Parts Department Training Manual


Computer System Training - Parts	updated December 10/03

The parts department provides parts and information to external customers and to the shop. Our in house computer system has evolved to help the parts department serve these customers accurately and quickly.

It is helpful for everyone in the company to understand the parts systems on the computer.

Stock Enquiry Program

A good place to start learning our system is the Stock Enquiry Program. This is the first program on the Foxpro > Parts menu.

This is the same information found in the Intranet > Parts > View Parts program. The Intranet programs are much faster to use in the branch offices.

This Foxpro > Stock Enquiry main screen brings together information from several sources:

Here are explanations of all the elements you see on the screen:

Type in a part number and press [Enter]. The computer will search for all the information on this part number. You can also type in the first portion of a part number to find the closest match. Once a part number is displayed, you can press [PgUp] or [PgDn] to bring up a searchable screen showing nearby part numbers.

O/H means On Hand, and refers to how many items are on the shelf at the moment in each branch that stocks this item. The quantity changes instantly as soon as you receive a parts order into stock, invoice a part, or charge a part to a workorder. This is a crucial piece of information, which is visible to everyone in the company, so accuracy is important. Prompt entry of all paperwork into the computer means that we all have accurate timely information to serve our customers.

The Price is calculated by the parts manager, and depends on several different factors: the "book price" (the manufacturer’s list price,usually in US $); the manufacturer’s discount to us; currency exchange rate; incoming freight, brokerage and duty; our discount structure to dealers; and our target margin. Generally, we change our prices whenever our vendors change their prices. Some vendors (e.g. Nissan, Funk, FMC, Lombardini, and Newage), change their prices once a year. Deere changes their prices monthly. We will also recheck our prices whenever exchange rates change significantly.

Most vendors send us their complete price electronically. That means that the system can usually display every price in the vendor’s price list. For example, we currently have 257,632 prices in the system, but stock only 18,647 items. When you type in a part number for an item that is in the price list, but is not stocked, the O/H column will be empty.

It is a simple matter to bring the item from the price list into stock—just use the Nstock program, and type in the part number—a parts stock record is immediately created. We should stock an item when there is a chance that we will sell that item within the next year.

To delete a part from stock, change the description so that it begins with 2 asterisks (**) The OVERNITE program scans the parts file looking for items that are flagged this way. As soon as there are none in stock, and none on order for all branches, the parts stock record is deleted.

Vendors offer a not-very-useful description for most parts in their price list. For example, Deere calls both a radiator and a starter a "Kit." Update this information by choosing "Edit Parts Record" from the Stock menu at the top of the screen. It is helpful to include the equipment model, like in the above example (L09 refers to a FMC L0918BCD pump). Remember that anything you put in this field is visible to customers checking our inventory over the Internet. It will show up on all invoices to customers, and will form part of the official Customs record for exported goods. The description should be clear, straightforward, and useful.

The location is entered by the parts department, and should be exact. This makes it helpful for others, for example, after hours when a customer requires a part, and there is nobody in the parts department. The location is updated by selecting "Edit Parts Record" from the Stock menu. If the parts are kept in numerical order, a location is not necessary. Most location schemes include a row number, section number, shelf number and box number—they should always be clear and unambiguous.

If there were any of this part on order, this area would show the quantity on order, and the date of the last order. Further details on incoming parts orders can by found by selecting "Purchase Orders" from the Stock menu at the top of the page.

Cross-references (X-Refs) are a key point of our system. They are helpful when a customer asks for a particular part number, so we know of any updates or alternatives. X-Ref’s are updated by any partsperson as soon as new information is available (using the XREFADD program.) Our system will automatically check stock on each x-ref part number. X-Ref’s have a direction: they should go from the old part number to the newest part number.

There is a difference between an X-Ref and a Supercede. Here is a discussion about when to use one or the other.

When you type in a newer part number, there is a small arrow next to the x-ref, reminding you that the other part number changes UP TO the newer number.

The move code is calculated every night (by the OVERNITE program). "A" parts are the biggest sellers, providing 80% of our revenue. For example, of the 2,668 John Deere parts in stock, 168 part numbers ("A" movers) provide 80% of our sales. 224 "B" movers provide another 15%, and 823 "C" movers provide the other 5% of our sales in the past 365 days.

If a part has not sold in the past 365 days, it is a "D" mover. Each February, we check the slow movers, and change any "D" movers to "E" movers if they have not sold in the past year, and E movers become F movers, F movers become G movers, etc. For example, if a part last sold January 1994, it became a "D" mover January 1995. February 1996 it became an "E", Febuary 1997 an "F", and February 1998 a "G". We write off and discard parts that have sat on the shelf for several years. Some vendors offer annual parts returns, which is a chance to get rid of our old stock.

Forecasts are calculated every day by the OVERNITE program. This is the estimated sales for the next 3 months. You can check a forecast by using the Forecast program on the parts menu. The program looks for a trend over the past 36 months, and makes a "seasonal adjustment" based on if there were more sold after this date than before it, in each of the past three years. However, a forecast is only the computer’s best guess. You know more about the state of the particular industry, the weather, and other factors that can affect the likelihood of selling a particular part.

Our system also factors Lost Sales into the forecast. More on this later.

Minimums are set manually by each branch. Choose "Edit Parts Record" from the Stock menu to do this. Our ordering programs will always attempt to keep stock levels above the minimum you set. Ideally, we try to keep enough parts on the shelf to satisfy our customers 95% of the time, without having more than we are likely to sell in the next 2-3 months. This provides a balance between customer service and inventory costs. However, use your own judgement here! If we have to spend extra dollars to ensure that we have a vital part on the shelf, then set the minimum to an appropriate level. There is no "right" minimum, but we can set a balance between having too much or not enough on the shelf. Ask Larrie or Geoff if you need help deciding how to set a minimum.

The "average quantity per sale". This is set automatically by the forecast program.

This shows when the item was last counted.

The most effective way of keeping track of inventory is to use the "perpetual count" system. Use the Count program on the Parts menu to generate a stock count list whenever you have free time. The Count program looks through all the parts, checks their movement code, and when they were last counted. It gives priority to "A" and "B" movers, and to items where there are fewer on the shelf, so it is faster to count. Inventory counts are a vital part of keeping the information in the computer current and correct, and therefore useful. So when you have a few minutes, use the Count program, generate a short count list (10-15 items?), count them, and make any required adjustments using the Adjust program on the Parts menu. If you take a few minutes to do this three times a week, then we all have reliable information in the computer. It is up to everyone in the parts department to count inventory. Nobody is exempt from this duty.

Sometimes customers ask for deals, and sometimes we can give deals on parts we have in stock. Particularly if a part has been written off, we do not have to charge full list price. This gives you some indication of the Minimum Selling Price (after discount!) for a particular item. Usually you do not use this, but instead sell at the usual price level for each customer. However this is an option when you feel that a special deal is appropriate.

When you click your mouse on the word "Stock" on the menu bar at at the top of the screen, this Stock Menu drops down. This menu lists the shortcut keys to help you find information you need quickly. For example, [F8] brings up the list of purchase orders, stock receipts, held orders and backorders. We will go through these screens one by one.

produces this display:

When a parts purchase order is entered (using the PO program, or the ORDER program), the order shows up in the first section: Purchase Orders. You can see the quantity that was ordered, when, which branch (d=Delta, E=Edmonton, c=Calgary), our purchase order number, the vendor code, and the shipping details.

As soon as parts come in the door, they should be received into stock, using the PO program. Here we can see that the 12 x A3434N’s that were ordered on November 13 arrived on December 1. Doug received them into stock, on FMC packing list #52398. This receiving information keeps everyone informed, and helps the accounting department quickly enter each supplier’s invoice. As we have over 1200 invoices a month coming into the accounting department, this really helps!

Once the supplier invoice is entered by the accounting department both the Purchase Order and Stock Receipt record will vanish, and the item will show up in the Purchases column (see the next section). As the accounting department needs the complete landed cost, they will not be able to enter the supplier invoice until brokerage and freight charges are received.

This particular item has no outstanding customer backorders, so this area is empty. However if there were outstanding backorders, you could see which customer had the backorder, how many, and the backorder priority. Generally speaking, the same day a part arrives in the door from a vendor, outstanding backorders should be filled. For most major customers, we prepay the freight on backorders. Back orders are automatically factored into inventory stock orders generated by the Order program on the Parts menu. Backorders are assigned a priority of Panic, Rush, Stock or Hold by whoever enters the original customer invoice into the computer.

A Reserved Order is used to reserve parts for either a shop job, or for a customer. Reserved Orders are entered using the NewOrder program on the Invoice menu. Reserved orders are very important, as they are calculated into our fill rates, and also let everyone in the company know what to do with the parts when they arrive. A Reserved Order also prevents someone from selling your desired part. Reserved orders are factored into stock orders. Once a Reserved order is received, use the Foxpro > Newbill program to change the Reserved order into an Invoice. Or charge it out to the shop using either Foxpro > Shop > Workpart, or Intranet > Shop > Charge parts to a job

Robbed Items: When a customer needs a part right now, and we don’t have one on the shelf, and there is this shiny new engine sitting there, with just the part the customer needs… sometimes we rob the part from the new engine. That means we now have -1 in stock.

When we rob a part, the computer system asks where we got the part from. It flags the piece of equipment, creates a record in the Robbed File (which shows up here), and prints a label to put on the piece of equipment. When the part comes in to replace the robbed item, and once it has been fully and properly attached to the victim engine, then we can delete the Robbed File record (using DelBack on the Parts menu).

Brings up the following screen:

This shows details of every time we have purchased each item since the beginning of time, (Frontier began in spring 1984.)

This shows where we have made stock adjustments (also since time began). Generally speaking, it is better to find out what happened to an item than to adjust it. For example, did we ship the wrong part to a customer? Did a supplier ship us a wrong part? Stock adjustments are done using the Adjust program on the Parts menu.

Branch to Branch Transfers are shown here, too. These are entered using the Transfer program on the Parts menu.

You also see a record of recent Stock Counts, and who counted. A stock count is also deemed to happen whenever there is an inventory adjustment.

Brings up the following window:

This is a scrollable and searchable window (use [Ctrl+F] to begin a search) that shows ever sale of this part we have ever made, and every part that has been charged to a workorder. You can also use the CustSale program on the Invoicing menu to filter this list further, for example, by showing only a particular customer.

Brings up this window:

This is where to change master file information. Notice the On-Hand, Received and On-Order quantities. This window presents the "raw information", as it can sometimes get confusing when items have been received into stock. In every other place in the system, On Hand will be displayed as On-Hand plus Received, and On-Order will be displayed as On-Order minus Received. The 30 Received items here refer to the Purchase Orders and Stock Receipts shown in the Purchase Orders/Stock Receipts screen.

Generally speaking you don’t change any field here unless you know what you are doing. The Tariff and NAFTA fields show up on Customs documents so need to be exact.

When a customer calls and asks if we have an item in stock, and we cannot supply it, then we have just lost a sale. Note that you only fill this out if a customer goes somewhere else to get what he needs. If he still orders the item, and we bring it in as a held order or back order, there is no need to fill this out.

This lost sale is calculated into our forecasts, so we are more likely to meet future customers’ needs.

The last item on this menu brings up the following box:

This is to answer the customer who asks "what’s MY cost on this?". Simply type in his customer code, it shows the customer’s discount (if any), and their net cost.

Remember that all the programs in our system came from users’ suggestions. So if you have an idea that will make your job easier, or allow you to give better customer service, let Geoff know, and we will build it into the system!

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