The City of Dublin, Ohio, began contracting with NAPA Genuine Auto Parts and Integrated Business Solutions (IBS) in May to operate an automotive supplies store within the city's fleet management building. Since May, the city has reduced its parts costs and technician time required to obtain parts.

"After only four months of experience with the in-house parts store, the City is already realizing cost savings and gains in efficiency," said Darryl Syler, fleet manager, in a release. "As of September, we have seen cost savings on auto parts of $7,200 and are expecting more than $25,000 in savings by next May."

Prior to pursuing a contract with NAPA, city staff determined that contracting out parts management could allow for more efficient uses of time by fleet technicians. While the city had a parts room with about $100,000 in inventory, it didn't employ any parts personnel, relying instead on the fleet administrator and technicians.

"The savings we're going to see over the course of the next year is going to come from the technicians not going to run for parts," Syler said.

The city's fleet management software tracks the amount of time that technicians spend working on each vehicle, and it has recorded a 2% reduction in vehicle downtime since the program began. 

Since May, the city has reduced its parts inventory to about $60,000. Many parts are available on consignment through NAPA. Syler said as the fleet goes through its parts, NAPA will replace it with its own parts, slowly reducing the city's inventory. Syler's ultimate goal is to eliminate inventory except for tires and fuel.

Another benefit of the contract is that NAPA will work with the city's current parts vendors. The company will renegotiate contracts with vendors, allowing them to continue to provide parts to the city fleet, Syler said.

As the program moves forward, there are additional opportunities for citywide savings. According to Syler, "other divisions, including Engineering, Facilities Management, and Parks and Open Space have plans to purchase supplies through the NAPA store. The savings that the city is seeing in supply purchases allows us to use tax dollars more efficiently, which is great for the city and for taxpayers."

Dublin's fleet management division operates the City's fuel site that currently includes unleaded and diesel fuel and the second largest public-private compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling facility in central Ohio. The City of Dublin fleet consists of 281 vehicles, and includes 52 CNG vehicles. Fleet Management is an ASE Blue Seal Shop with six ASE Master Certificated Technicians.