ByBox extends service range

Overnight parts specialist ByBox has extended its range of services with Vanventory, a mobile inventory system that tracks spare parts aboard the vans and provides full visibility of what stock is available right now and where it is. And once located, it also provides the means to source the parts with the minimum of delay.
ByBox currently uses Thinventory, a cohesive end-to-end wireless technology, to maximise stock visibility and minimise customer stock holding by managing each of the key stages of the supply chain process – raising purchase orders, goods in, pick, dispatch, deliver, return, repair, and return to good stock – all with serial number visibility.
Vanventory starts where Thinventory stops, by adding a mobile inventory element to the overall process. It takes a copy of the supply chain parts data held on the Thinventory servers and retains this on a handheld computer that is carried by field engineers. The handheld computer, which is specified for the task by ByBox’s Field Support team, enables visibility of stock availability across the mobile fleet in real time. Fitted with GPS satellite tracking, a digital camera, omni-directional barcode scanning, a colour touch screen, GPRS wireless communications and WiFi, it provides the engineer with everything he needs to identify a part, find out where the nearest one is and make arrangements to get hold of it.
 Using the continually updated Vanventory system, new stock-in is scanned into the system when collected from the ByBox drop box network, and stock is scanned out when it is removed from the van and allocated to an engineer. There is also a function for reserving a part from mobile stock to prevent it being booked out on another job, something that is proving particularly useful in emergencies.