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Infomedia Unveils Auto PartsBridge: Brings Electronic Parts Ordering System to the Body Shop Market

By November 5, 2009December 9th, 2016Archive, ASX Announcements

Thursday, 5 Novemeber 2009 – Las Vegas – IFM North America Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infomedia Ltd. (Infomedia), today unveiled Auto PartsBridge™, its newest electronic parts catalog solution designed for the collision repair market, at the annual ASRW/NACE collision repair show. Long a leader in the electronic parts catalog (EPC) market with its Microcat® product, Infomedia has also announced today that Toyota Motor Sales USA is the first OEM to make Auto PartsBridge available for independent and dealer owned body shops.

Auto PartsBridge is Infomedia’s web-based electronic parts ordering system that links automotive dealerships and their body shop customers. The system features full EPC functionality and provides “one-click” parts ordering. “Our experience in the EPC automotive solutions market has given us the background to develop a dynamic and extensive EPC solution for the body shop market,” said Dan Stedem, vice president, IFM North America. “The Auto PartsBridge system makes it easy for body shops to send their dealerships precise VIN-specific orders 24/7.”

Auto PartsBridge allows the body shop to tailor its parts ordering process to be as easy as a click-of-a-button or as thorough as checking every part against the OEM parts catalog to verify part number and pricing accuracy. The Auto PartsBridge process begins with the body shop assembling the estimate, where new parts can be added to the order, parts can be validated as being genuine OEM or aftermarket, and labour operations can be viewed. The estimate is then transmitted electronically to the dealership, which verifies receipt via an instant messaging notification. Once the estimate is processed, it is sent back to the body shop for acceptance, who returns it to the dealership for fulfilment. This online system speeds up the entire order process.

“Additionally, we see an opportunity for dealerships to increase business with body shops by providing them with quick, easy access to genuine OEM parts – which helps to lower repair costs and improve the quality of the repair,” added Stedem.

Dealerships will see benefits immediately with Auto PartsBridge. The feature-packed system validates OEM part numbers, provides full catalog searching to a specific VIN, and allows dealerships to quote against aftermarket line items. There is no need for re-keying of data, as it’s processed directly to the dealer management system. Consequently, staff will spend less time processing and validating parts orders that can be received 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Auto PartsBridge is now available to any active collision repair facility in the United States that purchases parts through a participating Toyota dealership. For more information, please visit www.autopartsbridge.com.