Repair Shop Inventory Management: Stop Losing Parts and Profits

Every repair tech has been there. Customer's laptop is open on the bench, you need a specific SSD, and... it's not where it should be. Someone used the last one and didn't reorder. Or worse — you bought it last week and can't find it.

Inventory management in a repair shop isn't like retail. You're not selling widgets off a shelf. You're dealing with hundreds of small parts across dozens of device types, and any one missing part can hold up a repair for days.

The Real Cost of Bad Inventory

It's not just the cost of the missing part. It's:

• Lost labor time searching for parts that should be on the shelf
• Delayed repairs that frustrate customers and hurt your reputation
• Emergency orders at premium prices because you ran out of stock
• Dead stock from parts you overbought and never used
• Theft and shrinkage you can't track because there's no system

A shop doing 20 repairs a week can easily lose $500-1,000/month to inventory inefficiency. That's $6,000-12,000 a year — enough to hire a part-time tech.

What Actually Works

Forget the enterprise inventory systems designed for warehouses. Here's what works for repair shops:

1. Track Parts Per Job

Every part that goes into a repair should be logged against that job. Not on a sticky note — in your system. This gives you:

• Accurate cost-per-repair calculations
• Automatic inventory deduction
• A paper trail for warranty claims
• Data on which parts you use most

2. Set Reorder Points

For your top 20 most-used parts (screens, batteries, SSDs, thermal paste, etc.), set a minimum stock level. When inventory hits that number, you reorder. No thinking required.

The formula is simple: Average weekly usage × lead time in weeks + safety stock

If you use 5 iPhone 15 screens per week and your supplier takes 3 days to deliver, your reorder point is about 3 screens (5/7 × 3 + 1).

3. One Place for Everything

Parts should have a home. Label your bins, shelves, or drawers. When a part comes in, it goes to its spot. When it leaves for a repair, it gets logged. No exceptions.

This sounds basic, but it's the #1 thing that separates organized shops from chaotic ones.

4. Regular Counts

Do a quick inventory count weekly for your high-value items (screens, batteries, boards) and monthly for everything else. Compare to what your system says you should have. The gap tells you where your process is breaking down.

Software vs. Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets work until they don't. The moment you have more than one person touching inventory, spreadsheets become a liability. Someone forgets to update, someone overwrites a formula, someone is working off a cached version.

Purpose-built repair shop software (like techsbox) tracks inventory as part of the repair workflow. When a tech adds a part to a job, inventory updates automatically. When stock hits the reorder point, you get an alert. No extra steps, no separate system to maintain.

Start Small

You don't need to catalog every screw and washer on day one. Start with:

1. Your top 20 parts by volume
2. Your top 10 parts by cost
3. A consistent process for logging parts per job

Get those right, and you'll immediately see fewer stockouts, faster repairs, and better margins. Then expand from there.

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techsbox helps repair shops track parts, jobs, and invoices in one place. Start your free trial — no credit card required.