Troy Webber, owner of Yardsmart and Chesterfield Auto Parts, in front of a license plate collection in his office at Chesterfield Auto Parts in Richmond. (Jack Jacobs photo)
Troy Webber now is selling more than just used car parts.
The owner of Chesterfield Auto Parts recently launched Yardsmart, a software program designed to streamline the operations of self-service auto junkyards such as those run by his family’s long-standing company in Richmond, Chesterfield and Prince George.
Car junkyards feature acres of broken-down vehicles that customers can explore for specific parts to pull off vehicles and buy, such as seats, dashboard pieces and doors. Yardsmart is pitched as an all-in-one solution to handling the acquisition, management and sale of such inventory.
The Yardsmart software allows users to monitor inventory, purchase and process vehicles, track scrap metal sales and handle reporting to government agencies, among other features.
Yardsmart is a replacement program for software that Chesterfield Autos Parts developed for its own use in the 1990s. Webber had sold a subscription service to that software to a few other yards over the years.
“As far back as the late ’90s we had been designing our own software,” Webber said. “This is the second time we created software from the ground up for our use.”
Webber hired Henrico-based Simple Thread to develop the platform. He estimated that more than $1 million has been invested in the software’s development, which started in late 2019.
Yardsmart is a cloud-based software platform designed for the management of self-service auto parts yards. (Photo courtesy of Yardsmart)
While other similar management programs are available, Webber said he was inspired to develop Yardsmart because he couldn’t find an existing product with all the features he wanted, such as the ability to handle multiple locations.
Webber said that Yardsmart’s status as a cloud-based product, meaning it is accessible on devices as long as there’s an internet connection, sets it apart.
“That’s a big difference from us and other similar products. It’s just a website. You can get online from a laptop, a desktop, even cellphones out in the field,” he said.
Webber said it was common in the industry for junkyard operators to have a patchwork system of programs to handle different aspects of yard operations.
“(Junkyard operators will say), ‘We’re doing it with seven apps and two subscriptions.’ It’s nice to have it in one package,” Webber said.
The cloud-based program is sold as a monthly subscription. Webber said pricing starts at $500 a month and can be tweaked based on the number of yards a customer operates.
Webber said he had one customer as of earlier this week, a Tennessee company with one yard. He said he hopes to have five subscribed customers by the end of the year. Chesterfield Auto Parts also uses the program at its three locations, and served as the testing grounds for Yardsmart.
Webber is the third-generation owner of Chesterfield Auto Parts. His grandfather founded the company in 1947 when he bought the auto parts yard at 5111 Old Midlothian Turnpike in Richmond.
Webber bought the business from his dad in 2008. Four years later, Webber bought the company’s yard at 12910 Genito Road in Chesterfield from a competitor and it reopened under the Chesterfield Auto Parts banner in 2013. The company’s Prince George location opened in 1991.
Chesterfield Auto Parts has about 1,800 vehicles on its three yards at any given time. The company has about 110 employees and generated $18 million in revenue in 2022, Webber said.
Yardsmart shares some employees with Chesterfield Auto Parts beyond its dedicated programmer. Yardsmart also is expected to have ongoing support from Simple Thread.
Yardsmart was the winner of RVATech’s Innovation in Cloud Computing award in 2022 and Webber unveiled the point-of-sale and management software at a trade show in Orlando, Florida, last fall. He’s betting such face time will be the key to the new product’s success.
“It’s such a new product, no one has heard of it so we can introduce it one-on-one. …It’s more impactful to talk to the person who not only created the software but who is someone in the industry,” Webber said. “We feel the market is ready for this type of product.”
Troy Webber, owner of Yardsmart and Chesterfield Auto Parts, in front of a license plate collection in his office at Chesterfield Auto Parts in Richmond. (Jack Jacobs photo)
Troy Webber now is selling more than just used car parts.
The owner of Chesterfield Auto Parts recently launched Yardsmart, a software program designed to streamline the operations of self-service auto junkyards such as those run by his family’s long-standing company in Richmond, Chesterfield and Prince George.
Car junkyards feature acres of broken-down vehicles that customers can explore for specific parts to pull off vehicles and buy, such as seats, dashboard pieces and doors. Yardsmart is pitched as an all-in-one solution to handling the acquisition, management and sale of such inventory.
The Yardsmart software allows users to monitor inventory, purchase and process vehicles, track scrap metal sales and handle reporting to government agencies, among other features.
Yardsmart is a replacement program for software that Chesterfield Autos Parts developed for its own use in the 1990s. Webber had sold a subscription service to that software to a few other yards over the years.
“As far back as the late ’90s we had been designing our own software,” Webber said. “This is the second time we created software from the ground up for our use.”
Webber hired Henrico-based Simple Thread to develop the platform. He estimated that more than $1 million has been invested in the software’s development, which started in late 2019.
Yardsmart is a cloud-based software platform designed for the management of self-service auto parts yards. (Photo courtesy of Yardsmart)
While other similar management programs are available, Webber said he was inspired to develop Yardsmart because he couldn’t find an existing product with all the features he wanted, such as the ability to handle multiple locations.
Webber said that Yardsmart’s status as a cloud-based product, meaning it is accessible on devices as long as there’s an internet connection, sets it apart.
“That’s a big difference from us and other similar products. It’s just a website. You can get online from a laptop, a desktop, even cellphones out in the field,” he said.
Webber said it was common in the industry for junkyard operators to have a patchwork system of programs to handle different aspects of yard operations.
“(Junkyard operators will say), ‘We’re doing it with seven apps and two subscriptions.’ It’s nice to have it in one package,” Webber said.
The cloud-based program is sold as a monthly subscription. Webber said pricing starts at $500 a month and can be tweaked based on the number of yards a customer operates.
Webber said he had one customer as of earlier this week, a Tennessee company with one yard. He said he hopes to have five subscribed customers by the end of the year. Chesterfield Auto Parts also uses the program at its three locations, and served as the testing grounds for Yardsmart.
Webber is the third-generation owner of Chesterfield Auto Parts. His grandfather founded the company in 1947 when he bought the auto parts yard at 5111 Old Midlothian Turnpike in Richmond.
Webber bought the business from his dad in 2008. Four years later, Webber bought the company’s yard at 12910 Genito Road in Chesterfield from a competitor and it reopened under the Chesterfield Auto Parts banner in 2013. The company’s Prince George location opened in 1991.
Chesterfield Auto Parts has about 1,800 vehicles on its three yards at any given time. The company has about 110 employees and generated $18 million in revenue in 2022, Webber said.
Yardsmart shares some employees with Chesterfield Auto Parts beyond its dedicated programmer. Yardsmart also is expected to have ongoing support from Simple Thread.
Yardsmart was the winner of RVATech’s Innovation in Cloud Computing award in 2022 and Webber unveiled the point-of-sale and management software at a trade show in Orlando, Florida, last fall. He’s betting such face time will be the key to the new product’s success.
“It’s such a new product, no one has heard of it so we can introduce it one-on-one. …It’s more impactful to talk to the person who not only created the software but who is someone in the industry,” Webber said. “We feel the market is ready for this type of product.”