Canada's Piston Ring implements new Activant business solution

In the interest of driving store efficiency, sales, profit margins and customer loyalty, Piston Ring has implemented the Activant Eagle® for the Aftermarket business management solution across its entire network of company-owned stores. Piston Ring is one of Canada's leading distributors of automotive replacement components and related products.

"Activant has enabled us to leapfrog outdated technologies so we can run our business more effectively. It has brought us in line with modern tools and IT initiatives," says the company's General Manager Todd Toutant.

According to Toutant, the Activant Eagle solution is helping the company's counter staff provide faster, more efficient and valuable service to customers through a functionally elegant point-of-sale system and highly intuitive Microsoft Windows-based user interface. The system also provides an interface with Piston Ring's Activant® A-DIS® warehouse management system, enabling rapid sourcing from the company's distribution center. "We love the new Windows user interface," he adds. "The catalog is a great asset with its lookups and associated images, (and) it is more easily integrated into our customer service tools. With the Eagle system, we're more competitive and we can serve our customers better."

Piston Ring is also seeing positive results in leveraging its new store system to minimize lost sales, according to Trevor Tennant, leader of the company's Eagle training team. The Activant Eagle system's integrated, aftermarket-specific POS and electronic catalog provide every Piston Ring counterperson with access to millions of part images and other information, he said. "Now that our counter staff has more information, it's easier than ever for them to find the right parts," Tennant says. "We can even send the customer a part photo, diagram or installation instructions right from the counterperson's workstation."

Other key benefits of the new solution for Piston Ring and other distributors include improved returns processing, continued POS functionality in situations when the server connection is interrupted, and access to a broad range of business analytics.

"Distributors of all sizes are searching for ways to separate themselves from the competition in the areas of customer service and operational efficiency," explains Tom Aliotti, vice president and general manager of the Activant automotive business. "Our Eagle solution has quickly become a leading choice among these WDs and store operators. They appreciate the fact that the Eagle system is built around a proven platform tha's already driving real results for thousands of businesses."

For more information regarding the Activant Eagle for the Aftermarket solution, visit the company's Web site.