“AMN Perspectives by Thomas Group: Experience at Work”
As this column unfolds over the coming months, there will be several major themes, each with a number of articles. In this first series, we’ll address operational effectiveness. We’ve chosen the inventory dilemma as the first topic, though additional installments will include the related issues of inventory management methods, performance measures, information technology and others.
How’s Business?
There are some very strong signs that business will be good in 2004. Optimism among repair shop owners is as high as it’s ever been during the three years we have been tracking this data.
New Import Parts Specialist Certification Tests Available
Aftermarket firms can begin the new year with a competitive edge by encouraging employees and customers to take the newly updated Auto International Association (AIA) Import Parts Specialist and Master Import Parts Specialist certification tests. Better-trained counter personnel and service technicians are vital to ensuring quality repairs and satisfying import nameplate customers. These tests address the pressing need for professionals with knowledge and training to help drive improved sales and provide the best customer service to import nameplate owners.
BorgWarner Profits Up
BorgWarner Inc., the largest maker of automatic-transmission parts for vehicles, said fourth-quarter profit rose to $50 million. BorgWarner Inc., the largest maker of automatic-transmission parts for vehicles, said fourth-quarter profit rose to $50 million.
New Ideas Should Help Old Favorite
After getting whacked by big upheavals in the automotive supply world, the wobbly SAE World Congress, Detroit’s biggest and most important trade show, seems to be finding its legs again.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Reports Increased Earnings, All-Time Record Sales
Cooper Tire & Rubber has reported all-time record high sales of $967 million, as well as a 20 percent increase in net income for the quarter which ended Dec. 31, 2003. The record sales represent a 15 percent increase compared to the same period a year earlier, said the company. Net income increased by 20 percent to $28 million, compared to $23 million in the fourth quarter of 2002.
Neil Peters, Former TBEA Division President, Dies
Neil Peters Jr, former president of the Michigan-Ohio Regional Division of the Truck Body and Equipment Association (TBEA) from 1972-1973, died Jan 2, at home.
Edelbrock Reports Improved Sales and Earnings for Second Quarter of 2004
Edelbrock Corp. has reported sales and earnings for the second quarter and first six months of 2004, which ended Dec. 25, 2003. For the quarter, revenues increased to $31,741,000 from $31,015,000 in the same period of fiscal 2003. Net income for the second quarter improved to $1,287,000, or 24 cents per basic share (23 cents per diluted share), from net income of $1,197,000, or 22 cents per basic and diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2003.
Ward’s Reports Estimated Production
Vehicle production last week in the U.S., Canada and Mexico was expected to hit an estimated 339,878 units, up 15 percent from the 295,481 cars and trucks built last week, according to Ward’s Automotive Reports.
IMR Founder Ken Brenneman Dies at 61
Kenneth Brenneman, Sr., founder and president of Industrial Marketing Research, an international automotive research firm, died Sunday, Dec. 28 of heart failure. He was 61-years-old. Brenneman founded Industrial Marketing Research in 1971 in Clarendon Hills, Ill., as a one-man operation. The firm quickly grew to become an international company that now serves the U.S., Europe and Asia.