Nothing is more frustrating to a fleet than having a repair held up because the parts to fix it are not available. And nothing is more frustrating to a technician than requesting parts from the parts department only to have the wrong one picked.
Of course, getting the right part is, to some degree, dependent on what’s in inventory, but that is only a portion of the story. The other key to getting the right parts for a repair is the communication and collaboration between the technician and the parts department. If not handled properly, this causes friction between personnel, slows down repairs and wastes a great deal of technician time.
Mark Wasilko, vice president of marketing at Decisiv, explains that industry lore says technicians only spend 30% of their time turning wrenches. The other 70% is spent doing other things — including trying to get the parts needed to complete a repair.
According to the experts Trucks, Parts, Service spoke with, getting the technician the right part starts the moment the truck hits the service bay for its initial diagnosis. Once a diagnosis is made and the root cause of the failure identified, the shop should begin building a repair order (RO), and that repair order should include a list of the parts that are needed for the repair.
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With Decisiv’s platform, once the fleet approves the repair, a copy of the RO is sent to the parts department and Wasilko explains that parts personnel can then go pick parts and let the service department know which parts are in stock, which need to be ordered and when those parts not in stock will arrive at the shop.
A shop foreman is a vital associate within a service garage because they are often the only person aware of the all the jobs in progress and can keep an eye on parts requests to ensure technicians don't have to stop working.
