High-rise parts bins ease space crunch, from Automotive News Access F&I.
Dealership group says vertical storage reduces its fixed-ops footprint
When the leaders of #1 Cochran Automotive were planning to add a building for Infiniti on their Pittsburgh Nissan store’s space-constrained site, they quickly realized that the parts department would have to shrink.
The solution: an electronic parts storage machine that allows small parts to be stacked vertically and retrieved automatically at the touch of a button or scan of a bar code. Now, #1 Cochran is about to install its seventh such machine, at its Subaru dealership.
“One of the biggest things it does is allow us in the construction of new facilities to reduce the footprint required of the parts department,” said Rob Cochran, CEO of #1 Cochran, which has 16 dealerships in western Pennsylvania. “We’re investing less in space, and we’re investing more in technology that helps us better control our inventories.”
