Order the parts you need for upcoming repairs. Stop hoarding. This applies not only to parts, but also to your equipment. If you find cans of dried compound, chances are it has either been stored incorrectly or has expired. This is waste.

How can we improve? Where to make inventory savings and limit waste?

  • Have nice, clean, accessible spaces for picking up parts and equipment.
  • Keep inventory to the bare minimum.
  • Work with reliable partners for parts and equipment. More and more suppliers are offering just-in-time options for your equipment, so make sure you take advantage of it.
  • Consider mirror parts carts.
  • Plan your work more efficiently.

But the worst excess of collision shop inventory, generally due to poor work in progress management, especially in Quebec, is courtesy vehicles.

You must clean them, deal with the paperwork to get them in order, pay fees for registration, change the oil, the tires, ideally do preventive maintenance, repair them when they break, maintain them at a very high level of quality to satisfy customers… It’s an excess of inventory directly due to non-optimized management of your work in progress, and sometimes also to the stress of running out of work. With ProgiPlanning, customers have made phenomenal savings on this specific point, because effective operations planning is the key to success.

Ready to make a huge clean-up to better manage your inventory?

 

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Author: Alexandre Rocheleau
Translation and editing: Krystel Henley-Rocheleau