LKQ Corporation Acquires Albert Lea Auto Salvage, Inc.
LKQ Corp. has acquired Albert Lea Auto Salvage, Inc., a privately held company that operates a recycled OEM automotive replacement parts facility. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Located south of Minneapolis in Albert Lea, Minn., Albert Lea Auto Salvage will service the greater Minneapolis and St. Paul area, and provide a strategic link within LKQ’s network of facilities.
DST Asks: Parts Distributors — Do Your Customers Order Parts Online?
Help Wanted – Parts Counterman, Requirements: Must be willing to work 365 days per year, 24 hours per day. Understands and has committed to memory a world-class multi-line parts catalog. Always knows correct pricing of each item. Processes parts orders in nanoseconds. Never puts customers on hold. Works for electricity – no salary or extra benefits. Any bets on how many responses you’ll get to that classified ad? Selling auto parts would be a lot easier and less costly if you could make those kinds of hires. Actually, it turns out that such resources are available today, just not human resources, the kind we would advertise for in the local paper. Instead, we might call them “cyber-employees” – a new species that forms the backbone of e-business and works in the world of browser-based technology on the Internet.
Transpro Names Paul Verdile Senior Product Manager
Transpro has appointed Paul Verdile senior product manager for its Automotive Light Truck Heat Exchanger Business Unit. In this position Verdile will be responsible for all product development and strategic planning functions for product lines that include Ready-Rad radiators and Ready-Aire heater cores and air conditioning condensers. He will report to Layne Gobrogge, Transpro’s vice president of marketing and will be based in New Haven, Conn.
DST Asks:Does Your Multi-Store Business Management System Capture and Consolidate Operating Information?
It’s the American way. Start your own business. Perfect your methods. Hire good people. Grow your customer base. Perfect the idea at one location, then expand by adding new locations that share the same business model. Thousands of successful retail enterprises have started in exactly this way. It’s a fundamental way to apply the principle we all learned in Economics 101 – economies of scale. Business 101 would call it leverage. Good entrepreneurs call it survival!
DST Asks: Do You Sell from Inventory Locations that are Not Your Own or Are You Making Plans To?
The old maxim “You can’t sell from an empty shelf” has become outdated. Why? Because technology can ensure that shelves are never bare, at least from the customer’s standpoint, with the advent of the Virtual Inventory Network (VIN) — a term coined by DST to encompass B2B, B2C, and Peer-to-Peer e-commerce. A VIN, also sometimes referred to as a Virtual Sales Network, can provide leverage and cohesiveness of shared inventory across multiple trading partners both up and down and across the supply chain.
PPG Succeeds in Federal Court Against Refinish Components
PPG Automotive Refinish has won a major battle in the fight against illegally imported paint products. On February 18, the U.S. Federal District Court in Atlanta found John Malyon and Original Direct, both of Conyers, Ga., to be in contempt of court for violating a previous order enjoining them from selling illegally imported PPG paint and circumventing PPG’s authorized distribution network.
American Tire Distributors Adds to Team of Equipment Specialists
American Tire Distributors has added to its team of equipment specialists with the recent hiring of Ralph Bachemin. Bachemin, who joined American Tire Distributors in January, handles automotive equipment sales and service for the company’s Mobile, Ala., distribution center, covering Southern regions of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Bachemin joins a network of approximately 45 equipment specialists employed by American Tire Distributors across the U.S. who assist dealers in establishing and maintaining a productive automotive services shop.
Restructuring Charges Drive Midas to a Net Loss of $76.2 Million in 2003
Midas reported a net loss of $76.2 million — or $4.93 per diluted share — for fiscal 2003, which ended Jan. 3. Midas said the loss is primarily the result $102.6 million in charges related to its restructuring, completed in April. As part of the restructuring, Midas exited its wholesale distribution business and refocused its resources on retail franchising and real estate businesses.
DST Asks: What Value Do You See in Sharing Detailed Sales Data?
An ongoing dilemma exists between all tiers of the supply chain due to the gulf caused by lack of collaboration and sharing of sales information that would ultimately benefit all — manufacturers, distributors, parts retailers and service providers. Where do you stand on these issues? Our objective is to generate the thought and dialogue that might provide energy to new initiatives. See our special offer at the end of this week’s column!
Executive Interview with Jim Taylor, CEO of Thomas Group
Our latest edition of “Executive Interview” features Jim Taylor, CEO of the Thomas Group. Taylor joined the Thomas Group in 2001 as vice president and CFO. From 1997 to 2001, Taylor served as president of the Chancellor Group, a Dallas, Texas, management consulting firm, where he assisted companies in restructuring, raising funds and completing initial public offerings. Join us as Taylor tells us more about the Thomas Group culture and how it works for its clients.