ADP PartScan Eliminates Errors That Cost Dealerships Money
7 June 2000
Portable Barcode Scanner Can Improve Parts Receiving Productivity 50%, Reduce Errors 80%
OTTAWA - The Dealer Services Group of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. - PartScan, a handheld bar code scanner for dealership parts departments from ADP Dealer Services Canada is boosting customer satisfaction and savings for Jack Carter Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Cadillac in Calgary, Alberta.Jack Carter is the first Canadian dealership to implement PartScan following its success in the U.S. market. PartScan has been shown to improve parts receiving productivity by 50 percent and reduce receiving errors by 90 percent or more.
"Parts consultants estimate that a parts department that diligently monitors its manually processed inventory will find from 50 to 200 errors per day that need correcting - errors PartScan can eliminate," said Dean Anton, Vice President and General Manager, ADP Dealer Services Canada.
"This product speaks to those hidden costs in the parts department," said Cameron Klem, Parts Manager for Jack Carter, who uses a wireless, handheld unit and portable bar code label printer. The dealership retails about 3,500 new vehicles a year and sells $6 million in wholesale parts a year. "When used in a dealership with a SOR (special order request) system, PartScan can reduce your return expense 60 to 79 percent by eliminating the costly errors that occur with manual parts number entry."
Fixing errors is costly, taking six to eight minutes each, on average. At six minutes an error to correct, even 50 errors would consume five labor hours. A retailer using a scanner should be able to cut those five hours per day by 80 percent, saving four labor hours a day - and thousands of dollars over a year's time.
Easy to operate, and integrated with the dealer's existing ADP system, PartScan can be used with bar-coded parts from GM, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Acura, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Subaru, Navistar, Paccar, Caterpillar and Cummins.
"By using bar code technology to receive parts, 95 percent of which are already bar code labeled by the OEM, we've eliminated the SOR mistakes that sit like time bombs on the parts shelf - parts picked incorrectly at the warehouse that we don't catch and get to the customer," Klem said. "It eliminates the problem of receiving staff comparing part numbers on labels and not on parts boxes with packing slips. PartScan reads the box bar code only, so 100 percent of the pick errors are caught internally and never get to the customer. Anytime we can reduce that frustration for them it's a hidden benefit for us."
PartScan is available in multiple package options, from a basic wired system to a deluxe roaming wireless scanner. Each option gives the user the power of PartScan's receiving and physical inventory functions, while providing the right level of mobility. Portable and desktop bar code printers enable users to label bins, shelves, or parts that may not be coded.
A major benefit of PartScan - and one Klem is especially excited about - is immediate receipt, which automatically places the scanned part for sale in the dealership's ADP DMS, eliminating the need to first run a report. Likewise, PartScan also automatically prints labels for special order parts as scanned, complete with customer name, special order number, scan date, part number and description, and special order bin location.
"This is a mature, useful product showing a lot of careful thought," Klem said. "We do more than $220,000 a month in wholesale parts alone, so we're giving PartScan a lot of opportunity to do what it's advertised to do. Its functionality for SOR is wonderful - it easily handles our three SOR requests - front counter, back counter and wholesale - but beyond that it is lightning fast in receiving stock orders and program-buy orders."
ADP Dealer Services Group provides integrated computing solutions to more than 18,000 automotive and truck dealers throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. ADP Dealer Services Group is the third largest business unit of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. . ADP, with more than $6 billion in annual revenues and more than 450,000 clients, is one of the largest independent computing services firms in the world.