Inventory Management

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

<span style="font-size:12pt">I may soon have several service vehicles on the road in Chicago and was considering how to manage inventory, among other things.  My thought was to have each tech have an assigned vehicle and provide each vehicle with its own laptop where the tech can enter in time and materials information for each job as it is completed.  This information would then be downloaded to the office so they can check invoices and send billing.  Also the office can then place orders for materials to the appropriate supplier for the tech to restock the vehicle directly from the supplier as needed. This supplier would probably be consistent for each tech, since I think it seems to make sense to allow tech to drive vehicles to and from home to eliminate unnecessary drive time.   There are a variety of good suppliers throughout the city, so any given tech will probably be driving by one to and from work. </span>

<span style="font-size:12pt">This plan would eliminate the need to keep a large inventory and the supporting large storage area (and rental).    Some basics or low volume items may be kept in stock to cover unexpected needs.</span>

<span style="font-size:12pt">This type of system probably could be set up in Quickbooks using multiple companies as the basis for separate vehicles, but there may be other packages out there.  I like the input of those that are running fleets.</span>

<span style="font-size:12pt">Also, any recommendation for a good communication system (probably a cell phone package) would be appreciated.</span>

<span style="font-size:12pt">I expect to be stepping into a whole new realm here, so any help would be appreciated.</span>

nicholas bonham-carter

multiple service vehicle inventory control

"hey, there's an app for that"

call steve jobs for the solution to this!--nbc