Keeping Track

Maintenance professionals discuss how much inventory they keep at facilities and how technology is helping them order new parts

By Taylor Ekbatani

August 26, 2024

Senior mechanic holding laptop and taking inventory of machine parts on shelves — Stock photo.

Many transportation garages are shifting from paper documents to automated systems or software to help them keep track of anything and everything in the maintenance facility. Some garages are leaning on already developed software to do the trick. Other maintenance professionals are creating their own system of keeping track.

School Transportation News discussed these trends with the Garage Stars featured this month. Temple Independent School District in Texas has been using Transfinder’s Servicefinder but recently upgraded to the new version, Servicefinder 5.0. George Bell, the district’s fleet services supervisor, explained that the updated version took a while to get used to but is much more user-friendly in keeping up with inventory and staff hours.

He explained that Sevicefinder notifies him when the fleet is due for service by tracking mileage. The software also alerts the garage when it’s time to reorder service parts and how many need to be ordered. Bell added that he can set limits on how low he would like his inventory to get before receiving a notification.

“Every piece of equipment is tracked in its own folder in the form of a work order,” Bell explained. “From the time the work order is made until the work is completed and closed out, we can bill for man hours and parts used. Makes it very easy to go back and see the history of a piece of equipment. This system can be viewed by anyone in our district that is given access.”

Scottie McKinzie, the shop foreman for Fulton County Schools in Georgia, said his district integrated a software from Napa Auto Parts, a partner since 2000, to control inventory. He explained the Napa Integrated Business Solutions parts management system, or HUB, has increased productivity and removed the district’s parts investment burden.

McKinzie added the system invoices parts at the time of installation and all pertinent information is saved and transmitted to the separate School Transportation Information Management System (STIMS).

“HUB provides a record of all parts history which can be viewed and printed at any time,” he noted. “STIMS software interfaces with Napa online and has worked well for both Fulton County shops. STIMS allows us to keep records of all work performed on each of our vehicles. A repair or inspection work order is created, then given to the appropriate shop staff. From there, the technician completes the work and inputs labor and notes of the repair into STIMS. Then, the work order is given to a Napa employee and the parts are added to the work order. Lastly, STIMS gathers all the information from Napa, and adds the information to the workorder. We can then review all past work orders, labor, maintenance, and parts costs of each vehicle.”

McKinzie added that Fulton County schedules support vehicle inspections for each academic quarter and school buses every 20 days. During inspections, technicians and mechanics address maintenance items and repairs as necessary.

Six years ago, Suffolk Transportation Service in New York implemented a parts and purchasing program called TMW that helps streamline the warranty and inventory process. Teno Gustavson, director of vehicle and facility maintenance, said the program tracks how many days, how many planned miles, or how many GPS miles a vehicle has used the last PM.

“And as soon as one criteria matches, we are alerted to bring the unit back into a shop for maintenance. Having these reports, we can forecast our usage on what parts to order,” he continued.

Looking at Inventory
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, parts became harder to obtain and resulted in longer lead times. Gustavson said Suffolk tracked this data, causing the contractor to keep more inventory in stock. However, he noted that the TMW min/max levels help make it sustainable.

Bell added that Temple ISD has had to order certain parts in advance, mainly Cummins fuel filters. However, he added the turnaround time for most other parts has improved. But in the past year, he said he has noticed a spike in the number of exhaust gas recirculation coolers needing replacement. “Over time (in years) the coolant wears through the metal,” he explained.

Currently, he said, Temple ISD has about 400 to 500 parts in its inventory, adding up to around $20,000 or less. As for maintenance trends, McKinzie at Fulton County noted that his staff sees certain buses require replacement of several parts more frequently than should be the case, attributing the issue to “design flaws.”

However, he said that the parts pipeline flows well for the popular items, but these parts do require more stocking depth for quicker service. These items include filters, brakes, batteries and other parts that can be installed quickly, he said.

“HUB is used to evaluate history and set minimum/maximum quantities to be used in creation of stock orders every day which are not automatic,” he explained. “Stock orders are emailed to the vendors and some of the parts arrive the same day. Parts are stocked based on historical data and future requirements in the case of new vehicles. In the event there is a possibility of a shortage or backorder situation, we will place a larger quantity of items in stock.”

Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the August 2024 issue of School Transportation News.