The Al Weiner Computer Story
A true story that happened in i992
Re-written 1/21/2019
Howard Yasgar
Back in the early 1990’s, I was in the automotive parts rebuilding business in Miami.
At the time, computers were just becoming popular for small companies like ours, but we didn’t know anything about them.
We wanted to computerize our company, but we didn’t have a clue as to what we needed, so we started randomly calling in computer companies that supposedly helped in computerizing small businesses.
We were told we would need a main frame computer which would need a dedicated air conditioned room with anti static carpeting.
We would also need a computer programmer to design a program for us to use.
So we had several meetings with computer consultants and their programmers.
We were told that the part numbering system that I had worked on for several years, was not compatible with a computerized system.
So we kept looking everywhere for a system that would work with our company.
At the time, in Miami there was a company called Alco Industries, it was owned by a friend of ours named Al Weiner.
Al Weiner’s company Alco Industries specialized in rebuilding automotive starters and alternators, much the same as we did, but Alco was a much larger company than ours.
The owner, Al Weiner thought he would get in on the ground floor in the automotive industry by designing a computer program that could be used by smaller rebuilding companies like ours.
Al, got together with Singer Corporation, they would supply Al with the main frame computers he needed and Al would supply the programming that would be needed.
I don’t remember if Al called us first, or we called him, but he invited us to his office to show us how well his system worked, we were a potential customer.
My partner Don and I sat in Al’s office as he proudly explained to us how his computer system worked.
When he was done, we felt he had designed an absolute masterpiece.
The program, he said had been designed especially for companies like ours, it would make us money, because it took into account every detail of our business.
His program calculated how many used parts could be reused, it calculated how many parts could be rebuilt, and how many new parts would be needed. The program also took into account the labor cost of each item, and the computer would calculated the total final cost of the unit being rebuilt.
Al was pretty proud of the system that he designed, it certainly sounded very impressive.
Before we left, as a final sales pitch, Al asked us if we would like to see his computer program in action.
Al had sitting on his desk his current parts catalog and his parts price sheet.
I looked over the price sheet, and I picked out one of the most popular starters that both our companies rebuilt.
It was a popular Ford starter known in the industry as a number 3124. I asked him to use that starter as an example.
Al, started punching in a few things on his keyboard, then he got up and motioned us to follow him.
We walked down a hallway and entered an anti static carpeted, air conditioned room with a row of Singer main frame computers all buzzing and clicking away, they even had little lights blinking.
Al, said it would take about 15 minutes for the computers to print out a complete report.
Well, It actually only took about 10 minutes, and a printer spit out a report that was about 10 feet long.
When the printer was done Al tore the printout off and carried it to his office with us following him.
Al couldn’t have been prouder, and with a big smile he said the computer print out said his cost was for rebuilding a 3124 starter, was exactly $24.50 each.
I opened up Al’s catalog and price list and it said he was selling that 3124 starter for $22.50 ea.
So according to his computer system, his company was losing $2.00 on every 3124 starter he sold, and had been doing so for several years.
Obviously Al had never checked his own computer to see if he was making any money.
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