.......The Rest of The Story Jul 08

Most of the inventory management systems now have automatic grading which will assign a grade to mechanical parts at the time of input. This grade normally does not change as the part ages. However, some systems allow you to update the grade on mechanical parts if you modify the mileage of the main vehicle record. The modification can be as simple as re-entering the original mileage. This could change the grade of a late model part if the part has been in stock long enough. Example: At the time a part is placed in inventory it is 3 model years old and has 65,000 miles. To be an “A” grade part it would need to have less than 60,000 miles. (4 times 15,000 = 60,000) The 65,000 miles would result in the vehicle’s mechanical parts having a grade of “B”. If some of the parts sit in inventory for one year they would now qualify for a grade of “A” because they have less than 15,000 miles per model year. (5 times 15,000 = 75,000) Also, if you use the “A” part automated markup feature available in some systems, this higher grade would increase the value of the remaining unsold mechanical parts.
The grades are as follows:

“A” grade parts are the highest quality. Prior to automated grading, recyclers were not able to electronically identify, track or segregate these parts from their regular inventory.

“B” grade parts have expected mileage for their age, based on 15,000 miles or 25,000 kilometers per model year and do NOT have negative descriptions associated with them.

“C” grade parts are usually sold locally to a retail customer or to a garage or body shop that is willing to do considerable repair(s) to make the part work.

“Negative description” means the part has a flaw or defect which can only be explained with words. Examples might be burned, broken, fire, retail only, parts only, knocks, smokes, etc.
NOTE: ANY PART THAT HAS A NEGATIVE DESCRIPTION IS AUTOMATICALLY GRADED “C”.


Mechanical part:
Grade “A” = The vehicle is 3 model years or less and has 60,000 miles / 100,000 kilometers or less, OR the vehicle is more than 3 years old and has less than 15,000 miles or 25,000 kilometers per model year.

Grade “B” = The vehicle is less than 3 model years old but has more than 60,000 miles / 100,000 kilometers or is over 3 model years old and has 15,000 miles / 25,000 kilometers, or more per model year and has less than 200,000 miles or 333,333 kilometers.

Grade “C” = The vehicle has 200,000 miles / 333,000 kilometers or more or has a negative description such as burnt, broken, smokes, knocks, etc. The age of the vehicle is not an issue if the mileage or kilometers exceed these limits. Currently, there is no accommodation for the fact that diesel engines easily last twice these limits. This is primarily because the Hollander interchange we use does not have a designated field which indicates an engine is gas or diesel.

“Miscellaneous Part Types” are parts which do not fit in the body part or mechanical part classifications. An example would be a door glass, horn or windshield. These parts are graded as “A” condition unless they have a negative description. A negative description such as “star” on a windshield would result in a grade of “C”. Miscellaneous part types do not have a “B” grade since they are either good or bad.

I hope this makes sense to you. I have tried to take what some people see as complicated and make it easier to understand and, therefore, accepted as a fair and balanced system which allows us to better communicate with each other and our shops.

Part grading is a concept which was designed by the United Recyclers Group Computer Features Committee as they were developing the Pinnacle Inventory Management System. Since that time the system has been accepted by the Auto Recyclers Association and all inventory management systems currently used in the United States, Canada and the Pinnacle system used in Australia and Europe.

Attention Hollander users.  I strongly recommend that you attend the Hollander conference which will be held in the Minneapolis area on September 26-27th. Mark your calendar and plan to bring your key people to this educational training seminar. We will be speaking on how to use your system to make more money while doing less work.
Jim Counts