Distributors & Jobbers Service Market Manufacturers

A.D. Automotive Saves Costs, Improves Sales with
Internet Services. High-Volume WD Strengthens Relationships with Major Customers

Founded in 1949, A.D. Automotive is one of the most successful warehouse distributors in the San Francisco area. The company now operates three stores with over 50 employees. Annual sales exceed $8.5 million. Almost all their business is to wholesale jobbers.

The Challenge

The pace at A.D. Automotive never lets up. The stores often receive over 200 calls a day from their largest customers combined, plus hundreds more from other jobbers. When they opened their third location in March, 2002, they knew they needed a better way to link their stores together and also connect the stores with customers.

As Glen Schabacker, General Manager, explains, “Our dialup system was unreliable, expensive and slow–much slower than the pace of our business. We were especially concerned that our major customers received the fast service they require for even their largest orders.”

In short, A.D. Automotive urgently needed a solution that would be dependable, support a high volume of transactions, and help pay for itself in terms of reduced costs.

The Activant Solution

A.D. Automotive decided to use a Activant Aftermarket ConneX® (AConneX®) solution to communicate with their major customers, and WebConneX™ to link their company-owned stores together over the Internet. Once implemented, they saw dramatic changes in terms of increased productivity, improved service, and reduced communication costs.

"Now that we have AConneX, " says Schabacker, "our major customers can check our stock quickly without having to make a voice call, so they can check more often and not have to wait on hold." He adds, "AConneX ordering is so fast, the wholesalers’ own customers stay on the line without calling another supplier! We know the wholesalers like the new solution because their inquiries have increased. Two of them are even transmitting stock orders directly through AConneX."

Less Than a Minute to Order

Some of the biggest benefits with AConneX include dramatic savings in productivity. The stores have slashed the time required for parts look-up and orderingæfrom several minutes to less than a minute. With their volume of business, that adds up to 10 hours a day and over 15 man months a year (see chart 2).

Ongoing Cost Savings Over Leased Lines

Previously, the company-owned stores had used leased telephone lines to connect with each other. When they compared leased line costs to the same connections using WebConneX, they were pleased to see a dramatic savings in monthly costs (see chart 1).

Schabacker explains that the WebConneX solution will continue to save the company money every month. "[WebConneX] is so much less expensive. We love it. And as we open additional locations, we will save even more."

Solid Support for Major Sales

Schabacker is especially pleased with the service levels he can now offer his major accounts. "We want to be as efficient and dependable as possible with all our customers and that certainly includes our largest accounts. These Internet services help us in that respect." He adds, "Using their services makes absolute sense for a distributor."

 

WebConneX Saves $5,600 Per Year Over Leased Lines

With three stores to connect, A.D. Automotive pays only $600* per year versus $6,200** with telephone leased lines, a savings of $5,600 per year.

* $150 per month ISP charge for three stores.
* Includes $3,000 installation charge and $266 monthly line charge.

AConneX Saves More Than the Annual Payroll Cost of an Employee

As a high-volume distributor, A.D. Automotive states that they save 10 man hours a day. That adds up to 71.5 man weeks or over 15 man months of saved labor per year, more than the annual payroll cost of a fulltime employee.*

*Based on a standard 40-hour work week.