Bloemfontein-based Engineparts, a leading supplier of replacement automotive parts, has gone live with one of SA`s most sophisticated and reliable on-line information services for the country`s motor industry.
That`s a full three years after the project was first proposed - yet a mere six weeks following the intervention of First Technology, one of SA`s largest, independent IT solutions providers.
Graham Smith, MIS manager at Engineparts says the design objectives of the project included support for real-time, graphics-intensive processing by over 300 users with a high transaction rate; 24x7 availability; and flexibility for cost-effective adaption to changing information needs.
"We had met all these objectives with one important exception: response times were slow due to lack of processing power. The First Technology replaced our existing Compaq 6000 server with a R750 000 new, powerful Compaq ML760 server - and it proved to be the final key to the realisation of our vision of providing the automotive industry with a fast, easy-to-use information database."
Engineparts is an importer and wholesale distributor of replacement automotive parts. The company has three branches, with its head office in Bloemfontein. It has an extensive online customer presence - 160 customers throughout the motor industry.
The new system enables Engineparts customers and employees to access and search the company`s database for information about some 230 000 base parts, of which around 33 000 are held in stock at any time. In addition, the system`s back-end can handle over one-million cross-references to industry parts and a sophisticated `Bill of Material` which depicts parts in the various applications for the automative industry.
The information application, called eParts, was developed in-house by Engineparts with the Department of Information Technology at the University of the Free State acting as consultants.
According to Smith, the business relies heavily on computer technology to provide its employees and customers with meaningful information and support. Another prerequisite is a competent phone service that supports a dedicated sales team.
"Our product sales are based on information. Customers, including those with on-line facilities, are able to query our database using a number of query strategies which could be direct or vague. Various textual elements of information are presented to support the decision-making process. This will soon extend to images of complex and difficult to identify parts being presented online.
"It`s then a relatively simply process to convert query results into an order and then to track it through to completion. Customers and sales people are kept informed of the progress of the order through the delivery of automated e-mail messages. This system is integrated with a sophisticated picking and delivery sub-system. And to better manage our telephone traffic of around 8 000 calls per day, we will soon be integrating eParts and our telephony system," he adds.
"The first server simply didn`t have the processing power or capacity to deal with the demands being placed on it. It kept crashing. But from the day the new server went live, all our problems vanished," he adds. According to Choeks Pienaar, First Technology Bloemfontein`s sales manager, once the problem had been identified, First Technology negotiated with Compaq to replace the server.
"Because of our relationship with Compaq, the new server was delivered in weeks rather than the months we had anticipated. We then helped to set up and cut over to the new server during a weekend. It took 10 hours, and the server hasn`t been down since," he adds.
Arnold Goldstone, chairman of Engine Parts and MD of Invicta Holdings says: "Delivery of this system took three years of pain. During this period two suppliers went out of business. They also botched the whole process.
"First Technology was proactive, taking the problem in hand and solving it as quickly as possible. Choeks and his team bent over backwards for us. They gave us huge support and technical assistance and speeded up the process to get the server up and running.
"First Technology will continue to serve as our first line of technology supply and support," Goldstone concludes.
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First Technology is one of SA`s largest, independent IT solutions providers, offering customers solutions and services that maximise business productivity, reduce the risk associated with deploying new technologies and minimise the total cost of Information Technology (IT) ownership. The company has fully-fledged branches in every major business node across South Africa and maintains one of the largest teams of highly skilled technical personnel in the country.
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