The charter members of the China Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance (CAAPA) wrapped up their initial fact finding and discovery tour of North America with meetings with three Alliance shareholders in Southern California.
The visitors learned skills to take back to their own markets from the established operators in North America, according to the Alliance.
The leadership teams at Warren Distributing Inc., Metro Auto Parts Distribution, and Hanson Distributing Co. focused on best practices in the areas of distribution, the criticality of forging strong ties with service center customers and effective sales and marketing techniques.
While at Warren Distributing, the group met with President Brian Weiss and Vice President Sales and Marketing, Pat Winters. They toured the master Santa Fe Springs facility and one of the Warren satellite facilities in Santa Monica.
The next stop was Pico Rivera and Metro’s new distribution center. A Q&A session about the facility followed with Robert Ramirez, general manager, and Ken Auer, operations manager.
The final stop was Hanson Distributing. Dan Hanson Sr., CEO and president, Dan Hanson Jr., senior vice president and director of store operations, Steve Cox, chief operating officer and Berng Yeh, vice president and director of fulfillment and data services, led a master warehouse tour and presentation on warehouse operations. They then traveled to stores including California Auto Supply in Pomona and Walnut Auto Parts in Rowland Heights.
“The experience of visiting these incredibly impressive operations is something that will help us tremendously when we return home,” says Zhang Xiwen, chairman of CAAPA. “Our own markets are growing and evolving every day and the experience here is almost like peering into the future. It was both overwhelming and invigorating.”
“We packed a lot into a one week visit,” says John Washbish, CEO and president of the Alliance. “Our new China partners were not exactly sure what to expect during their visit to America. We promised to teach them how we ‘do it’ at the Alliance and with the expert assistance of these three world class shareholders, we more than delivered on our promise! Our new members went home with plenty to chew on!”
