Advance Auto Parts Names GRI Engineering & Development As 2016 Vendor Of The Year

Advance Auto Parts Inc. presented its 2016 Vendor of the Year awards during the company’s annual vendor summit held this week. Advance honored five companies, including GRI Engineering & Development LLC, which received recognition as Advance’s 2016 Vendor of the Year. Additional vendor partner awards included:

Commercial Excellence Vendor of the Year: CARDONE Industries
DIY Excellence Vendor of the Year: Valvoline
Superior Availability Vendor of the Year: Dorman Products Inc.
Supply Chain Reliability Vendor of the Year: TRICO Products

GRI Engineering & Development provides Advance with quality parts and solutions for its line of brake pads and brake products, and also was selected for delivering exemplary customer support, and providing quality testing and product management. The Vendor of the Year Award was presented to Steve Wang, founder and CEO of MAT Holdings Inc., at an annual awards dinner, which opened the 2016 Advance Auto Parts vendor summit.

“The five partners honored with our Vendor of the Year awards make possible Advance’s commitment to get the right part at the right time to every customer,” said Charles Tyson, executive vice president, merchandising, marketing and replenishment for Advance Auto Parts. “The quality products and services provided by each of these organizations make them industry leaders and integral business partners for Advance.”

GRI has partnered with Advance on brake products for more than a decade, and has received the Commercial Excellence award in previous years. The 2016 Commercial Excellence Vendor of the Year, CARDONE, was recognized for innovative category management, excellent field team support and delivering quality products that commercial customers trust.

Valvoline received the DIY Excellence Vendor of the Year award for advancing motor oil strategy through analytics, while Dorman was honored as the Superior Availability Vendor of the Year for expanded coverage offerings to benefit customers across the country. This is the second year in a row that Dorman has received the Superior Availability Vendor of the Year award from Advance.

TRICO Products Corp. received the Supply Chain Reliability Vendor of the Year award for its superior planning and management of weather-dependent product availability.

Federated Auto Parts Distributors announced it is entering into a collaboration with the Association of Independent Oil Distributors (AIOD) – one it said will focus on mutual benefits for the respective members.

“Federated is constantly looking at ways to improve value for all constituents and this agreement provides that,” said Sue Godschalk, president of Federated. “This collaboration provides added volume and opportunities for our suppliers, new partners for our members, and added supply points and products for shop customers. We have enjoyed working closely with several AIOD members in the past and this agreement will expand and create further opportunities for both Federated and AIOD.”