Van stock and site material for field service teams

Treat every service van as a stock location and every job as a consumption. How to set van stock levels, track site material and replenish vans on time.

Field service van stock management works when you treat every van as a stock location and every job as a consumption. Each van gets its own stock list and its own minimum levels, every part a technician fits is booked against the job, and the van is topped up from the godown against those minimums. Do that, and you always know what is on each van, what each job really cost in parts, and what to send out tomorrow morning.

Why treat a van as a stock location?

Because that is what it is. A service van carrying filters, capacitors, refrigerant, fittings, fuses and copper pipe is a small godown on wheels. If your books show all that stock as sitting in the main godown, your stock figure is wrong the moment a van leaves the gate.

When each van is a location, a transfer from the godown to the van is a stock movement, just like a transfer between two shops. Stock does not vanish when it goes out; it changes place. You can see total stock across the business and stock per van, and you can ask a simple question that most field teams cannot answer today: which van has the part this customer needs, right now?

The same logic a distributor uses for multiple godowns applies here. Our guide to wholesale distributor inventory covers multi-location stock in more detail.

Why book every job as a consumption?

A part leaving the van is not lost; it is used on a job. If the technician books it to that job, three things happen:

The van's stock goes down by the right amount, so the next top-up is correct.
The job shows its real parts cost, so you can see whether a job type or a fixed-price visit is actually paying.
You build a consumption history per van and per part, which is what you need to set sensible stock levels.

If parts are not booked, the van count drifts, the job looks cheaper than it was, and the only way to find out what was used is to count the van and guess.

What is the difference between van stock and site material?

They behave differently and should be tracked differently.

	Van stock	Site material
What it is	Common parts carried every day	Material issued for one specific job or project
Stock level	Standing minimum and maximum per van	Quantity issued for that job only
How it moves	Godown to van, then consumed job by job	Godown to site, then consumed or returned
Typical items	Filters, capacitors, fuses, fittings, consumables	Indoor and outdoor units, long pipe runs, brackets, ducting
When it closes	Never; it is topped up	When the job is complete and leftovers are returned

For an installation or a larger repair, create the site as a temporary location, issue material to it, book what was fitted, and return the rest to the godown when the job closes. Leftover pipe and brackets left at a finished site are the most common way field businesses quietly lose material.

How do I set stock levels for each van?

Set a minimum and a maximum per part, per van, based on that van's own consumption.

The minimum works like a reorder point for the godown, except the lead time is short: it is the time until the van is next topped up. If vans are topped up every morning, the minimum only needs to cover a day of jobs plus a cushion for a busy day. If vans come back twice a week, it needs to cover several days. The full method is in the reorder point formula; the same inputs apply, with "next top-up" replacing supplier lead time.

The maximum is limited by space and cash. A van has limited shelf space, and every part on it is working capital that is not in the godown where any technician could use it.

Illustrative example (numbers are made up to show the method): a technician uses on average 2 run capacitors a day and on a busy day has used 4. The van is topped up every two days.

Normal use until next top-up: 2 × 2 = 4
Busy-period use: 4 × 2 = 8
Minimum on the van: 8
Maximum, allowing for space: 10

If the van has fewer than 8 at the end of the day, it is topped up to 10.

Parts that are expensive and rarely used, such as a specific compressor or control board, usually should not live on a van at all. Keep them in the godown and send them to the job when needed.

Van-stock replenishment checklist

Use this at each top-up, whether daily or on a fixed weekly schedule.

Close all jobs first. Every part fitted since the last top-up is booked to a job before the top-up is calculated.
Check returns. Faulty parts removed from customer equipment and unused site material are logged and handed in separately, not mixed back into van stock.
Compare booked stock with the van's minimums. List every part that is at or below its minimum.
Top up to the maximum, not to the minimum. Topping up only to the minimum means the van is short again after the first job.
Record the transfer. Godown to van, part by part, so godown stock goes down and van stock goes up in the same movement.
Check the godown position. If the top-ups have pushed godown stock below its own reorder point, raise the purchase order now.
Count a sample on the van. Count a few fast-moving parts by hand and compare with the books. Count the full van on a fixed cycle.
Explain differences the same week. A missing part is usually an unbooked job; find the job and book it.
Check for dead stock. Parts on a van with no use over a long period go back to the godown.
Get the technician's sign-off. The person driving the van confirms what they received.

What are the common mistakes?

Booking parts at the end of the month. Memory fades in days. Book parts when the job is closed, from the phone if possible, or the record will be guesswork.

One stock list for every van. A technician who mostly does installations and one who mostly does breakdown calls use different parts. Set levels from each van's own history.

Leaving site material at the site. Every installation should end with a return note for unused material, even if the return is small.

Treating the van as an expense. If parts are written off as "consumed" the moment they go on the van, you lose sight of stock and of what each job cost.

Mixing faulty returns with good stock. A removed faulty part that ends up back on a shelf will eventually be fitted on another customer's equipment.

Ignoring tax paperwork on movements. Moving goods between your own locations, or to a customer site, can carry document requirements under GST depending on the movement and the situation. Check with your CA for what applies to your business; our post on common e-way bill errors covers the general principles.

When does this not apply?

If you have one or two technicians who collect parts from the godown for each job and bring back everything unused the same day, a full van-location setup may be more process than you need. Issuing parts directly to jobs from the godown can be enough.

It also matters less for businesses where technicians only carry tools and consumables of very low value. Once vans hold meaningful parts value, or you have several technicians in different areas, treating each van as a location pays for the effort.

FAQ

Should every van carry the same stock list? Start with a common core list of the parts every technician uses, then add a small variable list based on each van's job mix and area. A van that mostly handles one type of equipment should carry more of those parts. Review each van's list against its own consumption every quarter rather than copying one list to all.

How do I stop parts disappearing from vans? Book every part to a job before the job is closed, count each van on a fixed cycle, and have the technician sign off the count. Any difference between booked stock and counted stock gets explained the same week. Once technicians know each van is reconciled regularly, unexplained losses usually fall, because the gap is noticed quickly.

Is site material handled the same way as van stock? Not quite. Van stock is a standing level you keep topping up. Site material is issued for one specific job, so it moves from the godown to the site and is then consumed or returned. Treat the site as a temporary location, close it when the job ends, and bring unused material back into stock instead of leaving it there.