July 7, 2005, 9 a.m. EST
BROCKVILLE, ONT., CANADA — The light-vehicle aftermarket meets the heavy-duty market at the 5th annual Aftermarket e-Forum when Detroit Diesel Corporation, a global supplier of heavy-duty diesel engines and parts dealers and distributors worldwide, takes the podium and reveals how implementation of a new Product Information Management solution helped the company stop a $1.5 million a month revenue leak while reducing time-to-market by 80 percent for new parts, pricing and catalogs.
John Ruck, Director Parts Sales & Logistics for MTU-Detroit Diesel, will discuss how getting the right part, at the right price, to the right place, at the right time translated not only into additional revenue and efficiency for the company, but also resulted in dramatic improvements in overall customer satisfaction for its 2,700 dealers and distributors around the globe.
Ruck’s presentation will focus on the value and ROI that Pricedex’s centralized Product Information Management system can provide to a corporation and its entire selling chain – whether it’s a heavy-duty supplier or aftermarket manufacturer. He’ll discuss how taking a holistic approach to implementing a PIM solution enabled the company to standardize, normalize and synchronize product data throughout its business, e-commerce, catalog and publishing systems. This, in turn, allowed DDC to minimize ongoing IT involvement and support, and maximize sales and marketing productivity with customers.
Detroit Diesel’s positive results track those of a study commissioned by the AAIA that showed product and pricing data that is not synchronized between trading partners is costing the aftermarket industry approximately 1.75 percent of the sales volume between suppliers and their direct accounts. The AAIA reports the 2004 retail sales volume of the U.S. Motor Vehicle aftermarket to be $257 billion.
Ruck will be one of eight featured presenters at the annual Aftermarket e-Forum being held at the Hyatt O’Hare Regency in Chicago, July 19-21. Other speakers include Frank Murphy, Ace Hardware; Drew Gude, Microsoft; Lisa Henkel, Gates; Jon Rubich, United Components; John Saia, University of Toyota; Todd Sharman, Canadian Tire; and Dennis Welvaert, Dayco/Mark IV.
The annual Aftermarket e-Forum focuses on how e-commerce and supply chain technologies can help aftermarket manufacturers and retailers improvement their competitiveness and profitability.
The Aftermarket e-Forum technology conference is presented by five leading aftermarket organizations including AAIA, MEMA, SEMA, AIA Canada and AWDA. Registration information and the agenda can be found at www.aftermarket.org/Events/Aftermarket_eForum/.
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