Lubricants as Parts

In recent months new developments have taken place in the area of electronic billing which have highlighted the treatment of lubricants within Point-of-Sale. This chapter is arguing the case for treating bulk lubricants as part lines.

Bulk lubricants can be considered as those stored in tanks or drums and dispensed by volume. They normally include engine oils, gearbox and axle oils and brake fluid, but can sometimes include grease or antifreeze. The basic premise of this chapter could also be applied to paint and consumables in a bodyshop.

Why did we set up lubricants as labour in the first place?

There were three reasons:

• Lubricants in bulk are traditionally stored in the workshop, and therefore seen as the responsibility of the service department; also, Parts managers did not feel responsible for items which were stored outside their department.

• Service costing staff traditionally book out bulk lubricants, and access to parts lines by Service staff was seen as undesirable, and needing extra training.

• Understanding of posting tables was not advanced and labour lines were an obvious choice for items which integrated to Service department profit.

What are the benefits of changing?

• True stock control is only available on parts lines, including stock checking procedures and reorder calculations.

• Verification of invoices is required.

• Cost of sale can be calculated and posted by line allowing true profitability.

• TransLease and other central billing systems are configured to expect bulk lubricants as parts.

• Both the stock value and the sales/COS/discount accounts can be attributable to the Service department, thus preserving traditional accountability.

• The majority of menu pricing systems are normally configured to handle bulk lubricants this way - including all Autoline MS systems.

• Discount tables, special offers, sales text and contract prices can be used.

Are there any drawbacks?

If access to the Parts screen of the WIP is restricted to Parts staff, they will be expected to book out the lines.

Decimals are not allowed on part lines, so partial quantities have to be handled differently. The normal approach is to store lubricants in units of 0.1 litre. This leads to the invoice showing 45 tenths instead of 4.5 litres.

An understanding needs to be reached as to who owns the lubricants, who takes the profit on their sale and who takes the loss/gain at stock check. As stated before, this can be the Service department if required.

Note: If you are interested in setting up Lubricants as Parts, contact Software Support.