Johnson Industries stock orders

[gordyw]

Our dealerships have been approached for a parts purchasing program from Johnson Industries out of Atlanta GA. They have a program (JET), which I beleive is for Johnson Electronic Transaction? They will call into our system and check the daily stock order and then fill the GM order with every Delco part that they stock and of course promise a great savings as opposed to GM. Is anyone else using this program and have the savings been as great as they say? Have there been any negative feedback from any APM's for not ordering as much from GM?

[MMiller]

The APM payplan is based on performance. Performance is based on sales. The APM's job is to get you to to buy from GM.
At the same time, GM is putting to WD's against the dealers buy telling them to sell to our (the dealer body) wholesale customer base or loss your ACDelco fran.
Rumor has it Johnson Ind is owned NAPA or a company that has alot of NAPA store. I've always avoided them in the past.

[cwalden]

These people are pushy,watch out for a
salesmen named Kieth Chick, he's like a
bad pennie.

[This message has been edited by cwalden (edited 10-11-2000).]

[Richard]

To answer the question about APM's. Yes, they will get really upset if you order stock orders from ANY AC-Delco house. I have knowledge of one APM who will tell your GM/owner that you are undermining the business plan for the whole store, and that you can lose your access to certain programs, Service Plus, ect.
I did some business with JI a few years ago, and found them to be VERY pushy (to the point they still fax me 'offers' quite often, and have someone call me once a month or so to offer me a "special" even though I have told them in no uncertain terms that I only do business with LOCAL AC-Delco Jobbers. Can they save you money? In my limited experience with them, NO, not when you take in charges for shipping, damaged goods that you will never get credit for, and the overselling they do. (as for the Napa connection, the parent company owes several hundred NAPA stores in the Southern)
I guess my point here is if your in Atlanta, maybe you could benefit, but other than that, I would try to negotiate with my LOCAL Jobber for a bigger discount, on the basis of what JI has offered you.....can't hurt, can it?

[This message has been edited by Richard (edited 10-12-2000).]

[PMK]

What the JI folks say is so. You will do better with them.

Tom "Keith" Chick is no longer employed by JI. He is an independent rep who reportedly now sells for Factory Motor Parts and The Parts House.

NAPA does not own JI. JI is owned by Genuine Parts Company but operates independently of them. Their ownership is actually a good thing as because of it, JI does not sell to the dealers' customers (installers).

[Chuck Hartle]

PMK,

I have a few questions?????

Doesn't Genuine Parts also own a bunch of NAPA stores?

If Johnson Industries sells only to dealers, how are you going to comply with the GM rule that AC-Delco distributorships are to migrate and have a large percentage of their overall business with wholesale customers rather than dealers. We have seen several dealers in Southwest lose their AC-Delco distributorship because of non-compliance. How are you overcoming what MMiller mentioned?

By purchasing from Johnson Industries, how does your return policy work in regards to obsolescence protection and credits on damaged parts?

Thank you,

Chuck Hartle'
Partsedge

[PMK]

Chuck,

Good to hear from you. It has been a long time (Bell & Howell in '96 to be exact).

In answer to your questions:

Yes, Genuine Parts directly owns approximately 700 of the 6,000 NAPA stores throughout the U.S.A. Genuine Parts also owns 61 of the 65 NAPA distribution centers which supply the 6,000 member stores. So as not to compete with our parent, JI does not sell directly to installer stores.

JI's size and broad distribution uniquely enable us to serve the needs of large national fleets. Our fleet initiative is a very large part of our non-dealer emphasis. JI's non-dealer sales are well within the desired targets set by ACDelco.

JI offers our customer Return Reserve programs which exceed factory programs both in terms of total percentage available and flexibility. JI, for example, enables customers to earn reserves which allow them to return scrap parts as well as good, saleable numbers. JI customers may also return any item purchased within 30 days for full credit - with no reserve impact. These are but two examples of the advantages of our Return Reserve programs.

With regard to damaged parts, JI customers may immediately return for prompt and full credit any item shipped by us which was damaged in transit freight collect.

You and your members should not simply take my word for it, though. I would encourage you to consult with any of the thousands of JI customers who rely on us every day. Or, please refer to the May 2000 issue of Ward's Dealer Business in which JI and others like us were recommended for the value and every day savings that we provide. What's more, I would welcome any DealersEdge member to contact me directly at 800.922.8111; I would be pleased to provide them with a copy of the Ward's article and/or to address any of the issues raised above in this forum. I would specifically like to invite Richard to contact me, as it is our goal to never have a customer unsatisfied with our service.

Thanks Chuck for the great work that you do to enlighten your members to techniques, programs, and organizations which offer more efficient and effective ways to do things.

P.S. I also appreciate the opportunity, as a vendor, to participate in your forums and the chance to correct misperceptions when we see them. I certainly hope that your members welcome our participation and feel that we add value to the dialogue. Thanks again.

[DMuller]

I was approached by JI last year in regards to thier JET program. I have always purchased from Delco WD's to maximize bottom line profits. The JET program was offered as a suplement to my current WD. JI would ship the Delco items not purchased from my WD. The program offering is quite good and I was excited to try it out. Unfortunately,or fortunately, it did not work out. The fill rate from my local WD is so strong that JI could not find any items they could sell to us. I've been approached again by them lately and I may give them another shot.

[sallen1]

We don't use JI (and cannot comment on their service) but use an AC-Delco WD for stock orders as well as emergency stuff. About 20% of our stuff comes from our WD.

The APM's don't like it and continuously show us how we lose discounts, etc. by not using GM exclusively. However, time and time again we show evidence of how GM's parts distribution cost us money due to delays and once-a-day delivery. To maintain a high level of service using only GM would drive our inventory levels to over 90days. That's a waste!

Our WD delivers 3 times a day.

If you are not using a WD you are leaving money on the table.

scott

[happyjicust]

I would just like to take a moment to respond to the previous post I have read concerninng JI Industries. Unfortunately, I cannot respond to the logistics involved concerning GM dealerships. However, as for
Ford Motocraft parts I have recieved nothing but exemplary service from JI Industries since taking over The Parts Department for a dealership approximately two hours outside of Atlanta. The first thing I noticed after arriving here was that This dealorship had over half of it's inventory idle. upon my first meating with the JI rep I asked his policy on returns of motocraft parts. His response was as follows..........IF you have parts you need to return, box them up, period. I immediately returned $20,000 in idle inventory with no questions asked and recieved credit fir such. With this being a smaller dealership This 20 grand represents an astronomical figure I would have assumed for them to accept. I base this upon the fact that this figure represents about 6 months of purchases from this company. Thats what I call service. As for myself JI Industries has insured itself as an integral part of our operations.