When I was in earlier in the week to order them, I noticed the usual parts guy wasn't there and his name was no longer on the counter. Assumed he was just in leave. When I collected yesterday, he wasn't there either, just the service lady. I'd decided I wanted to pick up a couple of extra bits for the brakes, just in case (caliper screws and shims) so asked if I could check if they had any in the shelf... "sorry, we're not a parts department any more".
Pardon?
"we don't hold any stock here now, it all gets sent down from slough"
What, everything?
"yes. Apparently it's the way of the future. We book a car in, they send down the parts ready"
So what if while you have a car in for work, you find something you weren't expecting?
"the car has to stay with us while we order in the extra bits"
Thats a but crap isn't it? I think if that was my car that was in, I'd be pretty annoyed about it staying in longer for something I'd expect you to be able to sort on the spot?
"yes apparently it's progress "
So is this a PSA group decision, or dealer chain decision?
"I don't know"
Now, I've worked in modern manufacturing and/or maintenance of trains all my life, so I'm well versed in supply chain management and the efficiencies of JIT etc in those environments, but... This is not manufacturing. Car maintenance is NOT a wholly planned activity - they WILL throw up things you weren't expecting (come in with bits mangled/missing/corroded/seiezed) so you then come down to a choice - hold some buffer stock so you can fix it there and then, or... Give s**t customer service by inconveniencing them and holding onto their car for longer.
And if you go for the latter, that also relies on you having excellent ability for next day delivery... How many tales have we read on here about cars that, while still in current production run at Citroen, have 3+ working day lead time for the replacement part?! (c5 steering racks and pumps etc)
This is just s**t IMO and I'm not sure how much it saves the local dealer? They can make the parts manager redundant (I assume that's what they have done)... Possibly £40k saving (incl employers costs) and then they have less sat on their balance sheet because they have no stock in hand - that's a one off saving, unless they utilise the previous stock holding space to generate additional income through sales? (which is unlikely?!) and worse... You could end up with a car stuck immobilosed on a ramp, meaning you have to cancel booked jobs for the following day (inconveniencing yet another customer!)
Even Japanese car dealers don't work like that! (and I'm my experience, they have FAR FAR better ability to supply from central stock and quickly, than PSA ever have!)
Anyone know if this is just this dealer chain, or if it's something PSA are rolling out everywhere?
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