Johannesburg, 04 Apr 2013
Service Parts Logistics (SPL), Africa's largest IT parts supplier, has been appointed by Lexmark South Africa as an official authorised parts distributor partner in South Africa and Africa.
SPL sells all Lexmark printer parts, assemblies and fusers in South Africa. Other leading brands in SPL's stable include Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo and Toshiba.
SPL technologies enable better Lexmark service
SPL's footprint in South Africa and Africa is extensive, and as the largest parts distributor, it is unmatched with its 3 000m2 warehouse and 12 000 active customers. SPL's infrastructure supports Lexmark to offer customers in-demand parts on a next-day basis, some within just hours - a service otherwise limited to its European counterparts, where fulfilment tends to be much simpler with the developed infrastructure and short distances on the continent.
SPL's iSupply - integrated stock management in real time
SPL's latest initiative, iSupply, has been crucial in winning high-profile brands. It is a bespoke, fully integrated parts ordering, order tracking and reverse logistics system, which alerts customers when parts are due and gives them full visibility of their parts, statements and drill-down reporting to their PODs (proof of delivery). Using Web services, iSupply integrates seamlessly with SPL's original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and ASPs (authorised service providers) alike. The system is the benchmark for parts handling of the future. iSupply has been running with the systems of OEMs like Toshiba and Fujitsu in Europe. This allows the OEM and ASP to have full visibility of a closed-loop system with customisable rules, while still taking advantage of SPL's local stock and consolidated shipping of parts.
Technology and service as differentiators
Steve Cox, managing director of SPL, says: "It has taken five years of in-house development, building the system from scratch to meet all our requirements, so that it's flexible and works for the unique requirements of service in Africa. The system has been running successfully for some time now and gives a number of OEMs and most major ASPs full visibility and control, while outsourcing debtors risks, stock holdings, obsolescence and distribution costs, as well as the day-to-day issues of running a spare parts channel in such a vast region."
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