Inventory / Part Number Cross Referencing

Parts, catalogs, purchase orders, inventory
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Inventory / Part Number Cross Referencing

Post by HeadsUpAuto »

Hey everyone I hope you are all doing well during these uncertain and crazy times?

We've been using Mitchell for the majority of our time in business 13 years but every year it feels like we find out we haven't been using it correctly or more accurately it feels like we've been using it a** backwards making our lives harder than they need to be!

My current focus is regarding parts, part numbers and inventory. I've been scratching my head trying to figure this out with no luck so I thought I'd run past the forum to get a little insight. Here are my questions:

1. Up until now we've been trying to "inventory" every part we put on an estimate or invoice in Mitchell so that we have it in our system even if we don't actually stock the item. Is this the right thing to do? I'm starting to think not because all it's doing is confusing our ability to actually monitor a physical inventory.

2. Following up on my first questions. If inventorying everything isn't the right thing to do then we've got ALOT of inaccurately listed inventory items. According to anyone that I've spoken to at Tech Support Mitchell doesn't have "BULK" actions to do anything because of the liability of deleting or changing anything in bulk. But does anyone in the forum know of a good way to do it?

3. For the items that we physically do stock updating and correcting our inventory isn't a problem although it will be a slow painful process my issue here is this. We are a specialty shop specializing in European Vehicles ideally I want my physically inventory labelled with the OES part numbers as this make it easier with parts that cross over models such as Spark Plugs. We may use the same Spark Plug on multiple BMW for example or the same Oil Filter on Multiple Mercedes so using the OES parts number keeps everything clear but the confusion comes into play when we don't always use the OES item. For example we may carry Mann Oil Filters or Bosch Spark Plugs. I want my team to know when they go to our physical inventory that they are pulling the correct part by the OES part number but I can't figure out the best way to tie an aftermarket part number to an OES part number in Mitchell?

I feel like this is a hard thing to describe so I'll try and explain it another way to be clear to the forum.

We order the majority of our parts from WORLDPAC so when we make up a ticket we'll estimate in Mitchell and then use the catalog button for WORLDPAC to search for parts and transfer them over. When searching for parts in WP sometimes they'll have the OES items other times it'll be an aftermarket such as MANN or Bosch. When we transfer a Geniune OES items the situation is simple because it transfers the correct OES part number discription etc... but we transfer an aftermarket item it uses the aftermarket manufacturers part number and I'm wondering if there is a way to tell Mitchell that when it sees certain part numbers that it crosses and associates it with the correct OES part number? That way when we sell the ticket and use the order parts button it order the correct items that we need from WP but also knows which items we actually stock etc...

Even typing this it feels like I'm making this overly complicated!

I look forward to hearing back from the forum and getting some genuine insight into how I'm making my life more complicated this time!


Thanks,

Chris.
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ricmorin
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Re: Inventory / Part Number Cross Referencing

Post by ricmorin »

Hi Chris. Maybe I can help.

I also inventory every part I sell. On the plus side we have better tracking and less data entry. On the negative side, if you bring over a part from a catalog the is in your system the program users the system price, not the catalog price. This can cause you to under-price the part if the cost went up from the last time it went through your system. The solution is to re-price check and update the cost, but you must recognize that you sold the part before. I have been asking the the program use the catalog price in the event there is zero on-hand. This makes sense to me but apparently it's not an easy program.

There is no mass delete for inventory.

Regarding a cross for OE numbers, this is partially possible. Using the Alt Part feature of your aftermarket stocking part record in Manager, simply add the OE number. When brought from the catalog or typed manually, the program will ask if you want to use the alternate. This feature will not show an OE number where an aftermarket part is used, though. That would be deceptive IMO.
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Motorcar Alternatives, LLC
603-622-6434 x203
www.motorcaralternatives.com

I find my life is a lot easier when I use Special Orders
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Re: Inventory / Part Number Cross Referencing

Post by megoff »

Hi Chris,

Inventory can be a tricky thing, and the clean up can be tricky as well.
  1. Inventory for every part ordered is only useful if you plan on using our Inventory return. If you don't plan on using our inventory return than you'd only need to inventory parts you plan on stocking.
  2. Modifying inventory items in bulk or deleting in bulk isn't something that can be done through the Manager SE software, the only way we've found to do a "bulk" removal of inventory is to do a blank search in inventory, go to the bottom of the list. Click the delete and then hold the enter key. This will take a bit of time depending on computer speed and number of items in inventory. This can also cause an issue if there are inventory items that are on open orders in the WIP.
  3. As I'm more of a support person vs the one that works on cars I'm not too sure what OES part numbers are, but if you are wanting to link a different part number this can be done with Alt Part in inventory. The biggest thing to keep in mind when using Alt Part is that if you change the part number, description and manufacture from what the catalog is expecting you will not be able to order the part through our software as the catalogs won't know what part it is. Using Alt Part has it's own complications.
If you have more question please feel free to reach out.
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Re: Inventory / Part Number Cross Referencing

Post by HeadsUpAuto »

Thanks for the two replies to my question. Both are helpful.

I've been marinating on this since yesterday and I've got a few followup thoughts/questions.

My reason for wanting to use OEM part numbers wasn't for our invoicing or to present to a customer (so no deception there) it was to make our stock room easier to navigate for part cross over. But honestly since I've been working on this I think this comes down to yet another processes I'm attempting to so a** backwards with Mitchell that will end up biting me in the butt! What I've decided to do is pick the preferred brand/item of part that we like to use, inventory it with it's manufacturers part number than apply Alternate Part numbers to it to include the OEM and any other possible options that could be available from our vendors. So for most of our Spark plugs we may have 2 or 3 alternative part numbers but I think this will work because whenever someone enters any of those part numbers the system automatically directs them to the actual part we prefer/stock. The only issue with this seems to be that when you do a catalog part transfer from Worldpac for example the system doesn't question the part number it just transfer whichever one you've picked. Is there a way to change this with a setting option or is this just the way the system works?

The second thing I am pondering is if we should completely delete our current Mitchell Part Inventory since it is SOOOOO inaccurate and then manually re-enter only the parts that we actually stock. This way we have a clean slate to make moving forward and tracking inventory easier with less interference from past errors? My concern is this is a BIG jump to delete our entire inventory and what if I'm making a mistake? lol. What is the forums perspective on this? Is there any benefit in keeping 13 years of inaccurate inventory in my Mitchell system? or am I better off deleting it all and only inventorying the items that we actually stock moving forward?


Thanks again for all your feedback!

Chris.
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Re: Inventory / Part Number Cross Referencing

Post by ricmorin »

While I haven't tried it with Worldpac, I do know that when you bring a part over from a catalog, it WILL show you an alternate if the number matches exactly. I tested this yesterday with OReilly.
Ric Morin - Volunteer Forum Moderator, Shop Owner, ASE Master L1
Motorcar Alternatives, LLC
603-622-6434 x203
www.motorcaralternatives.com

I find my life is a lot easier when I use Special Orders
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