By Michael V. Freeze, Managing Editor aftermarketnews.com
CHICAGO — The latter half of the Aftermarket eForum brought attendees to hear some breakouts and some views of the aftermarket from the military and a software corporate giant.
The second half of day two at Aftermarket eForum featured a series of “Breakout Session.” The first session (three in total) named Sales Force Automation (SFA): Best Practices and Innovative Technology featured Mark Axley, director of marketing technology for Affinia Group Todd Campu, database administrator for Clevite Engine Parts; Jay Guddat, vice president of the CARQUEST division at Gates and Jeff Koviak, director of national sales – central for Tenneco Automotive.
Each panel member presented examples of his company’s successes from implementing SFA using the models of report management, managing workflow, and inventory management. The sales teams of all involved proved after implementation to be more efficient and productive.
The second session featured Ron Decker, founder of Decker Auto Supply Fresno, CA and Chris Piston, sales manager at United Auto Supply in Syracuse, NY.
Moderated by AAIA’s Robert Morris, the session titled “eBusiness for Small and Medium Resellers,” showcased the success and challenges involved in their implementations of e-commerce software. Decker chose Activant and United Auto Supply preferred Wrenchhead.
Decker and Piston both saw their stores, in their first year after implementing the software, post double digits sales increases of 20% and 33% respectively.
The last session featured moderator Bob Moore from Bob Moore & Partners Moderator, Scott Luckett of AAIA, Bob Castle of Global Accessories and Jon Wyly of Arrow Speed Warehouse.
“Internet Parts Ordering: A Win-Win Strategy for Specialty Products in Automotive Retail Outlets” was a Q&A session where the automotive retailers used their industry examples to describe what it takes to explore new business opportunities concerning industry standards.
The second day ended in a reception gathering in the vendor area at the Chicago Hyatt O’Hare Hotel.
DAY 3 – AFTERMARKET eFORUM
In the third and final day of the eForum, the conference shined the spotlight on the Department of Defense and its use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Carl Gardner of the Department of Defense, Automatic Identification Technology (AIT) Office, much to the crowd’s surprise, conducted his entire speech without setting a foot near or on the stage and continuously moved throughout his presentation.
“Serving twenty years in the military, there was one thing I learned” joked Gardner as he explained his unorthodox style. “It’s hard to hit a moving target.”
Gardner explained to the crowd the growing influence of RFID. In addition to the DoD and other government agencies like the FDA and Department of Homeland Security, the identification standard has made its way to consumer retailers such as, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Kroger’s. “RFID is not just ‘barcodes on steroids;’” said Gardner.
In closing, Gardner envisions a world where the use of RFID would impact everyday life.
In the future, everything that you’ll will see at the individual level, when it gets to the price point of a penny a tag, everything that you’ll buy, delivery, receive or see will have an some type of RFID device on it,” said Gardner.
The second set of speakers consisted of Microsoft’s John Stenlake and Drew Gude and Director of Internet development David Dickinson of the Robert Bosch Corporation.
“When most think of Microsoft,” said Gude. “They think of Windows, Office and Excel…Microsoft is also a manufacturer.”
In the session titled “A Microsoft View of the Aftermarket” Gude reminded the software giant makes keyboards, mouse and its game console, X-Box. Stenlake described how Microsoft established business relationship with key aftermarket companies like Robert Bosch Corporation with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
As we start, in a few months, to roll out Office 12, and let’s be honest, all it used to be was a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation thrown into a box,” said Stenlake. “We are changing the role products like that in order to wire into an ecosystems that enables a concept of SOA to help you run your business better, make more with less and do things cheaper, faster, better.
After the break, Todd Sharman, Vice President-Automotive at Canadian Tire spoke to the attendees about his company’s processes involved in category management.
“Category management is simply a process to develop, manage and measure category strategies, Sharman said briefing the attendees. “However, it’s not that simple.”
Sharman presented and explained in detail the five objectives for category management: Alignment of category strategies with the marketing strategy; enable the prioritization and allocation of resources; support the development of the financial plan; enable alignment across strategic partners and capture the needs and wants of customers.
“Category management is how you delivery your strategy,” said Sharman. “And you need to place the focus on the customer.”
The final featured speaker Frank Murphy, director retail technology for Ace Hardware, presented the company’s case study titled “Growth Through Technology – The Ace Hardware Story.”
The company has generated more than $3 billion in wholesale sales and more than $13 billion in retail sales. One of the qualities Murphy noted in his speech was consistency.
“If you send your grandmother an ACE hardware gift card in Arizona, and she goes into the local store and finds she can’t use it, it’s hard on the consumer and tough to turn that opinion around,” said Murphy. “(To eliminate those situations) we need to keep having consistency.”
The forum was presented by Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA), Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), AIA Canada and Automotive Warehouse Distributors Association (AWDA).
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