EDWARDS, MO – In order to better adapt to a changing business environment, the Production Engine Remanufacturers Association (PERA) has restructured its membership criteria for 2007, making membership available to engine builders that are building 25 engines per month or averaging one per day.
“‘Business as usual’ no longer exists at any level, be it equipment manufacturers, parts manufacturers or the professional engine rebuilders,” says PERA President Mark Fellanto of Promar Precision Engine Rebuilders in Paterson, NJ. “As an association, we are moving forward and making the changes necessary to benefit the entire engine builder/remanufacturer sector of the automotive aftermarket industry.”
Engine building professionals producing one per day are fighting the same battles of engine proliferation that plague their colleagues building 50 or more, says Fellanto. With proliferation issues becoming vehicle platform specific, information services offer the strongest potential for future growth of the entire engine building industry, he explains. “And there is no better resource for product identification outside of the OE than the PER sector. The old days of casting numbers being an identifier are over. The exchange of information and digital photography over the Internet has become the norm in this association and we need to embrace all those fighting this battle. Together we are a force to be reckoned with.”
Members of PERA have access to EngineDataSource.com (EDS), a comprehensive source for engine casting and parts identification available. “The full embrace of AAIA standards – both Legacy and ACES – have catapulted EngineDataSource.com into the forefront of that information highway,” Fellanto explains.
“One of EDS’s true benefits to the industry is not only providing casting identification via numbers and images but with the program’s mapping capability,” said Roy Berndt, EDS research director. “The driving force of EDS by Illumaware and its EvoKat mapping tool has made the infusion of data a virtual ease. EDS allows any and all aftermarket parts manufacturers to import their data seamlessly, with the issue of inaccuracy being eliminated.”
PERA has also made monumental efforts in reaching out to the education sector of the industry by providing extremely reduced costs in of all PERA’s services and technical programs. “These are the up and coming technicians of the industry and if we do not provide them with the best resource available we jeopardize our industry’s future,” Fellanto says. “In addition, the relationship we have forged with Mitchell to provide the most current engine specification information puts us years ahead of anything out there for the rebuilders.”
Go to EngineDataSource.com, for a 30 day free trial of EDS or for additional information.
