INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: TOP STORY
availability. Te manufacturer’s Delaware, Ohio, parts distribu- tion center remained open and maintained its national fill rate of 92 percent, said Bill Landreth, vice president of Blue Bird Parts and Service. “We worked extensively with our dedicated carrier to ensure dealer orders shipped as scheduled. In fact, the carrier was at the loading dock bright and early each morning,” he said. “Te PDC worked a normal shift. Not one hour was missed.” Landreth added: “While some inbound freight was slowed as
a result of numerous supplier closures, we maintained the sup- ply chain to the dealer because of our extensive parts inventory.” As dealerships expand, they also are placing sales or service
staff out on the road to help their clients with different needs, including parts purchasing. One particular dealership in North Carolina has taken a giant leap in this arena by establishing a remote parts inventory warehouse, with its own staff, at a school district to operate the district’s entire parts department.
DEALERSHIP SUPPORT AT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT
Tom Schaaf, vice president and general manager of Carolina
Tomas, which sells Tomas Built buses in North Carolina and commercial buses in both North and South Carolina, said a parts inventory management arrangement with the Wake County Public School System in Cary, N.C., has existed since January 2012. Te school district had been struggling with parts inventory, stocking what technicians needed the most. It required help managing its parts inventory. “Schools are keeping buses longer, up to 20 years in some
cases. You come to a point that makes it difficult to find parts that old. Being able to source parts from different areas to keep older buses running was a huge challenge,” explained Schaaf, who asked the school district if Carolina Tomas could bid on the work. “Since [the school district] had never done this before nor had we, they asked a lot of questions, and we had to present solutions to make the department work efficiently.” Carolina Tomas provides more than just parts under this
arrangement. It manages the inventory, controls the dispersion of parts and delivers the parts to remote locations. “What we brought to the table was a professional system to
control the inventory to know what comes in and out to have the right parts on the shelf,” Schaaf said. Te dealership staffs the parts inventory facility and runs the dealership’s parts inventory tracking system for the district. “Everything is ours; it just happens to be in their facility,”
Schaaf explained. “Te school district has access through our people onsite, so when they need a part, they go to the parts counter, like they used to, in their shop, but it’s ours. Tis remote office is tied to our inventory system. We have multiple employees there. It’s like a little parts department. Tey pay us to manage their parts department.” So far Wake County is the only school district Carolina
Tomas has this type of arrangement with, but Schaaf noted that the dealership would be “very selective” and administer a “very controlled process” if it does partner with another school district. “We are looking at others, we are talking about it, but we will
be very careful to make sure we consider closely what the district wants and needs so that we can implement the best solutions,” he said.
18 School Transportation News March 2014
MONITORING INVENTORY LEVELS
he need to maintain a sleek parts inventory to control costs is not just an issue transportation directors face. Bus dealerships, too, are counting their parts to avoid overstocking and any unnecessary spending. Even at the bus OEM and distributor level, evaluating inventory levels is vital in order to control costs, and offer customers parts they need for the best value. While there are computer-based parts inventory man- agement systems, one company is offering the school bus market a type of automated dispensing system that can house replacement parts, tools, diagnostic software and other equipment — items considered mission-critical, very expensive or frequently used — and helps control who uses what. Apex Supply Chain Technologies, which has placed over
T
50,000 units in a wide variety of verticals including trans- portation, offers different models of automated dispensing systems that track items used in real time through a cloud- based enterprise platform. “The main advantage of having an inventory manage-
ment system like this in the yard is the school district stakeholder can ensure that the right parts are always available when and where they are needed,” explained Apex CEO Kent Savage. “This allows service operations to turn jobs faster and get their buses back on the street.” He noted that suppliers receive updated information on
what stock their customers are holding, and what is used, which enables for automated replenishment. “We are seeing a very strong interest in this technology
across the transportation sector. The most exciting trend is the collaboration that is happening between fleet opera- tors and their suppliers,” Savage said.
WHERE SCHOOL BUS PARTS ARE PURCHASED
OEM: 55% BUS DEALERSHIP: 96%
THIRD-PARTY/AFTERMARKET DISTRIBUTOR: ONLINE: 25%
78% STN SURVEY, 194 RESPONSES
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