Karan's Parts Bin

When a driver needs an alternator, Karan checks the phone on the counter and either hands one over or tells him to come back Thursday.

Who this is for

Karan Bhosale keeps the garage for a taxi fleet in Nashik. Twenty-two cars, mostly Dzires and a few Wagon Rs, three mechanics and a helper. It is a quarter to seven in the morning. A driver comes in saying his car will not start, Karan opens the bonnet, sees the alternator has gone, and now has to decide in the next minute whether that car runs today or sits.

How the job is done today

There is a long register on the counter with a pencil tied to it by string. Some things get written in it, most do not. The real stock lives in Karan's head and in a loft above the wash bay that only the helper climbs into. When someone wants to know if there is a clutch plate, they shout up. The parts man sends photos on a WhatsApp group and nobody remembers which of those photos became an actual delivery. Twice this year they bought a fuel pump they already had, and once a car sat for five days for a part sitting in the loft under a tarpaulin.

The screens, in order

1. Search the bin — One box at the top of the screen where you type alternator or clutch or wiper and immediately see how many are lying with you.
2. The part — Shows one part, how many are left, which shelf or which corner of the loft it sits in, and when the last one went out.
3. Taking one out — Lets whoever is holding the phone say who is taking the part and which car it is going into, so the count drops by one.
4. Parts came in — For when the parts man delivers, so the boxes get added to the count before they disappear into the loft.
5. Running low — The short list Karan reads out on the phone when he calls the parts man, so nothing is ordered twice and nothing is forgotten.

What it keeps track of

• Parts — what it is called, what the mechanics actually call it, which cars it fits, how many are with us, where it sits, below how many we should worry
• Movements — which part, taken out or came in, how many, who did it, which car, which day and time
• People at the garage — name, and whether they are still working here
• Cars in the fleet — number plate, model, which driver runs it

The one decision that matters

The phone sits on the counter and everyone touches it, so who is using it is the whole question. One way is proper accounts with a password each, which is honest about who took what but means a man with grease on his hands types a password before he can pick up a fan belt. He will stop bothering, and a count nobody updates is worse than no count. The other way is a row of four names on the screen, big buttons, tap yours and carry on. Go with the row of names. Nobody here is stealing alternators. The point of writing down who took it is so Karan can ask a question later, not to lock anyone out.

What to leave out of the first version

Leave out money completely. No purchase price, no bill from the parts man, no value of stock lying in the loft. The question being asked at seven in the morning is only whether the thing exists. The moment you put a price field in, someone must fill it, and it will be filled wrong or not at all, and then the counts get treated as accounts and nobody trusts either. Karan can find out what an alternator cost by calling the man who sold it to him.

How you would know it worked

A driver walks in with a dead battery and Karan answers him without climbing the loft ladder and without shouting for the helper. And when he says come back Thursday, the part is actually there on Thursday.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I run the garage for a taxi fleet in Nashik, twenty-two cars, and I want a phone app for the one phone that stays on my counter. I need to type a part name like alternator or clutch plate and see straight away how many I have and where they are kept in the loft. When a mechanic takes one, he should tap his own name from four big names on the screen, pick which car it went into, and the count should go down by one. When the parts man delivers, I should be able to add what came in. And I want a short list of things that have run low so I can read it out when I ring him. No prices anywhere, please, just counts. Everyone here has oily hands so keep the buttons big and no passwords.