Memoires of a Mopar Parts Advisor

David Bryant started his career at Arena Dodge in 1989. His official title back then was Delivery Driver. He made $4.40/hour. Many of his parts delivery clients back then, are his clients today. It was common for him to deliver Mopar parts to Grismer Tire, Labosky Automotive and Carl's Body Shop. Dave went to Trotwood Madison High School and graduated two years after our Parts Manager, Tom Fulk. They've known each other for more than 35 years. In 1994 he was promoted to Freight Clerk for Harmon Cadillac.(See, Larry Harmon owned several dealerships back in the 80s: Harmon Cadillac, Harmon's Arena Dodge, Harmon Lincoln - Mercury and Harmon Honda.) This new position was a promotion for Dave. His first vehicle was a 1971 Pontiac T37. He purchased his first Dodge in 1974...the Dodge Dart. He has fond memories of Larry Harmon, who treated his employees like extended family. In 1996 he was again promoted and moved back to Arena Dodge as a Parts Advisor.

Dave has some very cool memories from working in the automobile industry: In the Mid-80's Chrysler released the Reliant (or K-Car) to appeal to a larger group of people and to make transportation more affordable. This created a revolution and saved Chrysler from Bankrupcy. Then in the 90's came the mini-van. The perfect combination of features for an American Family. Dave also remembers when everything was processed on paper. He came into the industry when the "squak box" was the main form of communication between the parts staff and the mechanics.

Each mechanic had his/her own device that would send a signal to the parts department. Sometimes there would be several requests at one time. When part was needed it had to be ordered manually. Now the online database is updated each time a part is needed and will order parts automatically based on current demand. The system is called Automatic Replenishing Stock Order. Many other system are now run with computers. Dave remembers when cars become computerized. It changed how the driver could manipulate the vehicle, "it's hard to get a car to spin out anymore. You have to turn all that off."

They used to use microfiche to organize parts, now every part (wiper blades, oil filters, name plates, door handles, brakes, etc.) is in the database. There are over 50,000 parts and 200,000 part numbers in the system. When certain Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge or Ram cars/trucks discontinue Dave can get similar parts by ordering based on the body style of the vehicle, i.e. the Dodge Magnum, the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Charger are all LX body style. Chrysler created the virtual assembly line back before the turn of the centry, which enabled the building cars virtually way before they started building them physically. This reduced recall issues and made the physical assembly line much more accurate and fast. Diamler was very interested in this technology...hence the merger.

 

So back to Dayton. The "Arena" theme of the dealership came from the location across the street from Hara Arena. Back in the day, Dave went to Journey, Van Halen, ZZ Top, Stix, Alice Cooper, Jethro Tull, Aerosmith, The Dooby Brothers...he kept going but I couldn't write that fast! Hara is definitely a nostalgic place in Dayton, built by the Wompler Brothers and still being operated by their families.

 

A big thank you to Dave for taking time to chat about his time at Golling's! His story was fascinating. I didn't realize how many changes the car industry had seen in the past 20 years. From computerized motors to reduced prices. Many strides have been made. What's in the future? More hybrids, more electric motors, higher mpg!

 

Golling's Sponsors Moss Creek - Trotwood Chamber of Commerce Golf Scramble

I'm not much of a golfer...ok, I've never played golf, but I had a great time monitoring hole 17 during the Trotwood Chamber of Commerce annual Golf Scramble last Saturday. We sponsor this hole every year. If a player in the scramble gets a hole-in-one at this hole, he/she would have received (this year) a 2013 Dodge Dart, a Kindle Fire, and a $500 Visa Gift Card (and, of course, bragging rights). As of Saturday, September 15, 2012, in the history of Moss Creek Golf Course, no one had every gotten a hole-in-one on hole #17. I don't know what has happened since then, but no one got a hole-in-one on that day. (Good for me, because I drove the Dart there and would have had to hitch a ride home.)

The Golling's Arena Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Golf Team tied for 1st! This is Dan, our fearless leader!

 

To win the contest, each player had to tee off from the 165 yard mark. Many of the players had their own portable GPS devices that were usually about 3 yards off from our own calculation. Women could shoot from 150 yards. The hole itself had an intimidating body of water directly in front of it. Kind of odd b/c what really mattered was that could it the ball 150-165 yards in one shot...whether or not the water was there really didn't make a difference (its not like you got two strokes).

One thing I noticed that day is that golf team members are very encouraging among each other. Everyone seemed to have a great time, whether they had played for 30 years or 3 weeks. Many of teams gave us permission to add their photos to our blog. 

The Scramble took about 4 hours. The teams were scattered through out the course so that no one was waiting around. 

I also took at very unofficial poll and asked all the participants if they'd every had a hole-in-one and how long they played golf. The results were interesting.  

Out of 41 people polled, they had about 843 total years of recreational golf experience. The average number of years was 20.56 years. The least experience was zero years. The most experience was 51 years. 6 (14.63%) had one hole-in-one in all their years of playing. None of them had more than one. Those that had a hole-in-one had played 40 years, 27 years, 18 years, 16 years, 15 years and 15 years. They all knew exactly what course and hole they were on when they shot their hole-in-one.

A big thanks goes out to Moss Creek for sponsoring the event and all the golfers for making out so early on a chilly September Saturday morning! We'll be there next year!

 

 

 

What's for lunch at work?

Have you ever wondered what everyone else does for lunch? Do you ever spy on the guy/gal next to you and see what's in the brown bag? Do you think about the cost of eating out everyday? At Golling's we have about 50 employees. Next week we are polling everyone at the office to see what they do for lunch. The outcome should be appetizing :) Come back for photos, tips, and stats!

A week later: First I'd like to thank everyone who agreed to participate in the survey and who followed through all week. I didn't anticipate that some people wouldn't want to share what they eat for lunch. Some people said they were too busy to write it down. Some people even said they didn't eat at work at all. Research shows that eating a healthy meal improves energy and brainpower, so anyone out there who skips a meal, please reconsider. This article, at Livestrong.com has a lot of info: why eat lunch.

When do we eat at Golling's Arena Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram?
20% of all lunches in the survey were eaten before the noon hour (I get hungry around 11:30am)
20% of lunches were eaten during the noon hour
39% of lunches were eaten after the noon hour (we have many employees who work until 7 or 8pm)
20% of the lunches didn't happen at all...WHAT...no lunch?

How do we get what we eat?
59% of lunches were packed
20% were bought
2% were paid for by the company
8% of lunches were eaten at home
10% were none of the above...no lunch at all

Lunch for one of the participants was a Mountain Dew...a can a day out of a 12-pack is .25 cents. This was by far our cheapest lunch...healthiest? NOT so Much!

How are they prepared? 
65% of lunches were cold
6% of lunches were cold and hot
18% of lunches were hot
10% were none of the above

51% of all lunches in the survey were healthy
39% of all lunches were not healthy
10% of all lunches were somewhat healthy (or had both healthy and no healthy items in them)

Duane is an independent Advocare representative. He is dedicated to a healthy life style and loves the energy and brainpower he gets from Advocare.  

20% of all lunches included a meal supplement drink
59% of all surveyed lunches include drinking water
10% of lunches included pop (ok, some people might not have divulged that info)
39% of all lunches in the survey included a healthy snack like an energy or granola bar either during lunch or before or after
57% of lunch days surveyed didn't include a snack during the day (I need a snack myself...) We have free popcorn in the office so its easy to grab a snack here!

Gary, One of Golling's Sales team members eats fruit every day. He says since he made the change he has more energy and brain power. (He definitely looks happy!)

Stop back for more fun blog posts! Be looking for the Golf Outings photos and Hole-In-One stats!

Go Golllings!