Apec joins TecDoc
As we are on the verge of beginning the second quarter of 2014, there is great news for TecDoc users, with the announcement that
Braking specialist Apec has joined the growing number of quality aftermarket suppliers that have become official data suppliers to TecDoc and its Catalog electronic parts identification and cataloguing system.
Over the last 30 years, Apec has built an envied reputation as one of the leading brake suppliers in the country, serving motor factors and their workshop customers across the nation with a high quality range of pads, shoes, discs and drums, as well as their accompanying hydraulic components.
“This welcome development,” said TecDoc’s, Shaun Greasley “means that TecDoc licence holders and those with a TecDoc derived web-portal, can now search Europe’s most popular and comprehensive parts data system and find an Apec reference when receiving an order from their garage customers.”
The use of TecDoc among motor factors continues to rise year-on-year as they see the benefits it provides for them when identifying the right part, first time.
“As factors are acutely aware, parts returns and incorrect product identification account for a very high level of costs to a typical factor, so any improvement that is made in the process of identifying and supplying the correct product will directly result in reductions to these costs and increase profits on the bottom line.
“Although, I would argue that factors would find TecDoc a superior search tool in every circumstance, where the system works particularly well is in those situations where there is some sort of doubt or ambiguity as to which part is the correct one for the application. It will have occurred to every factor and can often come about because a vehicle manufacturer has introduced a mid-production, mid-year modification or product update or simply from an inaccuracy in a suppliers catalogue, but when that certain product search is made using a ‘standard’ electronic catalogue, two or sometimes even three possible application references can be listed.
“Factors without TecDoc are faced with the choice of sending all three references to cover the options in the full knowledge that two may well never come back and the one that is returned is likely to have received damage to its packaging and won’t go back into stock. The end result is that these ‘extra costs’ are absorbed and written off in the name ‘customer service’.
“The TecDoc user however, doesn’t suffer from this problem because of the multiple tier one and tier two suppliers, such as Apec, that provide their parts data into the overall TecDoc system. This pooled data, which is already of a very high degree of accuracy, is constantly refined and improved and the search criteria more detailed, meaning that CATALOG users can enjoy complete confidence in a search result and know that it will provide them with the right application reference.
“Being able to send a customer a single part, without the fear of having to deal with the associated cost of processing a return, is one of the single biggest business efficiency gains possible to a factor and the TecDoc system can make that possibility achievable.
“The addition of Apec on to the TecDoc CATALOG system makes this advantageous package even more useful as it means that in total, users can now access more than 480 brands across the entire catalogue, which gives them the options they need to compete. In addition, the search results can be tailored to include options such as ‘OE Pricing’, which shows the typical price of the component if purchased from the franchised dealer and ‘Service Information’, which allows users to find out the repair time for a certain job or the maintenance details for a scheduled service etc.”
For more information about TecDoc or TecRMI, please contact Shaun Greasley on: +44 (0) 1829 752888 or email: shaun.greasley@tecalliance.net