Troy Webber uses his YardSmart app. (Photo by Ash Daniel)
When Troy Webber’s grandfather bought Chesterfield Auto Parts in 1947, inventory information was kept in a paper file. In the mid-2000s, when Webber’s father was running the business, everything was on a computer. Now, Webber has built an app, YardSmart, that stores everything he could need to know about his inventory. Last December, YardSmart won the Rvatech/ Innovation in Cloud Computing Award.
“Chesterfield Auto Parts is a self-service junkyard,” Webber says. “We have pictures of every vehicle so customers can see what the car looked like and what condition it was in. Then they go out into the field and select the parts for themselves.
“We’ve got high volume and low margins. We purchase vehicles knowing we’ll be able to recycle the metal to cover our expenses. Then we have fixed-menu pricing. An alternator, for example, costs the same whether it comes off a Honda or a Jaguar.”
Chesterfield Auto Parts must report to authorities whenever a purchase is made, whenever a car is put in the field for sale and whenever a car is crushed. In addition to listing make, model, point of sale and all other conceivable information about each piece, YardSmart automates the reporting process. For the customer, QR codes on vehicles display all information about the cars, and the second the car leaves the field, the online information disappears.
Webber uses the app at all three Chesterfield Auto Parts locations, and last year it was purchased for use by another business with the same self-service model. A shift to Silicon Valley, however, doesn’t appear to be in his future. “I’m not a software engineer,” he says. “I’m an automobile recycler. And I can’t imagine anything else I’d rather be doing.”
Learn more at yardsmartapp.com.
