O'Reilly Auto Parts Drives Inventory Management To Stay In The Fast Lane

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, American car owners spend nearly $38B each year to repair their automobiles. They expect those repairs to be completed quickly, and that means fast availability of replacement parts.

No company understands this better than O'Reilly Auto Parts. One of the largest specialty retailers of automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies and accessories in the United States, the company has more than 1,280 store locations and 10 distribution centers (DCs) in 19 states. With annual revenues of nearly $2B, O'Reilly employs 15,000 people.

O'Reilly had experienced significant growth through acquisitions and sought to continue that expansion. In order to accomplish this goal, the company recognized that it needed to replace its in-house inventory tracking application with an enterprise inventory management solution. The company's goal was to elevate customer service, increase replenishment efficiency and reduce growing inventory of approximately 100,000 SKUs.

"Growth rates had been so rapid that our old inventory system just couldn't handle them," said Michael Williams, vice president of IT. "We needed a scalable and costeffective system to better analyze our inventory data and be more responsive to employees and customers."