Snyder's

Snyder's opened it's doors for business on August 10, 1988. That day was a realization of a dream for Ralph Snyder who had dreamed of owning a salvage yard since browsing through yards as a teenager. That is why at Snyder's we hold on to our old-time family values and we conduct business with the utmost integrity.At Snyder's our goal is to be the best auto and truck recycling operation in the state of Texas. Our plan to accomplish this goal is to provide quality recycled auto and truck parts using superior customer service at a price that will prove that used auto parts are the best value on the market today.

History

Snyder’s opened it’s doors for business on August 10, 1988. That day was a realization of a dream for Ralph Snyder who had dreamed of owning a salvage yard since browsing through yards as a teenager.
The opportunity had even knocked softly once in the early 1960′s when a local yard was offered for sale after the death of it’s long time owner. Ralph even presented the opportunity to his father and tried to urge him to purchase the dying business, but to no avail. The dream went dormant with the advent of a wife and family soon afterwards.
With a family to support, they moved to Phoenix, AZ. where the construction industry promised a bright future. Through the seventies and the early eighties, Ralph’s two oldest sons, Dan and Andy, grew into their teens and into the love of hot rods that their father had passed on. Both boys spent some time in the local yards around Phoenix browsing for parts to keep their cars running. The dream that once was Ralph’s now had planted a seed into Dan and Andy. More time would pass while the boys finished high school and went on to college.
In May of 1988 Dan graduated from Beloit College in Beloit, WI. with a bachelors of arts in Economics and Management. A few days later construction started on what would be the first building of Snyder’s. The building was constructed on 10 acres of land along state highway 95 just south of Holland, TX. (The Snyder family had relocated to central Texas just a year before). Once Snyder’s had opened its doors in August of 1988, Ralph and Dan plunged blindly into the world of entrepreneurship. The first cars were brought in using Ralph’s 1984 Chevrolet ¾ ton pickup with a $700 slide-in wrecker unit. After bending the frame on the pickup, Ralph shortened the frame on a 1962 Chevrolet C-60 and swapped the slide-in unit.
Income was supplemented in the early years by shop and mobile welding performed by Ralph and parts installations complete by Dan. Any cheap truck or car became a Snyder’s specialty in those early years. The first of thousands of vehicles purchased by Dan was a 1960 Falcon 4 door, bought for $50. Many more of these “cherries” would be hauled in before the move was made to late model salvage a few years later.
The early years were illustrated by the fact that there were no interchange manuals at Snyder’s. It was common practice to guess what part might be the same as the customers part and then pull it to match. Many times this scenario resulted in a lot of work with no pay. After a couple of years of “spinning wheels”, the first interchange manuals were purchased.
The next big change came in the form of computerization. A yard located near Austin, TX had decided to update to a Hollander Yard Management System and had offered it’s used Fast Parts system for sale. To Dan’s surprise, when he mentioned the available computer system to his father, the idea was received with open arms.
By 1993 more changes were under way at Snyder’s. Andy had decided to return to the family business after working as a forester in east Texas. A new 10,000 square foot warehouse was under construction at that time as well. Snyder’s was poised to step up to the plate and become a modern auto recycler. After moving into the new warehouse and dedicating themselves to becoming 100% computerized, the first voice “hot line” was installed. Many Saturdays and Sundays were spent by Dan and Andy inventorying the approximately 1500 vehicles that were already in place in the yard. It would take about two years of overtime work and attrition by crushing before the yard was 100% computerized.
The Fast Parts computer system had helped Snyder’s get its inventory computerized, but it had its limits. Snyders had begun to sell parts wholesale to other yards on the Compass Lone Star Hot Line and sensed that there was a lot more demand to be tapped into. Snyders wanted EDEN. The EDEN network was a computerized hot line linking approximately 2500 yards across the United States and Canada. The problem was that Eden was not available throught the Fast Parts system so another change was eminent. In October of 1996 Snyder’s purchased the Hollander Yard Management System to facilitate access to EDEN. This one move probably had the single largest effect on the volume of business done at Snyder’s up to that time.
Another Snyder sibling joined the team in 1998. Bonnie, who had been an office manager at a doctor’s office in Phoenix, decided to start a family. She approached Dan about doing the books full time at home for Snyder’s, After consultation with and agreement by Andy and Ralph,Snyder’s and Bonnie have never looked back. Approximately two years later Bonnie and her husband, Nick, have moved to Holland to be closer to the family and facilitate a better working environment as the company continued to grow.
By 2002 Travis, the youngest member of the family had graduated from college and returned to the family business as a Production Manager. Travis had grown up in and around the business and had already made significant contributions working as a Part Puller, Delivery Driver, Dismantler, and a Sales Person during his breaks and vacations around school.
As Snyder’s moved deeper into the new millennium the industry had again changed in ways that would demand the family business to work more like a business and less like a family. Consolidation had begun in earnest a few years earlier and that prompted Snyder’s being invited into the fledgling new group of independent recyclers that was referred to as the “Part Source of Texas”. PST was a group of independent recyclers with progressive and professional ideas about how the future of the Automotive Recycling Industry would need to be ran. From this group came unique ideas about marketing and business practices. All of these were embraced in masse at Snyder’s. PST has grown as well. From a few yards spread out in Texas the group has grown and merged it’s way to over 100 facilities spread all over the continental United States. The group is now referred to as Team PRP.
A new way of doing business demanded a new computer system that would be more adept to managing our new business model in a professional manner. Pinnacle was a system that was quickly growing from a startup brainchild of a handful of recyclers to the premier Yard Management System in our industry. After careful consideration, Snyder’s took the leap.
During this period of the early to mid-2000’s, Dan and Andy began taking an active role in the industry in a quest for more knowledge. All meetings, conferences, and seminars were targeted for attendance. The commitment was rewarded with knowledge and ideas that continue to feed the innovation of Snyder’s to this day.
By 2007 the Snyder’s family decided that another major leap in it’s evolution was due. It was decided that in an effort to compliment the full service recycling business, an expansion would be done to a new location where the self-service side of the industry would be explored. Since that time the innovative ideas and quality people that we have accumulated have led to multiple locations spread all over the great state of Texas.
Currently Snyder’s is looking deeper into the new millennium with anticipation. As our immediate families continue to grow, our extended families inside our companies continue to grow as well. One of the special blessings that we have are the wonderful people who work with us every day. We continue to run our companies with the “Golden Rule” being the fundamental ethic that all others spring from. “Treat others the way you would like to be treated.” Isn’t that a simple, wonderful way to run yourself, your family, your company, and your life? We think so.
Rest assured, with this guiding ethic, and with these wonderful Team Members, Snyder’s will face the challenges of the future with a professional outlook and always strive to be the best at whatever we do. The future looks bright indeed!!!

Facility

At Snyder’s we are extremely proud of our facility. We feel that a quality organization will have a quality acility to operate in. For this reason we take pride in the fact that we continually reinvest a large percentage of our income back into the infrastructure of Snyder’s. This investment has provided Snyder’s with the best facility of any automotive recycler in central Texas.
Snyder’s currently occupies 20 acres of land in southern Bell county. The entire yard is fenced and the parking lot and building area is lined with color coordinated galvalume tin.
Three large buildings dominate the main compound area. One building is our vehicle processing facility. In this building we have 3 bays fully equipped with vehicle lifts, compressed air, waste fluid pump, and other systems designed to facilitate the environmentally friendly dismantling of our salvage vehicles. All vehicles pass through this building before continuing to their temporary resting place in the yard.
The second of the three buildings, and also the largest, is a combination of offices, waiting room, small parts warehouse, engine and transmission warehouse, core warehouse, shipping, and loading dock. All of this is accomplished using 2 levels and a large amount of shelves and racking to hold the parts.
The third building is our body shop. This building has 3 large double bays, a frame machine, a paint booth, as well as a specially designed compressed air system. In this building we employ I-CAR certified body men who rebuild previously damaged vehicles for resale. This rebuilding process is discussed in further detail in our “REBUILDERS” section.
All of the above buildings are tied together with concrete slabs allowing easy access to all buildings in any weather with any of our warehouse or yard forklifts. Also found between the buildings housed on racks are complete front end assemblies, door assemblies, pickup beds, wheels, and rear end assemblies.
Great strides have been made in the last several years at Snyder’s. We have constantly reinvested in our facility because we feel that quality recycled parts must be stored in a quality environment in order to preserve them in pristine condition. Even though we already have a very good automotive recycling facility we will not become complacent. We will continue to improve and invest in our infrastructure so that we may serve you the customer better, and preserve the quality recycled auto and truck parts that soon will be at home on your vehicle.

Inventory Control

Inventory control and accuracy has been a high priority of Snyder’s since first installing a computerized inventory system in 1993. It was discovered early on in dealing some computerized yards that the salesmen who worked at these yards often times did not trust their own inventory.Snyder’s owners and employees decided that they were at an advantage since
they would be starting from scratch adding inventory into the computer. With a goal of 100% accuracy in mind, Dan and Andy Snyder have created a system that has many checks and rechecks built into it. It was clearly understood that computers do not make mistakes, but humans do, so it was the focus of our system that these checks and rechecks would look for the mistakes made by normal humans.
The inventory process at Snyder’s begins soon after the arrival of the salvaged vehicle. Dan Snyder inventories all vehicles using a preprinted inventory sheet generated by the Hollander Yard Management System. There is the possibility of inventorying 105 separate pieces on each vehicle. The preprinted inventory sheet has an outline based on listing of all options available for each of the 105 parts. This outline-based listing allows easy viewing and easy selection of the correct option used on that particular vehicle.Each sheet metal part is wiped off with a rag to remove loose road debris and to bring out more gloss and reflection. These parts are then looked at very closely from an angle paying particular attention to reflections on the paint. This is the best way to spot any minor imperfections in the sheet metal part. The imperfections are described in detail and assigned a damage amount. The damage amount is the amount of time necessary to “clean up” or repair the imperfection in a body shop and restore the part to its like new, pre-paint condition. The following are the general rules used to determine “cleanup” time at Snyder’s.

The inventory process and the dismantling process merge when the vehicle is moved into the dismantling facility. At this point the dismantler has the inventory sheet which he uses for instructions in the dismantling process. The dismanteler also takes advantage of this opportunity to check for mistakes made by the original inventory person, as well as check the condition of “hidden” parts. Checking the condition of these hidden parts is facilitated by vehicle lifts and tools not available at the time of the original inventory. Many other questions can be answered at this time as well. Things such as the amount of amperage an alternator puts out cannot be accurately determined at the time of the initial inventory. The dismantler also will start and run each vehicle until it at normal operating temperature. A compression reading is taken on each cylinder and the high and low readings are noted. At this time the spark plugs are inspected for any signs of oil usage. Listening to the engine, checking compression and inspecting the spark plugs give a very good overall impression of the actual condition of the engine. All this information is recorded for further use by the salesman when representing the engine to the potential customer. Transmissions are inspected at this time as well. Automatic transmissions are put into Drive and Reverse to insure that they will go into both gears. If the vehicle has over 100,000 miles on it, the fluid pan will be removed and the unit will be inspected for any metal shavings or inordinate amount of clutch material, which may have accumulated in the pan. If it is possible, manual transmissions will be put into each gear and the clutch released to listen for worn gears or bearings.
After the vehicle is totally dismantled and before it leaves the dismantling building the entire vehicle is re-inventoried piece by piece to insure the accuracy of the original inventory as well as update information of hidden parts. At this point some parts are even deleted after being found to be of inferior quality or possibly damaged in the dismantling process itself. All of this extra effort is put forward in an attempt to have an accurate description of the part in the computer and ultimately to provide a quality used part to the consumer as it was described by the sales person.
Inventory accuracy is also enhanced by the data entry person. At the time of entry into the computer the data entry person enters the information, line by line, from the printed inventory sheet into the computer data banks. At each keystroke the inventory is double-checked for accuracy by the clerk. Mistakes made by the original inventory person are often found at this point and corrected before impacting the integrity of the inventory accuracy.
Inventory accuracy does not end when the dismantled vehicle is moved to the yard. On the contrary the inventory is constantly changed and updated as the vehicle ages in the yard. Any inventory change that may occur due to parts sales or accidental damage incurred in the yard is noted on the pull slip by the part puller. These changes are then corrected at the end of each day by the individual salesman that created the pull slip initially.
The latest addition done at Snyder’s in an effort to reduce inventory problems was the creation of a new position. A Yard Foreman position was created and staffed by the most senior yardman. This persons responsibilities include inspecting the part for condition before it is pulled, inspecting the job site after the pull is finished, and following through to be sure the part has been placed in the correct location with the correct stock number and the salespersons initials. If inventory accuracy has been compromised at any of these steps it is the Yard Foreman’s responsibility to bring the information to the attention of the sales staff for corrections in the computer.
As you can probably guess, not all automotive recycling facilities go through this much trouble to keep their inventory accurate. These extra steps cost money. Snyder’s feels that this money is well spent and that it actually will return to them many times over in satisfied customers and a professional reputation that will follow them into the coming years.