Aftermarket suppliers have been extending their offering beyond parts supply to include digital services, a transition that Nexus’s strategic planning and customer experience director Martin Hendriksen attributes to efficiency, better communication, speed and the opportunities presented by data.
He explains that a more digitised supply chain enables all parties involved in inventory management to ‘fine tune’ and optimise their activities. From the supplier’s perspective, the connectivity is a way to keep customers closer and connected.
“Also, if you think of a digital highway from one end of the supply chain, you can put in communication, training and systems that reward loyalty, so it opens the doors to many different ideas and initiatives and potentially new projects,” adds Hendriksen.
Digital services can also help fleets understand where repairs are needed. For example, garages that establish a digital connection in a region can receive warnings of failures on newer vehicles, allowing them to plan inventory management to support them.
“Any development in digital solutions should keep the workshop or technician in mind, whether that relates to training or helping them complete their work more quickly,” he continues. “So, if you have a smart, connected system that can determine the availability of parts nearest to the garage, the repair times will be shorter, and the vehicle will be back on the road faster.”
According to Hendriksen, Nexus’s reason for moving toward digital services is to better connect the community, which in turn leads to better communication and loyalty. The offering is expected to aid the development of business between members and contracted suppliers.
One such solution available in the UK and Europe is NexusTruck. The concept can assist members that want to start a garage network or establish a better connection with a group of garages, which would in turn receive services such as workshop operating platforms or support from suppliers.
Additionally, Nexus’s N! Academy provides members and affiliated companies with a platform to share and purchase content such as training material. “The platform is a house to manage the content, so if a member for example has a supplier in the region that is not part of the Nexus community and it wants to deploy training, it is able to load it on to the platform, which can then be seen by other members in other regions.”
The academy has a ‘Train the Trainer’ course that allows members to put forward individuals to attend physical and online training offered by suppliers and external content providers, who can then take this information back to their communities. In addition, the platform offers training for mechanics delivered by technical representatives and supplier trainers.
Nexus also has a dedicated community that provides specific support for these vehicle types. Hendriksen points out that this offering is necessary because technology and suppliers are different in the heavy-duty sector. “For example, the different technologies in braking systems require a different level of knowledge and expertise, so you couldn’t have someone managing the heavy-duty community who only understands the technology in the light commercial or passenger car markets,” he adds.
Optimising returns
Nexus is not the only company offering digital services. TecAlliance UK’s general manager Shaun Greasley explains that the company’s motivation for entering this space dates back to a situation in the 1990s when parts catalogues were mainly paper-based and parts data were not standardised.
“There was considerable uncertainty in vehicle and spare part identification, which not only cost time but was bad for business and customer satisfaction because of the high error rate. Depending on the component, it could even pose a safety risk in road traffic,” he says.
In 1994, TecAlliance and international parts manufacturers, including Bosch, Continental and Delphi, founded a standardisation initiative, TecDoc, in which each vehicle type was defined and linked to the associated parts. Adds Greasley: “Thanks to the TecDoc standard and the TecDoc catalogue based on it, it has since been clear beyond doubt which spare part fits which vehicle. The objective: all vehicle data from a single source.”
The TecDoc standard allows each manufacturer to link their product information to the vehicles, which ensures that each part has the same naming protocol. “There are thousands of different features for each vehicle, so the TecDoc catalogue ensures that the part that is displayed will fit,” Greasley continues. “This is important because workshops often used to order five parts, take the part that really fits the vehicle, and the rest goes back. This leads to a lot of returns which creates an issue that is harmful for the whole supply chain.”
Additionally, the company’s TecCom solution – which covers all processes related to order processing – comes with a module called Claim Creation Link that enables garages to handle returns for defective parts in a standardised manner.
“Workshops tend to get parts from different wholesale dealers, so when there is a problem, they have to check whether they got the part from the supplier or parts manufacturer, and then fill in a different form for each. We offer a standard form for warranty returns that fits everything, which they can fill in online or via a photo or video from their phone,” says the general manager.
Another option within TecAlliance’s portfolio is TecRMI, a digital service that provides repair and maintenance information. For maintenance work, a staff member can enter the mileage and registration date on the web form to see which work needs to be done as well as the necessary material and tools.
“This is great support for the workshop because it makes it much easier to provide a quick quote, so it helps them use resources in the most efficient way.”
The technical data and manuals within TecRMI form the basis of a solution with the TecFleet offering that calculates the expected maintenance and wear costs of vehicles. Called SMART (smart maintenance and wear cost), the module creates forecasts for sustainable planning based on manufacturer-compliant repair and maintenance information.
Greasley adds: “Vehicle manufacturers and importers compare their vehicles with those of their market competitors in the area of maintenance and find potential [ways] to make their offer more attractive. For trucks, we do support the service, maintenance and repair process based on our existing TecRMI truck data.”
Looking ahead, Hendriksen believes there will be an even deeper connection between the vehicle owner and other stakeholders in the future. “You could see a situation where you have a clear digital conduit from the vehicle all the way through the supply chain, which will be managed by intermediaries. I think we will see an increase in the deployment of digital services because there is always a way to be better connected.”
BOX: EXPANDING AND UPGRADING
Elsewhere in the aftermarket space, GSF Car Parts announced an integration that allows Garage Hive customers to access its AlliCat Online catalogue of parts and guidance.
GSF Car Parts operates more than 180 branches across the UK and Ireland, supplying OE-quality parts to trade and retail customers. Garage Hive is a cloud-based garage management system.
The Garage Hive system is a tool with features including customer and workshop management, job booking, accountability and reporting.
More recently, GSF has updated AlliCat Online with Part Finder, a new feature that car parts programme sales manager Mark Strain says makes it easier and quicker to find parts.