Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/772176
COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JANUARY 2017 51 Suppliers can help fle ets keep the right parts at arm's length – and work fast to find the rest when needed BY JASON CANNON E quipment-related downtime can be frustrating enough, but the lack of the right part at the right time only adds to the agony. However, balancing a parts inventory can be tricky, as managers are challenged not to tie up cash with parts on the shelf and are fearful of what sits there becom- ing obsolete. "Fleets waste lots of time waiting around for parts," says Terry Livings- ton, senior director of strategic sales for Meritor a ermarket. " ey want uptime. ey're not in the business of managing inventory." Fortunately, suppliers in the inven- tory management business in many cases will handle this service for their customers. Vendor Managed Inventory puts the burden of having the right parts ready on the supplier, leaving eet managers free to focus on overall uptime and leaving cash in the bank until it's needed. Vipar's e-commerce portal brings a form of VMI to eets of all sizes and loca- tions by linking the eet to local distribu- tors through real-time inventories and information. "It allows eets to reduce their on- hand inventory so they're not tying up valuable resources on product on the shelf," says Jim Pennig, vice president of business development for Vipar. " ey're able to either hop online or call or fax, identify what products they need – more than likely, pricing has already been communicated – and through the e-commerce side, we are putting together invoicing, capturing the pricing and providing deep report- ing back to the individual locations." When a eet identi es the product it needs, a drop-down window prompts the customer to the local Vipar distribu- tors, Pennig says. " e next step is either a phone call, or they can actually push a Balancing a parts inventory can be tricky, as managers are challenged not to tie up cash with parts on the shelf.