yeah I tried to get my old boss to do this--put together service kits for the most popular Kubota's. ZG100 series, standard L series, etc.
He wouldn't do it. Said "takes too much time".
But they put the same parts together every time I sent an R/O in to pull them, so it really doesn't. The way I envisioned it, if the parts guys ain't doing nothing, have em throw together a service kit for those popular models, and have them on a shelf. Then when the grease monkeys need service parts, they don't have to wait days or weeks or months for the parts guys to pull those parts.
Im doing Polaris now and they have service kits for almost all of their models. Saves time, saves money. Efficiency improved overall. The kits even come with a funnel. Cardboard, but it works.
At the kubota dealer, the way the shop worked was the most inefficient possible way. SM puts a R/O in the slot for each tech. I walk all the way across the shop and grab a R/O and clock into that job. Go find the key, which is on a pegboard with a hundred or so others. Spend time picking it out, since they all kinda blend together. Walk out to the back lot, find equipment-log/verify serial number and hours/miles. Drive it into shop-if it runs. If just general servicing, I'm already into it about 20 minutes on average. Take R/O to parts, tell em I need service parts (oil, filter, air filter, etc). Go back to shop, do the basic checks-loader bolts, wheel bolts, safety switches, etc. and wait for parts to bring parts. Sometimes it's 10 minutes. Most of the time it's several days depending on how busy they were. Average was 3 1/2 days. I know it's gonna take a while so I drive it out and repeat the process, get another R/O. Well after a while, you've started on 8 or 10 jobs in a day that you can't finish. By the end of the week those R/O's that don't have parts pulled are non-paying jobs for us commission workers. We (techs) lose money because of poor management, and they're too stubborn to change it because parts takes precedence over service. it's that way at a lot of shops, but not all of them. Place I'm at now, if I need a part I go get it myself and continue the repair/service with few or no delays. Customer's equipment is in/out within 48 hours at most. Last place? Average backlog was 14 business days (almost 3 weeks) plus actual shop time. Total average 3 weeks and 2 days. It should not be that way. And at the old place, since I'm clocked into the job the minute I grab the R/O, it costs the customer more money than it should.