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MEMA Launches Mentorship Program for its Employees
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By Counterman
PRT announced the latest additions to its portfolio of complete strut assemblies and shock absorbers in the North American Aftermarket. The 27 new products represent more than seven million vehicles in new coverage.
The launches include important models like the Chevrolet Malibu, Dodge Challenger and Suzuki SX4, in addition to brand new applications including the Chrysler Voyager and Pacifica 2023, as well as the Ford Transit 250 and 350 HD 2023, among others.
“At PRT, we are continually investing in research and development of new products, bringing innovative and premium-quality solutions from OE to our clients in the aftermarket,” said Bruno Bello, director of global marketing at PRT. “The new items are in stock in the U.S. and ready for shipment!”
For more information, call 1-770-238-1611, visit
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By Counterman
In partnership with NAPA,
link hidden, please login to view the Babcox Media brand serving professional independent automotive shop owners, is seeking to recognize and celebrate the vital role of mentorship in the automotive service industry. The ShopOwner Mentorship Award sponsored by NAPA will honor exceptional automotive shop owners, service advisors and technicians who are actively investing in the future of their profession by mentoring the next generation of automotive professionals.
link hidden, please login to view are open now. “The automotive industry faces a significant skills gap,” said Emily Schneider, Senior Director of Marketing at NAPA. “Experienced professionals are critical to guiding and supporting young technicians and students entering the field. This award is our way of recognizing and celebrating those individuals who are making a real difference. We are excited to partner with proponents of industry partnerships – ShopOwner and Tomorrow’s Technician – to encourage ongoing mentorship programs.”
The Mentorship Award celebrates automotive professionals dedicated to mentoring and developing future technicians in-house as well as through partnerships with vocational and technical schools. It is open to automotive shops of all sizes and affiliations in the 50 United States, recognizing mentorship’s vital role in fostering talent and strengthening the industry.
Two nominees will be recognized each month in print, digital and video formats. One nominee will be named the 2025 winner, and will be recognized by NAPA and ShopOwner at a special event to be held later in the year.
“Many shop owners struggle to find good people at any time, let alone during an ongoing labor shortage,” said Doug Kaufman, editorial director of ShopOwner. “Even when they do find an ideal candidate, they don’t have any guarantee of a good fit. Instead of perpetuating a revolving door of transitory ‘jobs,’ we are looking to celebrate a commitment to building careers through training and mentoring.”
For more information about the award and nomination process or to enter, visit
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By Counterman
link hidden, please login to view announced “The 3 Dragons: Aftermarket Outlook” session returns to the 2025 Vision Conference, April 2 in Chicago. “This annual favorite will set the stage for the conference, enabling attendees to understand where the industry currently stands with a 360-degree view of the economic, financial and industry factors shaping the aftermarket,” MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers said.
link hidden, please login to view for the event is now open. 3 Dragons, 3 Perspectives
Kristin Dziczek, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago – The macroeconomic forces impacting consumers, manufacturers and the aftermarket Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley – Wall Street’s perspective on the health and future prospects of the aftermarket Todd Campau, S&P Global Mobility – The latest data on vehicle population and driving trends that will shape demand Why It Matters
The 3 Dragons session frames everything that follows at the Vision Conference, explained
link hidden, please login to view. Sessions like Talk from the Top, A Landmark Study from McKinsey and Associates, and the O’Reilly keynote—to name a few—will build on insights from our 3 dragons, helping you translate today’s realities into tomorrow’s strategies. The post
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By Counterman
Like many parts professionals, I’m a little bit OCD. My coworkers might tell you that’s an understatement. Organization has always been a pet project of mine, from designing and implementing planograms for the retail floor to maximizing storage space in the areas behind the counter.
For the retail areas of our stores, we receive a great deal of support from the various manufacturers that make up our line cards. Corporate planograms, signage and other materials not only make it easier for us to effectively display retail products, but these professionally designed merchandisers also serve as advertising for the manufacturer. Having a particular category or brand offering consolidated in one place makes it more convenient for a customer to find what they need with minimal assistance, and the manufacturer can display the items they feel showcase their brand more effectively and profitably.
The “back of house” area is an entirely different world when it comes to inventory organization. Warehousing and other non-public-facing storage areas need not be visually appealing to attract customer dollars, but they should be designed to maximize inventory dollars per square foot, and to encourage safe and efficient workflow when picking orders and restocking products.
With products from multiple vendors sharing warehouse space, a simple and logical method of organization is to group items first by manufacturer/brand, and then alphanumerically. For most of our manufacturers, this works well because their product offerings are often similar in size and packaging. For manufacturers with varied product lines, this becomes a bit more challenging. A chassis parts inventory will include a wide variety of package sizes and shapes, making it difficult to store long items like drag links in the same space as a relatively compact ball joint package, or the large irregular shapes found when organizing boxed control arms. A well-defined part numbering system can help alleviate some of these storage issues, but there always seems to be one or more outliers, leaving the stock clerk to figure out how to shelve them effectively.
In the OEM dealership world, parts generally come from a single source. With a single “brand,” and often cryptic part numbering systems, the alphanumeric inventory method becomes nearly impossible. Consecutive part numbers could (theoretically) be as varied as a bolt, a set of brake pads and a door shell, none of which would sensibly be shelved together. For most dealer parts departments, a “bin location” system is necessary to customize and maximize storage. Each part number is assigned a location code, corresponding to a specific shelf, drawer or bin somewhere in the warehouse.
The “bin location” method offers flexibility, but adds another level of complexity to organization. Shelving units are more uniformly organized, with like-sized items stored together regardless of function or category. As parts transition through their natural life cycles, they can be added to and removed from their locations, keeping faster-moving parts closer to the counter for ease of picking, or moving a part’s location to accommodate larger stocking quantities of that item. In some cases, it also can allow for items that are frequently sold together to be stocked in the same location. Finally, location coding allows for less-experienced warehouse personnel to find items simply by finding a location and verifying the part number on the order, rather relying on someone’s memory of “where we keep that widget.”
The drawback is in the duplication. Each part number must be assigned additional information when it is initially stocked, and some store-level inventory systems are not designed to accommodate a field for location. Further, if a location code is entered incorrectly, never assigned or a part is mis-stocked somewhere in the warehouse, it easily becomes “lost,” and can be nearly impossible to find until an inventory is performed. Most dealerships maintain a perpetual “bin count” schedule, checking a few bins each day to keep up with this task, making corrections as necessary.
No matter your organizational method, keeping a sense of order is important when designing your back of house area. Minimizing the amount of empty space (not including that reserved for future expansion) maximizes the value of your inventory per square foot. Physical characteristics of some parts will often dictate their unique storage needs, but wherever we can streamline the process of stocking and retrieving parts, we increase efficiency and worker productivity.
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By Counterman
Bill Long, president & CEO,
link hidden, please login to view, The Vehicle Suppliers Association, issued this statement regarding the implementation of China tariffs to its membership. Dear MEMA Members,
On February 1, 2025, President Trump signed an
link hidden, please login to view which imposed new tariffs on the majority of items coming from China into the U.S. These new tariffs are being implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The IEEPA tariffs, set at 10%, went into effect at 12:01 am ET on February 4, 2025. There is currently no date by which the tariffs will sunset. Further, the 10% tariffs articulated in this Executive Order will be imposed on top of any prior and existing “duties, fees, exactions, or charges applicable to such imported articles.” China subsequently announced retaliatory tariffs of between 10-15% on certain U.S. goods and further imposed export controls on five critical minerals.
Additional Details:
Goods in Transit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a
link hidden, please login to view on February 5, 2025 and link hidden, please login to view via the Cargo System Messaging Service which provide more information on the items covered by the new tariffs. Consistent with the language included in the Executive Order, CBP noted that items that are onboard a vessel before 12:01 am EST on February 1, 2025 are exempt from the newly imposed Chinese tariffs of 10% as long as they are entered for consumption (or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption) before 12:01 am EST on March 7, 2025.
However, products of China that are entered for consumption beginning February 4, 2025 would be subject to the new tariffs. Therefore, if there is a product of China that is placed on the vessel between February 1, 2025 and February 3, 2025, but it is not entered until February 4, 2025 or later, then it would still be subject to the tariffs.
CBP further issued guidance via its Cargo Systems Messaging Service on how companies can certify eligibility for this provision. Importers will need to use secondary HTS 9903.01.23 if they are eligible for this “on the water” exception. The use of HTS 9903.01.23 will only be available for those imports within those time-bound requirements.
Goods Covered by the Executive Order: The CBP notice covers the majority of goods coming from China into the U.S. There are very limited exceptions for donations (i.e., food, clothing, medicine used to relieve human suffering) and informational materials (e.g., publications, films, posters). In addition, an importer can make use of the Chapter 98 duty saving or reduction provisions (e.g., U.S. goods returned, goods exported for repair/alteration and returned). See below.
Excluded from the IEEPA Tariffs:
9903.01.21: Articles the product of China and Hong Kong that are donations, by persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, of articles, such as food, clothing, and medicine, intended to be used to relieve human suffering.
9903.01.22: Articles the product of China and Hong Kong that are informational materials, including but not limited to, publications, films, posters, phonograph records, photographs, microfilms, microfiche, tapes, compact disks, CD ROMs, artworks, and news wire feeds.
CHAPTER 98: The additional duties imposed by heading 9903.01.20 shall not apply to goods for which entry is properly claimed under a provision of chapter 98 of the tariff schedule pursuant to applicable regulations of CBP, and whenever CBP agrees that entry under such a provision is appropriate, except for goods entered under heading 9802.00.80; and subheadings 9802.00.40, 9802.00.50, and 9802.00.60. For subheadings 9802.00.40, 9802.00.50, and 9802.00.60, the additional duties apply to the value of repairs, alterations, or processing performed (in China and Hong Kong), as described in the applicable subheading. For heading 9802.00.80, the additional duties apply to the value of the article assembled abroad (in China and Hong Kong), less the cost or value of such products of the United States, as described.
Drawback: The Executive Order states that drawback will not be available for items covered by the IEEPA tariffs.
De Minimis: The Executive Order revoked duty-free “de minimis” treatment for goods coming into the U.S. from China that are subject to the order. According to CBP: “De minimis provides admission of articles free of duty and of any tax imposed on or by reason of importation, but the aggregate fair retail value in the country of shipment of articles imported by one person on one day and exempted from the payment of duty shall not exceed $800.” For more information, see the CBP Guidance on De Minimis Shipments from China:
link hidden, please login to view NOTE: De Minimis Update on 2/7/2025: The White House issued an Executive Order which announced the suspension of the afore-mentioned revocation on de minimis treatment for goods coming from China. MEMA is still analyzing the new order but it indicates that the revocation would return once “adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue applicable.”
Source:
link hidden, please login to view CBP is expected to issue an updated guidance document to help inform the trade community of the details concerning this change. MEMA will share this information as soon as it becomes available.
Free Trade Zones (FTZ): Beginning February 4, goods subject to these IEEPA tariffs must be admitted in a zone as “privileged foreign status” (with limited exceptions for goods eligible for “domestic status”). When withdrawn from the zone and entered for consumption, the goods will be subject to the IEEPA tariffs (and other applicable duties) related to the classification under the applicable HTSUS subheading in effect at the time of admission.
Exclusions: At this time, there is no language in the Executive Order concerning an exclusion process.
Escalation: The Executive Order includes language stating that the U.S. may escalate these actions if China takes steps to retaliate against U.S. exports and goods.
MEMA will continue to update member companies on any new developments regarding the tariffs. As new details may evolve, we will promptly notify members of any changes as soon as more information becomes available.
If you wish to join the MEMA Trade Working Group, contact Bill Frymoyer.
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