Network Products opened for business in October 2009 as the new co-manufacturing warehouse for members of the Automotive Distribution Network (ADN). The Somerville, Tenn., facility provides products exclusively to members of the Network. The company has deployed the Datatron Business Management System from Autologue Computer Systems for its operations including purchasing, invoicing, bar code picking and receiving, financial package and inventory control. Network Products President J.R. Rutland spoke to Aftermarket Business World about the deployment.
Were you using any other systems before you deployed Datatron?
As a start-up company we obviously had a clean slate to work from. We interviewed some five or six computer vendors, and when it was all said and done we felt the Datatron product was the one that fit our needs the best. It has a fairly short learning curve, the two-way electronic communication between the members and us is very strong, and there are features that allow members to research and retrieve previous invoices by almost any parameter. When we ship an order, the member receives an ASN and/or invoice via e-mail or fax to as many as eight recipients directly from Datatron. The monthly statements are also electronically e-mailed or faxed out of the Datatron.
What would you say is your biggest technology challenge?
I don't see the kind of challenges today that I saw five years ago. If I were to name one, I'd say the biggest challenge is that in our industry many vendors claim they have correct UPC bar codes on their products, but their files are wrong and we constantly have to verify the accuracy of their codes. Datatron has an inquiry mode, so that when we scan in product, we do a two-pass process for inbound product. The first pass is to verify that the bar code on the boxes matches the part number on the box. The second pass is to receive the item into Datatron.
Bar code adoption has been fairly slow in the aftermarket, even though other retail markets use them heavily. Why is that?
One problem is that while vendors have UPC codes on their product, few of them pull and ship by those bar codes today. They use them to identify products, but they don't use them to pick their own products. Most still pick by part number. Very few vendors use their own bar codes.
Because we use those bar codes when things come in and out of the building, we're the place in the distribution chain that has to verify and confirm that the data is correct. So that adds an extra step on the operational side for us.
What happens when a bar code is incorrect?
We get it corrected. If it's just one item, we have a bar code printer in our building and we just fix it and notify the vendor. Our vendors sign a document that states I can charge them a fee if they are lax in correcting those situations, but I've only exercised that option one time since we've been open. My goal is not to penalize anyone; my goal is to get this right.
At the end of the day, our Datatron is extremely important in our 99.9 percent “golden” inventory, and that was important for us. I didn't want to have the internal expense of having to run down inventory all the time.
Network Products opened for business in October 2009 as the new co-manufacturing warehouse for members of the Automotive Distribution Network (ADN). The Somerville, Tenn., facility provides products exclusively to members of the Network. The company has deployed the Datatron Business Management System from Autologue Computer Systems for its operations including purchasing, invoicing, bar code picking and receiving, financial package and inventory control. Network Products President J.R. Rutland spoke to Aftermarket Business World about the deployment.
Were you using any other systems before you deployed Datatron?
As a start-up company we obviously had a clean slate to work from. We interviewed some five or six computer vendors, and when it was all said and done we felt the Datatron product was the one that fit our needs the best. It has a fairly short learning curve, the two-way electronic communication between the members and us is very strong, and there are features that allow members to research and retrieve previous invoices by almost any parameter. When we ship an order, the member receives an ASN and/or invoice via e-mail or fax to as many as eight recipients directly from Datatron. The monthly statements are also electronically e-mailed or faxed out of the Datatron.
What would you say is your biggest technology challenge?
I don't see the kind of challenges today that I saw five years ago. If I were to name one, I'd say the biggest challenge is that in our industry many vendors claim they have correct UPC bar codes on their products, but their files are wrong and we constantly have to verify the accuracy of their codes. Datatron has an inquiry mode, so that when we scan in product, we do a two-pass process for inbound product. The first pass is to verify that the bar code on the boxes matches the part number on the box. The second pass is to receive the item into Datatron.
Bar code adoption has been fairly slow in the aftermarket, even though other retail markets use them heavily. Why is that?
One problem is that while vendors have UPC codes on their product, few of them pull and ship by those bar codes today. They use them to identify products, but they don't use them to pick their own products. Most still pick by part number. Very few vendors use their own bar codes.
{C}Because we use those bar codes when things come in and out of the building, we're the place in the distribution chain that has to verify and confirm that the data is correct. So that adds an extra step on the operational side for us.
What happens when a bar code is incorrect?
We get it corrected. If it's just one item, we have a bar code printer in our building and we just fix it and notify the vendor. Our vendors sign a document that states I can charge them a fee if they are lax in correcting those situations, but I've only exercised that option one time since we've been open. My goal is not to penalize anyone; my goal is to get this right.
At the end of the day, our Datatron is extremely important in our 99.9 percent “golden” inventory, and that was important for us. I didn't want to have the internal expense of having to run down inventory all the time.
