Activant Marks 25th Anniversary of Electronic Cataloguing

Activant Solutions, which invented the aftermarket “eCat” in 1984 and has continued to expand this vital research tool’s features and benefits ever since, is marking the anniversary through an employee celebration and a series of industry initiatives that will be announced over the balance of 2009.

The company’s first-generation Triad catalogue, comprising approximately 30,000 part numbers for a few hundred thousand applications, was launched August 15, 1984. The catalogue quickly proved its value within a fragmented parts distribution market facing a rapidly increasing number of vehicle platforms and part numbers.

By the late 1980s thousands of distributors and jobbers subscribed to the monthly Triad electronic Catalogue. This user base continued to expand throughout the 1990s as service dealers embraced the technology into their shop management solutions.

“We’ve come a long way from the comparatively simple application catalogue of the 1980s, but we’re not resting on our laurels,” said Tom Aliotti, senior vice president of the Activant automotive business group. “Activant continues to aggressively invest not only in innovative eCatalogue technologies, but also in a wide range of new resources that will continue to reduce the time needed to bring the latest product data to the counterperson and service writer.”

Each new monthly release of the Activant eCatalogue expands the company’s industry-leading set of aftermarket parts data, which now comprises more than 7.9 million parts covering approximately 148.5 million applications.