Advice Requested for Logistics Improvement

[East_TX_Spa]

From time to time, I have turned to you fine folks on this forum to request your advice and input on different matters.  I am doing so again in the hopes that someone out there may be able to help with a project that has been given to me.

My boss called me yesterday and said he was appointing me to a task force consisting of him, me, and the Spa Godfather to find ways to streamline our business, eliminate waste, improve customer service, set budgets, and keep better tabs on inventory.  In other words, to start running the business like a real business after 20 years of flying by the seat of our pants.

I have long seen the need to move to a paperless system by utilizing the technology that's available nowadays, but I'm not sure exactly where to start.  I am particularly interested in tablet pc's or some similiar PDA device.  I envision writing up spa contracts on these, transmitting them to the home office and warehouse, having the inventory adjusted, and even service orders being sent to our crew via wireless to their PDA's.

Any input, info, experience, or advice?  Thank ya'll in advance.

Terminator

[Tman122]

From time to time, I have turned to you fine folks on this forum to request your advice and input on different matters.  I am doing so again in the hopes that someone out there may be able to help with a project that has been given to me.

My boss called me yesterday and said he was appointing me to a task force consisting of him, me, and the Spa Godfather to find ways to streamline our business, eliminate waste, improve customer service, set budgets, and keep better tabs on inventory.  In other words, to start running the business like a real business after 20 years of flying by the seat of our pants.

I have long seen the need to move to a paperless system by utilizing the technology that's available nowadays, but I'm not sure exactly where to start.  I am particularly interested in tablet pc's or some similiar PDA device.  I envision writing up spa contracts on these, transmitting them to the home office and warehouse, having the inventory adjusted, and even service orders being sent to our crew via wireless to their PDA's.

Any input, info, experience, or advice?  Thank ya'll in advance.

Terminator

Our service people use PDA's to input from the field time in, time out, parts required and so on. This information is transfered back to the main office for billing and job costing. Combined with GPS fleet managment our dispatch is smooth and seamless......sort of (there's a few bugs) This type of service is not cheap up front (1500 per field PDA, 5500 software/support, 300 per GPS, 35 monthly software support) But in the long run we can offset that with labor time billed properly easily in a year.

Inventory control......requires a good warehouse/parts manager...hard to find, I'm not available. But a good manager can make all the difference in the several software systems and warehouse procedures that are available. This will let the store know what's available, and the field people. and make sure that the right stuff is always available, without putting stuff on the shelf and taking up valuble warehouse space that is slow moving. In other words have the stuff you need all the time and have the stuff you rarely need just in time.

Networking in this day and age is priceless, everybody needs to be hooked up to a server that everybody works off of. So your orders are available to the rest of the sales team and your warehouse and your other offices.  

Now none of this stuff aproaches "streamlineing" but it addresses waste, customer service and inventory. But I think if your company is willing to make the investment required to get a smooth operation of these 3 things the streamlining will follow.

Budget......LOL.....we are doing ours now and it is a difficult thing. As you know revenue versus overhead to accomplish margins. The higher the margins the happier mr cigar smoking boss man is. He don't care if your overhead is high as long as your revenue is higher and you margins are satisfactory. The idea is to increase the space between overheads and revenues, hence increased margins. If your making 10 million a year and your overheads are 9.5M you made 500 G's if your revenue is 5 M and your overhead is 4 M what's the better margin. It don't take a mathmatician to figure that out. Or a spelling wizard like me. So the magic is in increasing margins no matter what the revenue figure. How do we do this you ask.......well, overheads, overheads, overheads. Seperate and cost account all overheads first so you can look at exactly what everything cost. How much coffee did you buy? How many paper clips, how many times did you fix that overhead door some bozo ran into. Every single cost needs to be purchased and accounted for in it's own catagory. Office Supplies, Building Maintenence, Labor, Utilities, everything that you don't sell. Once you have established a system that automaticly seperates this type of purchase you can look at each catagory and see where cost reduction can be made....simple right? Well, old dogs, new tricks will be your stumbling block. Getting these types of cost seperated into there own, rather than into one big year end bill is difficult but is a must to approach cost reduction.

Need more.....I can be bought. Call me.

[East_TX_Spa]

That is great info, my friend, I truly appreciate it.

The upfront cost is not a big deal.  We've got 3 stores and a separate warehouse.  We now have 2 full-time service techs, a delivery manager, and 2 delivery helpers.  One salesman per store with part-time help in Shreveport and Tyler.  Service vans are already GPS equipped.  We're not a large organization, so it should be pretty simple to get networked.

Thanks again and if I can think of other questions, I'll be asking.

Terminator

[Tman122]

That is great info, my friend, I truly appreciate it.

The upfront cost is not a big deal.  We've got 3 stores and a separate warehouse.  We now have 2 full-time service techs, a delivery manager, and 2 delivery helpers.  One salesman per store with part-time help in Shreveport and Tyler.  Service vans are already GPS equipped.  We're not a large organization, so it should be pretty simple to get networked.

Thanks again and if I can think of other questions, I'll be asking.

Terminator

There's several advantages to cost accounting, which store uses the most paper clips, which store uses the most power, and so on but more importantly which store cost's the least. Maybe they are doing an administration cost different that should be copied by the other stores. It's easy to set up a cost contol system, General Ledger codes are alot simpler than one might think, an example, 3 stores each with its own number designation, store 1 office supplys purchase all the office supplies using this GL (general ledger) code 1-10000. Store 2 buys theres using GL 2-10000 and store 3, 3-10000. The techs and manager steal theres fom the specific store they are working under. Do the same thing with labor, building maintenence, PC expenses, power, phone, taxes/lease/payment, entertainment, cigars and so on for an entire year then look at the numbers based on store volume and put percentages to it. Then let the fun begin the second year.

Glad I could help....wheres my free Envoy? Need n address to send it to. Or a GL code to apply it to?

[Vinny]

If you can spend the time to do it - the warehouse where parts are kept can be barcoded and an inventory system can be automated. It probably takes some time to do it but if well organized and large enough to need such a system can be helpful.  It can go down to the truck level if you had a run on parts and one truck had the parts and another didn't.

Wireless is the way to go for any automated system IMO. I use a PDA system at work but you need to plug it into a laptop and then upload/download info ... too time consuming. If your planning on using something for the techs, I would say to move away from PDAs and move into a computer tablet. I find the PDA to be bothersome to put in text - more time than it's worth.

Since you service your customers a system for the techs to be able to call up the service history would be nice. A customer may feel better knowing that the tech knows the tub is x years old and has had a similar problem before ...

As far as lowering overhead and I've worked for big companies for a while - 1) FIRE PEOPLE! You don't need that many people to do the job! Why have 2 sales people when 1 can do it and let the customer wait AND only have a PT tech with no benefits - you now have a real happy team member in front of your customer! 2) Stop heating the tubs - someone wants to wet test let them get into cold water! 3) keep the lights off - it wastes money PERIOD and 4) No support staff - when the sales people and techs aren't doing anything - they can do whatever the support staff was doing! ... Now your talking business 101 - the Harvard and Yale stuff that's taught that all those 20 sumthin's come out and ready to kick butt! PROFIT!  PROFIT!!   PROFIT!!!  

Actually, I believe if success works, leave it alone ... tweak it but don't change it drastically!

[Gomboman]

Term, tell your boss to save his money and hire some new "Hydrotherapy Technicians" instead. Why mess with success.

[bosco0633]

hes got a point, maybe you can get gps bakinis for them.  

[Tman122]

If you can spend the time to do it - the warehouse where parts are kept can be barcoded and an inventory system can be automated. It probably takes some time to do it but if well organized and large enough to need such a system can be helpful.  It can go down to the truck level if you had a run on parts and one truck had the parts and another didn't.

!

Wouldn't it be nice if a sales guy, or a tech, or the warehouse guy at any of your location, at the same time, could look at a screen and use 2 fingers to type a part request or tub model while they were on the phone with a customer asking "do you have that in stock?" or "when can I expect delivery?"

A good warehouse/service manager could make that happen. Offer a title like, Department Head and a pay increase to make it happen. It's 2 techs, 2 delivery guys. He should be able to handle those 4 and the warehouse, easily, unless you got him delivering all the time, then we have a problem. I think about a 60/40 split to start warehouse/field and in a 6 months with some inventory software on a server.........your ROCKIN!!!!

[hot tub Frank]

Yea
And and and and get Hanna back.