Meritor says more than 75 percent of its parts orders are being placed electronically and more than 300 parts outlet locations — across the United States and Canada — now are relying on the Real Deal to help lower transaction costs, increase customer fill rates, improve profitability and enhance cash flow.
Designed to lower the operating costs of distributors, this services package is said to build around a host of critical factors: broad product portfolio, short lead times, flexible packaging capability, vendor-managed inventory and high fill rates; all of which are backed by a high level of technical service and customer care.
“This is a win-win arrangement to drive the lowest possible transaction costs for our customers while improving fill-rates to the fleets they service. In fact, participation in our VMI program is up more than 42 percent from last year and expecting a similar increase this year,” says Joe Mejaly, president, Aftermarket & Trailer, Meritor.
“The Real Deal enables customers to analyze our suite of services, their own business practices, and then provides insights into transactional costs,” adds Mejaly. “They can use this information to select the services they prefer to provide their customers, thus elevating a customer’s performance to new heights.”
John Minor, chief operating officer of Midwest Wheel Co. in Des Moines, Iowa, says, “The VMI of Real Deal helps our business be faster to market on new part numbers, reduce the number of stock-outs, and saves our company on purchasing, or managing the purchases, for our seven locations. It’s vital to our inventory management and increasing turns.”
“Using VMI and electronic data interchange (EDI) are an integral part of our business,” adds Bill Ryan, president of Point Spring & Driveshaft Co. in Pittsburgh. “The automation addresses inventory so we can focus on other customer issues or growth ideas. The program helps us a great deal. The part is ‘never’ out of stock and that’s critical since we service vehicles at all nine of our locations.”
During the past year, Meritor says its sales management team met with hundreds of distributors to discuss their businesses and demonstrate what the Real Deal suite of services can offer them in potential annual operational savings.
The savings are a result of improved supplier utilization, purchase order management, reduced order expedition, reduced invoice processing, increased parts numbers stocked, increased inventory turns, electronic commerce, sales and technical training, quality and engineering support, the company says.
“Virtually every customer wants a deal that relates to the piece-price of a part,” Mejaly says. “We understand that piece-price plays a role in the profitability of our customers, yet managing the total transactional cost can improve profits for our customers as well.”
During the past five years, the company says it has invested significantly in the growth and expansion of its global aftermarket business, which has included:
- Expanding its product portfolio beyond Meritor and Euclid brands to include a broader offering of “all-makes” parts
- Establishing operations in Pune, India; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Shanghai, China
- Launching “solutions” products like: PlatinumShield II; MXL extended-lube drivelines; and reduced stopping distance friction materials
