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Behind Sliding Doors: A Look at What’s New at Rovers North What do you do with an old barn? That’s a good question. What about an old barn that was Rovers North’s sole building when it all began? Let’s take a step through the door from the adjacent sales department into the attached barn where old world meets modern day. The barn has character, including an old wooden sliding door that we still employ today. It’s a bit cantankerous to manage, unless you’ve got some Herculean strength in your arms and torso. When the door slams shut, because there’s no way to close it gingerly, not By Mike Koch run similar diameter gray plastic pipes, containing the cables for the high-speed computer network, which run to the computer that processes receiving and returns. Cobwebs sway lazily from rafters, in a surge of air from the old heater that hangs from the ceiling. Like the barn, it’s old but it earns its keep heating the workspace. A welcome luxury at the time of installation, considering the barn was unheated during the first few years it was in service. Keep in mind this is northern Vermont, where temperatures can stay well below Rovers North Fall of 1979 only do you hear it, you feel it…from inside the sales department. I’m convinced the contents of the bookshelf on the abutting wall will one day come cascading down on some poor salesman’s head while he’s taking a customer’s order. With its poured concrete floor, which has “7-10-81” finger-drawn in the once wet cement, the barn once played the role of the Rovers North’s shop. Long before Land Rovers had advanced electronic engine management systems. This was during the era of points and condensers, simpler times. If those faintly oil-stained floors and post and beam frame could only speak, I’d bet they’d have verses to share on all sorts of projects. Today, steel lines for the former shop’s compressed air still course the walls, even though they haven’t been used in over a decade. On an adjacent wall zero for days, if not weeks, during a cold spell in the winter. Looking through the windows, distant picturesque mountains create the horizon, past the small family-run farms that run up and down Route 128. Ages ago, it housed a helical staircase, which was the only means of getting to the second floor. The majority of the parts for our mail order customers and our shop were stored there. Bulky parts, like exhaust systems were scary to handle on the narrow and precariously steep staircase. One wrong move and you’d go tumbling down, with whatever you were carrying, like Humpty Dumpty. Today, we climb a much wider and reassuring set of stairs to the second floor, where it’s remains unheated. There’s pink fiberglass insulation 8
visible in the ceiling and daylight shining up from the gaps in between the floorboards. These days, the second floor is used as storage for everything from old invoices, wing skins, windscreens, and an array of slightly used vintage parts. A yellowed box of invoices partially blocks an old poster, advertising Fairey Overdrives, which looks like it’s been hanging there since Series trucks were rolling off the assembly lines in Solihull. While the barn is nothing fancy to look at, which is just the way we like it; a lot goes on behind that quarrelsome sliding door. For years, the shipping and receiving departments were combined in one warehouse, which replaced the barn’s cramped storage duties. While this layout worked for years, our business has since grown, along with the volumes of both shipping and receiving. The increased volume and variety of parts entering the receiving department, shared with the shipping department, jeopardized sequence. While we tried to avoid this, space limitations used to constrict what we consider an acceptable time frame for a return. Furthermore, the move enabled us to set questionable parts aside for a more thorough investigation. Now, they can be separately sorted and/or stored until the following can be determined: return the part to stock, label it for sale as a clearance item, or send it back to Land Rover as a genuinely defective part. In addition, the new location of our receiving area is adjacent to the sales department, easing communication with sales in the case of a questionable return. While relocating the receiving department, we’ve also reallocated where some of our larger items, such as Hi-Lift jacks and our full line of exhaust systems, to increase efficiency for the pick and pack team. By inventorying some of our larger items closer to the receiving department, the warehouse team no longer has to take time managing bulky items from one side of the warehouse to the other, Rovers North Winter of 2007 efficiency for the following reasons: incoming parts could inadvertently get mixed up with existing inventory and be mislabeled and/or misplaced. Furthermore, by moving the receiving department to another location within Rovers North, we can organize and optimally utilize existing space while offering ourselves more room to expand when the time comes. How does this move help us provide better customer service? Seeing as the cycle of processing a returned part begins in the receiving department, moving the receiving department to a more spacious location helps efficiency. With an increase in space, Rovers North can methodically process returns in terms of “first in, first out”, rather than having returns congest the shelves and fall out of and back again when it comes time to ship a part. The receiving department has been relocated for a number of weeks now, and the improvements in efficiency are quite noticeable. As for the old barn, it’s still in use, playing a vital role at Rovers North! _______ ________ 9
Page 1 and 2: Simply Irresistible TAH-TAH FORD
Page 3 and 4: HEATERS A B C D E F (A) Genuine Smi
Page 5 and 6: Dear Rovers North, Thanks to Les [P
Page 7: ELECTRICAL / HELLA (A) Hella Rallye
Page 11 and 12: EXTERIOR / TIRE COVERS, MUD FLAPS,
Page 14 and 15: OFF-ROAD / TRACTION MATS, FUEL CANS
Page 16 and 17: OFF-ROAD / PROTECTION RECOVERY A (A
Page 18 and 19: OFF-ROAD / PROTECTION A RNA7402 B R
Page 20 and 21: So You Want To Buy a Defender So yo
Page 22 and 23: SUSPENSION / PERFORMANCE SUSPENSION
Page 24 and 25: SUSPENSION / PARABOLIC SPRING SETS
Page 26 and 27: SUSPENSION / COMPETITION ACCESSORIE
Page 28 and 29: SUSPENSION / COIL VONVERSION KITS C
Page 30 and 31: Simply Irresistible Story by Mike K
Page 32 and 33: than myself! The purposeful burble,
Page 34 and 35: MECHANICAL / FOOTWELLS, WHELL CYLIN
Page 36 and 37: MECHANICAL / CLUTCH MASTER CYLINDER
Page 38 and 39: MECHANICAL / CV JOINTS, OIL FILTERS
Page 40 and 41: MECHANICAL / EXHAUST SYSTEMS NRP PE
Page 42 and 43: Land Rover Corporate Info 10-07 LAN
Page 44 and 45: TAH-TAH FORD By Calef Letorney Just
Page 46 and 47: A Swiss Army Knife at the Mid Atlan
Page 48 and 49: Zak Ruck’s white P38 is sitting o
Page 50 and 51: Employee Profile: A Look at Dirk Pa
Page 52 and 53: BEHIND THE STEERING WHEEL By Jeffre
Page 54 and 55: BODY PANELS / DEFENDER 90, 110 NAS
Page 56 and 57: BODY PANELS / DISCOVERY I 1994 - 19
Page 58 and 59:
Door, Wheel Carrier, Mud Flaps, Win
Page 60 and 61:
WIPER BLADES, ARMS & CAPS, MOTORS -
Page 62 and 63:
SIGHTINGS The Sightings Editor has
Page 64:
GENUINE PARTS - ACCESSORIES - EXPER
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