A meeting was held on March 16 in Indianapolis to determine the need to set up a steering committee and work groups to establish Business Practices for Electronic Commerce in the Automotive Aftermarket. AWDA supplied an excellent lunch for the group so that business could be concluded in one hour. Jim Bonham, chairman of the AWDA IAT committee, proposed that a steering committee and the appropriate work groups be set up to recommend that electronic commerce business practices, data formats, standards and guidelines be developed and their use is encouraged by the automotive aftermarket industry association members. He further proposed that the steering committee and the appropriate work groups would review and recommend changes if needed to the following already established guidelines:

• EDI Guidelines for the Aftermarket Jointly Issued by the MEMA ASCX12 Committee, the AWDA Information and Automation Technology Committee, the Automotive Parts and Accessories Association and the CFS Electronic Commerce Task Force
• Event Driven Direct Connect Formats
• Direct Connect Screen Formats
• APAA Catalog Standards
• AWDA Bar Code Standards

Jim Bonham also proposed that the steering committee and appropriate work groups could develop new Electronic Commerce Business Practices for the automotive aftermarket which might include:

• Vendor Managed Inventory Process
• Automating the Receiving Process
• Electronic Funds Transfter Process
• Internet Based Electronic Commerce and Related Systems

Finally, Jim Bonham proposed that the steering committee would be made up of a representative and an alternate from each of the industry associations listed below and that meetings would be held quarterly:

MEMA ASCX12 Committee
MEMA Direct Connect Committee
AWDA Information and Automation Technology Committee
Automotive Parts & Accessories Association Electronic Commerce Committee
CFS Electronic Commerce Task Force
Other Assocations/Organizations where appropriate

Many participants in the meeting mentioned that a lot of the effort of the steering committee would be to market the use of standard business practices to association members. The group also discussed the development of a business practice model for electronic commerce similar to what has been accomplished in the Automotive OE Market with AIAG and the retail market with VICS. Steve Kavovit of Supply Chain Solutions offered their expertise in the development of this business practice model. All association members present at the meeting endorsed the proposal presented by Jim Bonham and requested that a meeting be set up to start the new steering committee and work groups.

As a result, the first meeting will be held at the Gates Rubber Company on April 30 at 8:00am to 5:00pm in the Club Room 1 in the Administration Building at 990 South Broadway. Gates will supply the break and lunch. Jim Bonham will send out information on hotel reservations and directions to Gates in early April. Please e-mail Jim Bonham information you would like included in the agenda by April 15, 1998.