TPI: finding better ways of finding parts

Scott Tetz was 6-years old when he first started helping his father in the family-run salvage yard in Edmonton, Alberta. He worked his way from the back gate to the front, and by the time he was a teenager, he had observed enough to draw some fairly clear conclusions that form the basis of what later became Truck Parts Inventory. Watching his father work, he realized that the yard was run in a way that depended entirely on his father’s presence: when he wasn’t there, sales dropped and profits fell. Why? His father knew the details of every single part in the yard, where it came from, the price it could command, and the vehicles it could be used on. His knowledge and understanding of the yard were comprehensive and deep, but there was only one problem: it wasn’t shared with anyone else. Whenever Scott’s father left the yard for any length of time, whether it be to buy a truck or go on a sales trip, the yard’s data base left with him, and business suffered. By the time he was a teenager, Scott knew that there had to be a better way of doing things and he set out to find it. He also knew that, somehow, technology would play a part.

In 1994, he borrowed some money from his mother and a girlfriend, and set up shop as Partslink in a one-bedroom apartment on a busy street in Edmonton. His borrowed funds got him a 486 computer with a fax-board, and long hours at the Edmonton Public Library with copies of North American phone books got him contact information for salvage yards across the continent. He cold-called as many places as he could each day, and eventually built up a roster of over 200 clients for his fledgling business. Every day, he compiled lists of parts requests and sent them out at night by fax, with his customers receiving the lists the next morning. Their responses to these leads helped build Partslink into a solid player in the heavy-duty truck parts industry, and it is still in place today as a well-subscribed service. While initially pleased with the results, Scott saw the limitations of Partslink in terms of efficiency (there was a time-lag between the part request being received and its fulfillment) and coverage (Partslink was dealer-to-dealer, an individual could not participate). Quick to address this discrepancy, Scott created PartSeek in 1996.

PartSeek was an “everything” service: using the emerging technology of the internet, it included photo uploads, a listings page for inventory, and was also open to individual buyers looking for a particular part. A strong off-shoot was its ability to create leads, and between Partslink and PartSeek, Scott seemed to have covered quite a bit of the heavy-duty truck parts industry’s needs. He, however, was still not convinced it was enough, and knew there was, again, a better way of finding parts. He persisted with the idea of using technology to create an efficient and cost-effective service but, for his intuition to come to fruition, he would have to wait for that technology to catch up.

Finally, in 2006, Truck Parts Inventory was launched, a cloud-based inventory management system that integrates the buying and selling aspects of Partslink and PartSeek with a wider set of tools aimed at simplifying and consolidating the management responsibilities of yard owners. Its features include: consolidated marketing; account access from any device; targeted reports and different accounting functions; extremely thorough and responsive Customer Care; inventory control; and a growing store of also-fits information.

Today, with over 155 000 site visits every month and 450 000 page views as well as the participation of industry-leading companies, Truck Parts Inventory has established itself as a major player in the field of heavy duty truck parts. Its responsive customer service, its constant search for better ways of doing things, and its ability to stay ahead of the pack in terms of technology and features all underline its position as a company that it pays to work with and grow with. Scott Tetz knows the business from the back gate to the front, he is intuitive in his understanding of how technology can change our ways of doing things, and he knows his clients. He is committed to finding better ways of finding parts, and Truck Parts Inventory does precisely that.

Joshua Gwozdz

Josh is the marketing and social media coordinator for TPI, and a honored "meme connoisseur". Starting in 2021, Josh was able to start creating content for the company and is thrilled to be able to share what he learns as the industry grows.

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