With all the projections of gloom and doom for the coming year, one area we’re not hearing about very much is aftermarket parts and service. Perhaps that’s because the economic downturn has a smaller effect on the aftermarket than it does on manufacturing. The reason is pretty obvious; the wear and tear of normal equipment operations guarantees a need for parts and maintenance. This need never goes away as long as the equipment is in service. So unless customers stop using existing equipment altogether, which can happen, there will continue to be a market for service and parts.

Under normal circumstances an automotive OEM gets less than 5% of corporate revenue from spare parts sales but those same sales provide more than 30% of corporate profits. With the decrease in car sales what must that picture look like now? And how much better would it be if the OEMs could position themselves to compete more effectively against Pep Boys, AutoZone and NAPA? Many manufacturers are now trying to find out by implementing advanced parts and service systems to support their customers and dealers.

To read more of our thoughts on this subject, check out the Uptime blog.

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Wednesday, January 21
10:00am EST (3:00pm UTC/GMT)

Register here.

Join us for this upcoming webinar to learn how the Enigma InService EPC application enables OEMs and dealers to reduce the costs of catalog creation, increase aftermarket parts sales and improve customer satisfaction.

 See how InService EPC can help your company: 

• Leverage current enterprise infrastructure/ back-office systems
• Provide complete product content – parts, service, specs, bulletins, collateral, etc. – and filter it according to serial number and/or configuration/trim package
• Maintain control over updates and accuracy for all parts-related information
• Accelerate the creation and publication of the parts catalog
• Distribute the catalog via the web, DVD and paper (reduce printing and shipping costs)
• Download/ synchronize the local dealer version with latest OEM data (incremental updates eliminate multiple DVDs)
• Integrate with back-end enterprise applications such as order processing, warranty and parts inventory systems.

Register here.