Price update of millions of spare parts with just a few keystrokes

Overview and 2% Growth

Since 2017, Akershus Traktor has been using the Dealer Management System DSM from JMA. At its core, a Dealer Management System is a tool for managing all the administrative tasks in a dealer company - including, of course, inventory. Which parts do we have in stock - both internally within the group and with our suppliers? How quickly do we turn over our parts, and which ones do we sell the most of?

And then there are the prices. Price management has been absolutely crucial in recent years, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the subsequent energy crisis, all of which have caused prices to fluctuate wildly. Companies risk earning too little - or worse, selling at a loss - if they do not adjust spare parts prices in time. And when you have a large product range, you need to stay on top of it. As long as the parts have item numbers and suppliers send updates to the system, the new prices are updated in Akershus Traktor’s system in just a few minutes.

"After getting this in place, we have increased our profit on parts by 2%. We never would have managed that if we had continued selling at the old prices. Before, we only adjusted prices once a year. Now we do it three to four times annually," says Sigurd Kvisla, Parts Manager at Akershus Traktor.

Reducing Dead Stock

The ERP system "DSM" is built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central but has been customized by JMA specifically for machinery dealers. JMA is a Danish company with a country manager in Norway, Lars Søyland. Akershus Traktor is JMA’s largest customer in Norway.

Although most parts are stored at suppliers’ warehouses around Europe and the rest of the world, Akershus Traktor has between 60,000 and 70,000 different parts in its own warehouses. In addition to managing their own inventory and ordering from suppliers, Akershus Traktor also uses the DSM system to check whether the parts they are missing might be in stock at a fellow dealer. This function is especially useful for slow-moving parts.

"With that function, we have saved NOK 600,000 to 700,000 (approx. 44,000 - 51,000 £) on obsolete inventory. Simply by getting better at utilizing each other’s excess stock," Kvisla says.

Everything Is Logged

He adds that the DSM system also ensures that no parts are “lost” during the sales process. When sellers close a deal on an expensive item like a tractor, they sometimes include one or two spare parts as part of the deal. Previously, those parts could be removed from inventory without being registered, and then someone would have to investigate afterward to figure out where they went. That doesn’t happen anymore.

"Now you cannot remove parts without registering them in the system - regardless of whether they are paid at full price or included as part of a larger deal. But we still have full visibility that they are part of the agreement and have been taken out of inventory," says the Parts Manager.

He wants to highlight one more thing. New IT systems do not always get people cheering, but the DSM solution they have been using for a few years now has been quite easy to get into.

"I’ve been doing this for 30 years now, and in the past, you had to be an IT expert to use these systems. If the IT manager quit, you had to start from scratch! This system is designed so that we can manage as much as possible on our own, and it makes sense. We had two training sessions, each four hours long. I’ve spent half a year learning other systems. Plus, we have everything we need in one system, because it’s made specifically for our industry," Kvisla praises.

Tailor-Made Solution

For JMA’s Lars Søyland, this is naturally good to hear. He confirms that DSM - the name of the Dealer Management Solution - is specially developed for companies like machinery dealers that need to manage a large number of parts.

Everything with a serial number can be tracked historically. For example, a tractor - all parts that have been sold or replaced on that specific tractor, all resale prices, and other history such as service records, etc. Because the solution is tailor-made for this type of customer, it is easier to upgrade, since all customers receive the same updates and new features. Søyland is confident that control is absolutely necessary to run a business properly and profitably - and he finishes with a bit of pride:

"All of our customers are profitable, and I hope JMA helps companies make the right decisions," says Søyland from JMA.