Half a tin of clear and three cars to lacquer
The painter opens the last tin of clearcoat on a Thursday afternoon, with three cars to finish before the weekend. Someone rings the paint factor, who can deliver tomorrow morning. The booth sits idle for part of the afternoon, and the cars that should have gone out on Friday go out on Monday.
The same thing happens with hardener, a particular toner, masking paper, filler or discs. None of it is expensive on its own. Running out of any of it stops a car.
Stock is watched by eye, not counted from usage
Paint mixing software records every mix: which toners, how much, for which job. That is detailed usage data, but in most shops it stays on the mixing room PC and is never compared with what is on the shelf or what has been ordered. Consumables have no record at all until they are gone.
- Reordering depends on one person noticing and remembering.
- Deliveries from the paint supplier are not checked against the order.
- Usage rises with workload, so a fixed weekly order runs short in busy weeks.
- Some items come on long lead times or in minimum pack sizes, which makes last-minute orders harder.
What a stock-out costs in the booth
The booth is often the bottleneck in a bodyshop. An hour lost there is an hour of paint capacity you do not get back, and it pushes out the cars behind. Emergency deliveries or buying from a different factor at short notice cost more than planned orders. Over-ordering to avoid all this ties up money in tins sitting on shelves.
There is also the cost of bad habits: part tins borrowed between painters, mixes stretched, and nobody quite sure what was used on which job.
Seasonal swings make it worse. Wet and icy months bring more work through the door, and a stock level that was comfortable in summer is short by the second week of a cold snap. A reorder habit built on a normal week does not notice the change until something runs out.
How we build paint and consumables stock control
- We list every stocked item: toners, clears, hardeners, thinners, primers, fillers, abrasives, masking, with the pack size and supplier.
- Usage is taken from the mixing software's export where it provides one, so each mix reduces stock of the toners and clears it used.
- Consumables are booked out with a simple scan or tap at the stores, or by a regular quick count if scanning is not practical.
- Each item has a reorder point and a reorder quantity that you set, and these can rise during busy periods.
- When items reach their reorder points, a draft order for the paint supplier is built for the paint manager to check and send.
- Deliveries are checked in against the order on a tablet, so short or substituted items are spotted.
| Item type | Where usage comes from | How it is reordered |
|---|---|---|
| Toners | Mixing software export | Draft order when below reorder point |
| Clearcoat and hardener | Mixing software export | Draft order, higher points in busy weeks |
| Fillers and abrasives | Scan or tap at stores | Draft order by pack size |
| Masking and sundries | Weekly quick count | Added to the same draft order |
The system does not change your paint supplier or your mixing scheme. It works from the data they already produce.
What the paint shop gets out of it
The paint manager checks a draft order rather than walking the shelves with a notepad. Painters stop discovering empty tins at the worst moment. Deliveries are checked, and if an item was short, it is chased the same day.
Because usage is recorded against jobs, you also get a clearer picture of paint and materials used per repair, which helps when comparing it with what the work provider pays for.
Signs your paint stock needs this
- The booth has stood idle because of a missing product.
- Paint orders are written from a walk round the shelves.
- You place emergency orders or borrow from another shop.
- Deliveries are not checked against what was ordered.
- Nobody uses the data in the mixing software for stock.