Heavy Duty Trucking, January 2018

and sourcing from five different places you likely are going to create more downtime In the end you are going to lose money Even though you are winning the price battle on sourcing parts you are going to lose money on the time it takes you to fix trucks He adds I cant over emphasize the importance of having a relationship with a reliable and dependable distributor or distributor network 6 Pursue collaboration and integration Fleets should also look at ways to more closely integrate their systems with those of their primary parts suppliers That makes the whole process easier and saves the fleet money Kuo says Whether it is tying the systems together electronically or collaborating with the distributor to make the transfer of parts more fluid it is going to improve efficiencies in the long run Vendor managed inventory or VMI is one form of collaboration VMI has been successful between manufacturers and distributors and dealers and has allowed them to improve fill rates to customers When it comes to VMI between distributors and fleets however the jury is still out Unless there is a trusted deep rooted relationship between the fleet and the distributor VMI wont work Kuo says Any sort of VMI process wont work well down to the fleet level unless there is a true commitment between the two organizations to make it work When it comes to best practices for inventory management data is critical Fleets need to maintain quality data in terms of parts numbers and VMRS codes Kuo says They need to be religious about making sure the information is accurate because ultimately without good data all the benefits of analytics is lost PARTS MANAGEMENT HDT JANUARY 2018 68 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM right part If they cant you might want to look elsewhere for an online parts supplier In addition customer service should extend past the order placement process Fleets should be updated on when the order ships given help if a part needs to be returned and provided with information on core return policies We believe in having a lot of touchpoints with our customers Seewack says We want to make sure customers feel confident in their orders because it is not like they are buying a jacket or shirt that if it shows up in a week its not a big deal These are truck parts They need them and they need to make sure they will arrive when promised 5 Rely on your parts suppliers Parts vendors can be of assistance in helping ensure a fleet doesnt get stuck with a lot of inventory it doesnt need A good parts supplier can use information on past parts purchases to predict future parts needs and make recommendations on stocking levels Bar codes can facilitate the parts management process and give parts suppliers better information on which parts are moving and which arent Kuo explains that good distributors have people on staff who can create solutions for fleets because they have knowledge across a variety of fleets They can tell a fleet which combination of parts will give them better results such as longer durability He adds Distributors are also well versed in how to come up with the best value in parts as opposed to just the lowest priced part and can help solve problems as opposed to just provide parts as needed The right parts supplier is an important element to good inventory management strategy and Kuo advises fleets to look for distributors whose counter staff is knowledgeable and experienced In addition the distributor ought to be able to tell the fleet if the part is in stock and how long it will take to arrive at the fleets location once it is purchased Kuo cautions fleets that there is some danger in playing the price game If you want to play the game of pricing everything out What drives fleets to the web initially is that they are looking for a part they arent able to find from their local supplier says Dave Seewack CEO of FindItParts an online truck parts marketplace If the fleet has a good experience with its online parts provider we start seeing them coming back more frequently and treating us as a second or third source of supply he says In some cases we even become the first source on certain product categories for a fleet Seewack hopes online parts ordering will become even easier in the future Our goal is to have a mobile platform that will allow customers the ability to walk through their parts room scan the shelves and easily place restocking orders Seewack expects online ordering of truck parts to grow at double digit rate year over year to a point where it reaches 50 of fleets parts purchasing Now will that be next year No but gradually we are changing buying behavior he says In addition he believes that young people who are moving up in the trucking industry and are used to buying online in their personal lives will be more open to buying truck parts online Edward Kuo founder of Kuo Consulting Group a consulting firm that focuses on the heavy duty truck parts aftermarket sees e commerce as a way to drive the costs of parts down but he has concerns about its impact in other areas What I fear with e commerce is though it makes it easier to get parts for less it is going to force out or create an environment of less expertise and shrink the overall knowledge base He believes this knowledge and expertise is what makes distributors valuable in the parts purchasing and parts management equation If you are going to buy half your parts from an e commerce site that happens to be a few cents cheaper the ability of a distributor to help you in times of need will go down because they rely on being a full service supplier Kuo is concerned that this will shift the burden of knowledge from the distributor to the fleet which will now have to have someone on staff with the same knowledge as the distributor had I think the best distributors are the ones a fleet can turn to knowing they will get the right answer instead of having to figure things out for themselves He adds That results in a time savings for the fleet and it has a significant value which equates to more than the few cents you might save sourcing a part for less THE IMPACT OF E COMMERCE ON TRUCK PARTS