U.S. News: CarParts Technologies Gets Rubber on the Road

CarParts Technologies Inc. (CPT), a leading provider of open, eCommerce and business automation software solutions for the automotive aftermarket, today announced it has won a contract to provide its Tradera Tire Management System and OpenWebs Commerce Server to Royal Tire, a leading dealer of premium tires and services and Minnesota’s largest commercial tire dealer since 1948.
Tradera and OpenWebs are part of a larger suite of integrated applications that automate warehouse management, inventory management and electronic ordering. These two applications, integrated with dealer accounting from Microsoft Business Solutions reduce operational costs, increase revenues and improve customer service.
“We selected Tradera and OpenWebs Commerce Server because of CarParts Technologies’ commitment to integrate with other industry standard systems, such as Bandag’s Open Road Retread Management System and Michelin’s dealer communications system BIB NET. These systems help drive our commercial business, and provide visibility into our Tire One dealer channel which allows us to better support our dealers in many ways,” said Pat Dunnick, President of Royal Tire. “Royal Tire consistently provides its customers with superior products and services that help enhance the success of their businesses and CarParts Technologies is the only company that offers a Microsoft-based supply chain solution that efficiently supports the direction we’re going in technologically.”
Based in St. Cloud, Minn., Royal Tire serves as the corporate headquarters for Tire One, the most popular independent tire dealer network in the Upper Midwest with over 240 dealers. Tire One offers its independent tire dealers a common identity and the opportunity to become part of a large buying group that enables them to pool their resources. CarParts Technologies will customize its Tradera Tire Management System to address Royal Tire’s specific inventory and warehouse management business objectives.
“Operating 24 hours a day while shipping and receiving hundreds of thousands of tires annually, presented both challenges and opportunities for Royal Tire. They recognized the advantages that both Tradera and OpenWebs offer to improve their business operations and deliver competitive capabilities to their customers,” said Dave McCann, CEO of CarParts Technologies. “Wholesale order management and customer service can be costly for distributors working on tight margins. As tire stores broaden their service offerings, application integration to other software environments is becoming critical to reduce costs and avoid double data entry. CarParts Technologies provides the inter-application connectivity and Web-based visibility into the supply chain process that give dealers like Royal Tire a competitive edge.”