RICHFIELD, Ohio – OEConnection LLC has entered into an agreement with American Suzuki Motor Corporation to provide Web-based parts procurement and analysis tools to Suzuki corporate parts decision-makers and its U.S. network of over 500 dealerships.
In a move designed to enhance parts supply chain performance results and help improve customer satisfaction, OEConnection will provide a comprehensive dealer solution of D2DLink that the company says is the industry’s largest and most accurate online original equipment parts exchange, with the seamless integration of D2D Plus – Idle and Reporting, a parts marketing tool to help dealers reduce idle inventory and unfreeze valuable working capital.
OEConnection will also provide Suzuki corporate parts personnel with LinkIQ, a Web-based intelligence tool that can provide 100-percent visibility, movement and analysis of all dealer in-circulation parts.
Suzuki dealership parts departments will use D2DLink and D2D Plus to improve same day fill-rates from fellow retailers or one of Suzuki’s three parts distribution centers. In addition, parts managers interested in maintaining a more marketable inventory mix can discount and advertise over-stocked and idle inventory. As a franchise-wide tool updated nightly with current dealer inventories, Suzuki corporate parts personnel will monitor and analyze parts “hot spots” enabling Suzuki to respond more quickly than ever before.
“Suzuki has tough but realistic goals over the next three years which hinge on both the great new products we have coming, and an improved product supply chain,” says Chuck Halper, vice president of Suzuki’s Automotive Service and Quality. “OEConnection is an integral part of Suzuki’s growth strategy to introduce vehicle and parts supply chain infrastructure improvements. OEConnection’s parts technology can help us better improve our in-store fill rates, and set us up to better counsel our dealers on the right parts stocking and investment levels.”
Adds Ted Fellowes, OEConnection Vice President Supply Chain, “Suzuki has certainly done their homework. They have dissected every piece of their growth strategy and determined how each area of the dealership can contribute to ongoing customer satisfaction from initial purchase through brand re-purchase. Their strong correlation between a more efficient parts supply chain and higher customer service satisfaction really underscores the value of what OEConnection technology can bring to the table.
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Slated for an early 2008 release, the parts components will be part of a broader Suzuki growth initiative to provide Suzuki franchisees with a Web-based dealer toolkit designed to enhance key customer satisfaction points of new vehicle sales, reliable and responsive service, and timely delivery and fulfillment of parts.
