The Auto Care Association hosted a technology standards conference in Santiago, Chile, the second in a series of technical missions to key Latin American countries as part of the export promotion award the association received from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The conference, attended by more than 60 local auto care industry executives and government officials on Aug. 22, focused on the processes around standards development and maintenance. Topics covered included detailed adoption methodologies for existing standards, ACES (Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard) and PIES (Product Information Exchange Standard).
The conference was co-organized by the U.S. Commercial Service Office with the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, and CAREP (Cámara Chilena de Comercio de Repuestos y Accesorios Automotrices), the Chilean Automotive Chamber of Commerce, representing auto parts importers and distributors. A delegation comprised of Auto Care Association staff and Evaristo Garcia of Integrate Data Facts, a strategic partner to the association on various standards initiatives, attended and presented at the conference. The delegation also spent two days meeting with key industry stakeholders to identify strategic partners for the development and implementation of standards for the Chilean market.
"The Auto Care Association will support us in implementing a universal language among suppliers, distributors and customers in the Chilean automotive aftermarket industry," said Hernán Quezada Hörmann, president, Chilean Automotive Spare Parts Association (CAREP).
ACES makes compiling an electronic catalog with quality, consistent content about thousands of product lines possible and efficient. Using ACES, suppliers can describe vehicle configuration with valid database values. Suppliers can define product terminology with a database of product names, all in a computer-readable format for the exchange of this information from supplier to receiver.
PIES defines the rules of managing elements of product information, product images and product attributes. PIES defines the format of the information and the valid values. With PIES, customers and those in the distribution chain will know what a product looks like, what it weighs, the size of the box and how many are packed inside, the length of the warranty, the country of origin, the performance attributes, and much more.
For more information on the technological standards, visit http://www.autocare.org/technology/.
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