Patrick Wolfe, who transferred from NAPA's Stevens Point, Wis., DC, is slated to take over as general manager, replacing John Baehr.  Tom Grantham, sales manager, is retiring from NAPA after more than 30 years, including time spent in Des Moines, Iowa, and Columbus, Ohio.  Taking over for Grantham is Jeff Hundley, who previously served as wholesale marketing manager.

The combination of positional changes and new NAPA product segments sets the stage for added sales this year, Grantham said.

Last year, NAPA's parent company, Genuine Parts Co. (GPC),  opened a dedicated heavy-duty truck parts DC in Atlanta, breaking ground in a new-product segment for NAPA in the lower 48 states.

"This has allowed us access to draw inventory from the Traction products for the over-the-road trucks and trailers," Grantham said.  "We have half-a-dozen stores that have embraced this program and at this time are just kind of feeling their way around.

We see this gaining momentum and gaining sales for our stores and service opportunities for our NAPA Truck Service Centers." NAPA recently rolled out a newer product line, Altrom, an import specialty line, Grantham said.  "This product line offers original fit and original quality for import cars for the discerning shop that wants to install OE import parts."

 "Delphi is a line that has really taken off for us," Hundley said. "We started out with fuel pumps, and now we are into the engine management products. This is truly an OE part that the installer can put on and feel confident with. It is an OE fit and a quality part."

 
Delphi is great for the installer who is OE-minded, Hundley said.  "Shops now have an option to get OE parts from NAPA whereas before, he did not have that option. This will place us as that one-stop-shop.

"With all the products we have added, we are going to concentrate on the wholesale side of our business," he said. "Basically, we offer the installers technical and management training programs for technicians, service advisers, and shop managers and owners."  Some of the training topics include hybrid safety, diesel, heavy-duty truck, diagnostics, and Toyota engine management, he added.

Along with the added breadth and depth of inventory through key brands and segments, comes the need to have adequate inventory control, which NAPA has greatly refined over the years, Grantham said.

"With the addition of this entire available inventory, we have a way to control the inventory at the store level with Market Inventory Classification," Grantham said. "If you go back to the '30s, GPC established a national ranking on parts instead of relying on the manufacturer data.

"They tracked it by sales, and eventually, 15 to 20 years ago, it was changed from a national sales classification to a classification by distribution center," he said.  "Today, that inventory is controlled by the stores' ZIP codes, and we do classification on a quarterly basis.

"NAPA Mount Vernon services 150 NAPA parts stores and approximately 350 shops in our NAPA AutoCare program," Grantham said. "This distribution center covers parts of four different states surrounding and including Illinois."