Thanks to a growing pool of information, companies can access data from across their business and broader industry data sources. Intelligent analytics tools offer rich insights into the latest sales trends, critical business improvements and market gaps to be exploited. Getting answers to the following questions are crucial to parts manufacturers’ success: For which vehicles are parts being searched? Which parts are needed in which countries? How can I optimize my portfolio?
With the help of our business intelligence solutions for the IAM, our longtime reliable partner, the Gates Corporation, is receiving exactly these answers. The globally operating company relies on our data expertise to enable targeted optimization of its product portfolio through valid data-driven decisions.
Gates is one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, supplying automotive parts to more than 30 OE manufacturers worldwide. It brings the same quality, reliability, and performance to its OE-equivalent aftermarket parts. The initial situation at Gates was characterized by missing market demand information; this is essential for production planning and procurement management. Insufficient knowledge of the actual market coverage led to missed opportunities in the market.
Initially, production units were estimated mainly based on Vehicle in Operations (VIO) data. Market research and different types of data sources were used to optimize production planning. Out of a vast volume of information it is always challenging to find those items that provide a solid basis for decision-making. However, in the interest of efficiency, this information must also be accurate.
“TecDoc usage data helps us to understand what is needed in the market, what kind of gaps we have in our product line and how the demand in the market changes over time and from country to country,” says Amo. “We now have react faster re to market demand and better understand our customers so that we can introduce and retire products in a more effective manner.”
Jonathan Amo, Director Global Aftermarket Catalog & Product Applications, Gates Corporation
Getting deeper insights into markets and customer needs
This is where the expertise of TecAlliance’s Data Analytics team comes into play. We offer Gates and other data suppliers standardized data analysis based on the search behavior of users in the TecDoc Catalogue, the world’s leading replacement parts catalogue. ”Data-driven business models provide considerable potential. Data helps us to understand how markets work, how certain customer segments operate, how product characteristics can be improved or distribution channels made more efficient. It is increasingly important for suppliers in the IAM to use our data to understand how the market works,” explains Dr. Bartosch Belkius, Vice President Analytics at TecAlliance. “We were impressed by Gates’ data-centric approach; as a result the cooperation has been excellent.”
“The TecAlliance Data Analytics team was very interested in understanding our challenges and helping us discover market demand via analytics tools. We are pleased that TecAlliance can offer analytics based on different data sources and tailor it to our needs”, explains Jonathan Amo, Director Global Aftermarket Catalog & Product Application at Gates Corporation.
Parts manufacturers can get an initial overview of demand for their most important products in different markets. Numerous filter options are available for “generic articles,” i.e. the product or product group. Of course, there are big questions: How often has this replacement part been selected in its individual categories? How often and through which article number (article number, OE number or competitor’s article number) or vehicle search? This makes it easy for parts manufacturers to identify seasonal or regional top sellers.
Systematically optimising product portfolios
Gates gained a truly comprehensive global overview of the market thanks to search results from generic articles, OE numbers and article numbers as well as the country and vehicle information based on the TecDoc platform. “When we see an OE number that is searched often and we don’t have it in our product portfolio, we know that we need to focus on this product to cover our gap. I communicate the information to our product development team to add and prioritise it in our product pipeline,” explains Amo. ”This way we can optimise our go-to-market strategy and better capitalise on market opportunities. This also helps us to optimise our production efficiency and costs.”
“TecDoc usage data helps us to understand what is needed in the market, what kind of gaps we have in our product line and how the demand in the market changes over time and from country to country,” says Amo. “We now have react faster re to market demand and better understand our customers so that we can introduce and retire products in a more effective manner.”
What does the future look like at Gates? Identifying risks and opportunities has priority. The company has a major interest in using predictive analytics to find patterns in data by combining historical data with statistical modelling. To tackle complex projects such as predictive analytics, it is necessary to start by recording the current situation. This is exactly the data we deliver with our intelligent Analytics Services. They show ‘today’ so that our customers have the foundation to make the right decisions for tomorrow.
“We would like to have a predictive analysis of the market demand so that we are not only aware of the demand in real time but can also predict the future with a data-driven method. This helps us to optimize our production and marketing operations even further,” Amo sums up. It is clear that analytics bring a competitive advantage if used properly. With the help of TecAlliance Analytics, Gates can make calculated business decisions that not only improve the bottom line but also deliver a better customer experience.
