Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance congratulates Auto Value shareholder owner NPW Companies and channel partner Standard Motor Products on winning the 2021 AASA Channel Excellence Award.
The award, presented by Epicor, honours suppliers and channel partners who collaborate to promote growth in the automotive aftermarket.
“We feel honoured by this recognition,” said Chris Pacey, Executive Vice President & COO, NPW.
“Thank you to AASA and Epicor for this award. Thank you to SMP for their great collaboration, and a huge thank you to the team at NPW Companies for all their efforts. Finally, thank you to the Alliance for their assistance in bringing this together.
“We are hopeful that this pandemic will end soon. We are doing everything we can to keep everyone healthy and safe, and we look forward to a bright future.”
The two companies were selected by a six-person committee of industry professionals as one of two sets of finalists. Together, they prepared a video submission detailing the collaborative efforts that led to their victory.
The winning nomination titled COVID Online Innovative Response Strategy, described their deployment of an inventory optimization initiative while responding to the challenges posed by COVID-19.
“I want to thank Chris Pacey and NPW for allowing us to work on this inventory project with them,” said Paul Farwick, Vice President Sales, Standard Motor Products. “We feel that this is the essential service we can give to our distribution partners. Helping to reduce inventory, increase shelf space, increase sales and ROI.”
To be considered for the award, two-channel partners must work together to meet several criteria. The project must be innovative and utilize technology, data analytics, robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, AR/VR, blockchain, and or digital business processes. The companies must also be able to provide demonstrative results.
NPW and SMP’s successes included a 22.2% increase in sales out at targeted NPW stores while only reporting an inventory dollar investment increase of 2.9%; 2,225 new SKUs added to inventory, and 33.4% of inventory overstock repurposed.
“NPW Companies and Standard Motor Products achieved some impressive results in this highly collaborative and innovative project,” said Dale Hopkins, VP & CIO, Alliance. “Congratulations to both companies on their teamwork and success.”