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The Best Customer We Ever Had

Why do Parts Managers ignore them?

The Service Department, by its very nature, is the Parts Department's highest volume, lowest maintenance customer. So why doesn�t the Parts Manager focus more attention on that particular customer? Ask a Service Manager the focus of his training and his reply most likely will be "Increase productivity in the shop and my HPRO average." Ask the same question to a Parts Manager and the answer more often than not would be similar, "Increase sales volume and achieve/maintain a turn rate above standards." Looking at it strictly from an analytical position, you must agree that Parts is THE supplier to your Service Team and that Service is THE best customer of your Parts team. With the above questions answered in similar tones by two department managers so closely connected, certain conclusions should be undisputed:

Your Parts and Service managers meet daily, or at least regularly, to discuss joint marketing strategies and daily business changes or challenges.
Team managers are confident that their counterpart has the other�s goals clearly understood and supports them.
In your organization, Parts and Service team members from the top down, realize they are part of one team and not fragmented into 'them and us'.

This is the way you do business, right? Okay, maybe not. The importance of the cohesiveness of Fixed Operations cannot be ignored. While a separate Parts and Service department arrangement can function, it cannot excel. In place of individual departmental performance, install continuity and uniformity of goals. Additionally, if cohesiveness does not exist, Service team members may not be sensitive to over-ordering or abuse of VOR type orders. This has a negative impact on turn rates of the parts inventory. And doesn�t the Parts department have a direct relationship to your Service CSI? One look at your CSI questionnaire and I�m sure you will find several areas where Parts can and will affect CSI. The relationship between Parts and Service must be prioritized or your number one internal customer will not be able to meet the needs of your external customers. And that should be the biggest priority of all. Need help in implementing Parts and Service Processes? Join Auto University Today!