Managing Material Handling Parts Inventory

Dewitt, NY – November 3, 2009: Has your parts department done anything differently during the recession, or has it been business as usual? The answer to this question might be the difference between struggle or success throughout the economic downturn.

In the Fourth Quarter 2009 issue of The MHEDA Journal, the leading online magazine for the forklift, storage and handling, and general material handling equipment industries, Marcel VandenTop of Intella Lift Parts gives several strategies that material handling equipment distributors can improve their inventory management and drive profits.

VandenTop offers solutions in four areas: quoting, purchasing, pricing and marketing. The quoting process is the first area for improvement. “Today's market requires a much more disciplined approach,” VandenTop says. “Any sort of manual system is better than doing nothing.” Regarding purchasing, VandenTop suggests preparing reports of the top 100 items by both quantity and sales dollars, and then analyzing and benchmarking those reports.

VandenTop also touches on pricing, saying , “Instead of marking up all parts at a flat percentage above list price, consider using a tiered pricing strategy.” Finally, he tackles both phone and e-mail marketing. Perhaps his best piece of advice for principals of material handling equipment dealerships is to “sit in the parts department and answer phone calls for a day. You may get a few ideas as a result.”

All these tips and more are in “Managing Your Pats Department In A Downturn,” located in The MHEDA Journal Online at http://www.themhedajournal.org/content/4q09/partsdept.php. The print magazine was mailed out to subscribers on October 15.

For more information, contact Chris Powers, editor of The MHEDA Journal, (315) 445-2347, e-mail: chris@datakey.org.