from their investment and embrace with NAPA. When a technician requests a part, the request is most often fulfilled promptly. “By utilizing NAPA IBS, we consistently have a parts fill
rate of 92 percent,” said Stow. “That means 92 percent of the time a technician requests a part for a repair, NAPA has that part in stock and can provide [it] at the time of request. This allows for less down time of buses and bet- ter consistency during route time due to no spare buses being issued for downed buses waiting on repair.” This supply chain arrangement is one that has long been used by industrial firms whereby their parts inven- tory is not owned by the user. All the risks of oversupply or undersupply, as well as obsolescence, purchasing, economic factors, and any other factors are absorbed by the supplier. In exchange, the supplier supports a steady stream of revenue from its customer and can focus on parts management. Fulton County can subsequently focus on transportation services for its pupils. “We have been partnering with NAPA IBS for close
to 30 years,” said Stow. “The program has been very effective for our district and works well. We do not own any of the inventory that is housed at our locations until the point of sale is requested for a repair. This limits the number of monetary resources it takes to maintain a parts department. Not just in the parts cost itself but also in employee staffing cost.”
Managing Parts In-Transit How parts are transported from their points of origin
at manufacturer warehouses and distribution centers to the school district’s warehouse facilities and shop locations is crucial to efficient parts management. What happens when the part is stored at one location within the school district or municipality but then needed on the other side of the district, region or country? That can vary from district to district, company to compa- ny. Often, much depends on the geographic footprint of the organization, its size, number of shop units and what’s available to assist in the transport. Corson of Newport News, Virginia said his parts re- plenishment strategy is focused on centralization. “We don’t keep parts on site at our remote locations,” he said. “If there is a part that is needed for repair at our remote locations that isn’t available on our service vans, then we have the bus stop by the main shop or we have it charged out to take the following morning for repair.” Corson added that the district’s approach is to bring parts to the bus, rather than bring the bus to parts. They try to repair the bus and replace parts where the bus is rather than bringing it into the main shop, un- less they must.
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