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ESG strategy at the forefront of BAPCOR’s success
BAPCOR Limited has spent three years developing and actioning the company’s four pillar Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy
Australia and the Asia Pacific’s largest automotive aftermarket specialist, BAPCOR says its detailed ESG strategy and its related action plans outline the Australian company’s solid commitment to corporate responsibility and highly effective governance throughout all of its automotive aftermarket industry operations across Australia, New Zealand and in Thailand. The importance placed by BAPCOR in the implementation of a world class ESG strategy saw the Australian company join the United Nations Global Compact in early 2020, ensuring that all facets of its ESG strategy are aligned directly to the highest global standards of corporate, social and environmental responsibility. Of primary importance in BAPCOR’s ESG strategy is ensuring that the company’s many thousands of automotive aftermarket products are sourced from highly ethical suppliers. The second pillar of BAPCOR’s ESG strategy is the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability; while strong, highly effective and responsible corporate governance represents the strategy’s third pillar. The fourth and final pillar of BAPCOR’s ESG strategy is the company’s local community support across its entire footprint of over 1,100 stores, wholesale operations and automotive service centres across Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand. According to BAPCOR Limited Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Darryl Abotomey, the establishment and actioning of BAPCOR’s detailed ESG strategy has been a highly rewarding process.
For more on BAPCOR’s ESG strategy, please visit www.bapcor.com.au and watch out for further info in the August edition’s environmentally friendly feature.
RECORD YEAR FOR ZF SERVICES AUSTRALIA
The company marked a record year of sales in Oceania last year
ZF Services Australia has shaken off the challenges of 2020, posting a record year of sales in Oceania. “When reflecting on the past year as a whole, we performed much better than where we thought we would be during the eye of the storm in the second quarter,” ZF Services Australia Managing Director, Mark Lowe, said. “There were quite a few highlights from 2020, particularly our OE business remaining exceptionally strong and, as a whole, relatively unaffected by COVID-19. “Of particular note, was our commercial vehicle business increasing as a result of more demand in transport requirements and services, and new opportunities in e-Bus in the second half of the year. “Marine was incredibly buoyant, with OE sales of products remaining strong due to build projects continuing throughout COVID-19, plus the new requests to quote are at pleasingly high levels. “In the passenger vehicle segment, the Sachs Max shock absorber range saw an increase in sales of over 48 percent and we launched an expanded TRW braking range into Oceania.” It wasn’t just the product side of ZF Services Australia which saw growth opportunities, with the business adapting to offer more online content. “Along with recording increased demand in field service, our technical service team also focused on going online, successfully delivering multiple online technical training sessions to staff and external service partners, to ensure service could be delivered when it was required,” Mark said. “The formation of a dedicated COVID-19 team saw the business able to make fast decisions in response to changing conditions, to enable adaptability and meet customer needs, whilst ensuring staff wellbeing. “I am incredibly proud of how the entire team, right across Oceania, pulled together last year. Their positivity and flexibility, and support for each other was immense and ensured we could continue to keep our customers front of mind.” With success during one of the most challenging years in history, ZF Services Australia says it is well-situated to build on its current market position and take the business to the next level across Oceania in 2021 and beyond. “Our current product range will continue, with plans to expand lines where possible in response to customer and market demands,” Mark said. “OE-wise, e-Bus will be a key focus area, with various governments setting volume targets, and ZF Services Australia is well-equipped to support
ZF Services Australia notched up a record year of sales in Oceania in 2020 (Photos taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic).
with leading-edge e-mobility products and a full service offering. “In addition, with an expanded personnel presence in New Zealand, we have seen customer acceptance and increased opportunities, and we anticipate strong results coming from this region in 2021.”
For further information on ZF Services Australia, please visit www.zf.com/au
VALVOLINE AUSTRALIA LAUNCHES 2021 MECHANICS MONTH CAMPAIGN
The second running of the annual campaign will be held throughout the month of March
Valvoline launched the brand’s second annual Mechanics Month – a global campaign to celebrate essential industry professionals who keep the world moving – earlier this month. The 31-day campaign honours mechanics throughout multiple countries where the 150-year-old engine oil brand operates, including Australia, giving special thanks to mechanics’ ongoing, everyday service, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, service centres and auto-repair shops across the globe have remained open and operational as essential services,” Valvoline Senior Vice President, International, Jamal Muashsher, said. “It is especially important given the hardships of this past year to recognise these unsung heroes who not only keep each of us safe and on the road, but also keep other essential service workers moving to help those in need.” During Mechanics Month, Valvoline is celebrating industry professionals through a digital campaign run with a competition giving away 50 Valvoline merchandise packs utilising social media activity, print, digital advertisements and unique partner collaborations to heighten appreciation for mechanics and how they have continued to deliver services through an unprecedented moment in history. While essential, mechanics have had to change their normal routines to account for COVID-19. Business hours have fluctuated, extra sanitation measures inside vehicles have been implemented and onsite human interaction has been minimised greatly as many workshops have offered drop-off and pick-up services, no matter the location. “We’ve proudly supported mechanics with a variety of programs throughout our brand history,” Jamal said. “And due to the many changes, hardships, safety measures and overall alterations in how they’ve done their business in light of COVID-19, we want to pledge a more robust alignment of partnership
Since 2020, TecAlliance, one of the world’s leading data specialists for the digital automotive aftermarket, has been running a data quality offensive to continuously optimise data quality in the TecDoc Catalogue. A new set of rules with additional validations and key performance indicators (KPIs) supports parts manufacturers in improving their product data. A data supplier who fulfils these higher, contentrelated requirements will be certified as a “Premier Data Supplier” from June 2021. The new quality certificate for data suppliers builds on the established and well-known “Certified Data Supplier” status. Data suppliers who meet the TecDoc standard and TecAlliance’s quality requirements for maintenance of TecDoc data at a particularly high level will continue to receive the established “Certified Data Supplier” (CDS) status. In order to also receive the higher-quality certificate “Premier Data Supplier” (PDS), the supplier’s product data must meet significantly stricter content-related requirements and take into account the newly introduced KPIs. With the new quality certificate, TecAlliance says it honours the efforts of data suppliers whose data meet high quality standards in an exceptional manner, thus contributing to sustainable sales success at points of service. On 2 March 2021, data suppliers will be evaluated against the new criteria. However, the results will not yet be published. On 2 June 2021, the “Premier Data Supplier” certificate will be awarded for the first time to qualified companies or brands; in addition to the “Certified Data Supplier” certificate and the brands will be labelled with the corresponding seals.
New guidelines improve data quality
Today, more than 700 brands are represented in the TecDoc Catalogue, one of the world’s leading replacement parts catalogues for the automotive aftermarket. It comprises more than 110,000 vehicle types, 6.6 million item data from more than 700 brands, 254 million links and 48 article groups. Celebrating over 25 years of global recognition, and support — and encourage people across the globe to do the same.” In Australia, Valvoline has continued to work hard to support workshops in such difficult times. Valvoline Australia employed safety measures to keep sales staff within arm’s reach, implemented new pack sizes to alleviate stock level issues on the workshop floor and introduced an innovative multi-application engine oil aiming to rationalise engine oil inventory. Valvoline says thank you to all mechanics, whether automotive or heavy duty, for keeping Australia moving.
For more information on Mechanics Month, visit www.valvoline.com/en-australia/about-us/mechanics-month
TecAlliance says the TecDoc standard ensures the highest data quality, comparability, efficiency and transparency in the global automotive aftermarket. To ensure the highest possible quality of TecDoc data, TecAlliance says it checks the product data supplied by the parts manufacturers every quarter against defined quality criteria. The evaluation results are communicated to the parts manufacturers to support them in the continuous improvement of their data. Since last year, TecAlliance has been working on the further development of the set of rules for data suppliers in order to constantly increase the data quality in the TecDoc Catalogue. New validations and KPIs for data quality ensure that TecDoc data aligns even better with the information needs at the points of service.
