Tenneco and Parts Warehouse Inc. (PWI) are the recipients of the inaugural Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) Channel Excellence Award presented by Epicor.
After narrowing down the entries to three finalists, a selection committee chose Tenneco and PWI for their shared data-analytics program, which focuses on inventory and sales optimization of Monroe ride-control components.
“Ultimately, this award is about encouraging the right behaviors in our industry: innovation and collaboration across the value chain,” AASA Executive Vice President Paul McCarthy said during the 2019 AASA Vision Conference in Dearborn, Michigan. “We know that this is what is needed to survive and to remain profitable in a changing industry. So we … need to celebrate where we are achieving this type of collaboration and channel excellence, because in our view, we can only win together.”
Joe Pase, IT executive director, Tenneco, and Fletcher Lord III, PWI vice president, accepted the award at the AASA Vision Conference.
The Tenneco/PWI initiative began in April 2018, when Tenneco analysts noted that PWI’s strut-assembly sales were under-indexing against market demand in its service areas. Tenneco sales representatives and members of its data-analytics team met with PWI leaders to propose a collaborative inventory analysis and repositioning to grow PWI’s share of the strut-assembly category, reduce lost sales and improve margin performance. The project involved extensive use of shared data analytics and was completed in August 2018.
“Upon implementation of the resulting stocking strategies, PWI immediately experienced significant, sustained improvements in out-the-door sales, average unit sale, inventory turns and market share,” Lord said. “We’re very proud to have our joint efforts with Tenneco recognized with this AASA award.”
Pase added: “We relied on Tenneco’s category expertise and proprietary market intelligence combined with an uncommon depth of insight provided by PWI and the Alliance headquarters team,” “We commend AASA for establishing this award and promoting future efforts such as this in our industry.”
The other award finalists were Brake Parts Inc/Genuine Parts Co. and Gates Corp./XL Parts. Short videos submitted by all the AASA Channel Excellence finalists were played at the AASA Vision Conference and will be posted on the AASA website.
“We congratulate Tenneco, PWI and all the finalists for their outstanding projects and driving innovation in our industry,” said Bill Long, president and CEO of the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) and president and COO of AASA, MEMA’s light-vehicle aftermarket division. “We look forward to the Channel Excellence Award continuing to grow and inspire further innovation and teamwork in our industry.”
Scott Thompson, senior vice president, automotive and business services, Epicor, added. “It has been an honor for us to work with AASA this year in developing the Channel Excellence award.“Epicor is proud of its role in encouraging and rewarding collaborative initiatives that benefit participants throughout the aftermarket value chain.”
The 2019 AASA Channel Excellence Award selection committee included:
- Rod Bayless, senior director, Industry Data Analytics, Epicor
- Brian Cruickshank, director, University of the Aftermarket – Northwood University
- Chris Gardner, senior vice president, AASA
- Rick Guirlinger, partner, Schwartz Advisors
- Tony Molla, vice president, Automotive Service Association (ASA)
- Joe Pomaranski, president, Pomaranski Consulting
More information is available at the AASA Channel Excellence Award webpage or by contacting AASA Senior Vice President Chris Gardner at [email protected].
