We have thousands of different parts that are all being inventoried pretty much entirely based off memory. This is just not viable anymore and I’m looking for a legit system to put in place. My thought is something along the lines of a barcode system to label the items and put them in a specific location.
A Google search is showing me an overwhelming amount of different sites that offer a service similar to this.
Any auto shop or small business owners here have any input? What system do you use?
Seems everyone is looking for data management help today. Dont worry about a system until you know exactly what you want to track and use that data for. There are so many options today it can be overwhelming, from out of the box to semi-custom to full development. Rarely do people need full development, they just don’t know what they really want.
Do you want to just track inventory, prices, integrate into invoicing/billing, mobile app, barcode, etc.
Do all or most of the items have a UPC?
If you could craft the ideal custom setup for your shop, how would you enter everything? I mean on a day to day basis: part comes in, would you just want to be able to type in a number for it and enter the number in stock?
Do you currently use a POS system? How does inventory currently work when you’re writing up an order or receipt?
The cheapest thing I can think of would be to just have a spreadsheet, spend some time getting everything entered into it with a unique SKU or UPC and quantity, then as new parts come in or old ones are discovered that evaded the first round of mass entry, tack them on. Over time you’d get closer and closer to having everything tracked and stored. You can easily set up remote backup and versioning of the spreadsheet so you don’t have a single point of failure in the office computer or whatever.
Or just pick a service/software that your POS system or any other crucial system in your biz already uses for ease of integration.
You can go as simple as hiring some fresh out of school IT nerd to put all the items into a spreadsheet or simple database table, or go more robust and purchase a full blown inventory system. There are tons of options out there.
I would actually go with some socially awkward 20 yr. old IT nerd with a laptop and MYSQL. Give him a halfway decent per hour pay, or a nominal salary. It would be fairly cheap and easy to set up. If it turns out to not be what you are looking for it’s easy enough to take a bigger step and pay for some actual inventory software.
We use MaxxTraxx shop management. For us it’s $588 a quarter, it handles customer checkout, sales tax, and inventory etc. IK other shops use AllData’s shop software which is good too. You probably already pay them for repair data as well. Many shops don’t really use an inventory system since most shops are below revenue rules from IRS to maintain an accurate one. So you could be ok, especially if you use cash accounting.
I have a lot to learn! What does it mean to use cash accounting? How does one find out what revenue rules the IRS has in place regarding maintaining an accurate inventory?
I’m not in the automotive industry, but mine is similar in some ways.
If you have less than 26 million in revenue you can choose to not keep an inventory and treat it using cash accounting. When you buy oil filters, that’s an expense that you book. Lets say that happened in 2023. Then you sell filters in 2024. The expense is booked in '23 and the profit in '24. Vs accrual and managing inventory, the cost is booked when it’s sold. Most shops should have no too low inventory because you buy parts when a car comes in. You probably stock oil, filters, bulbs, and some smaller items. Not a whole lot.
A simple Excel sheet is capable of doing what you’re asking at little cost. It will just take time.