GLOBAL automotive parts software provider Infomedia has announced a five-year partnership with Nissan to exclusively provide electronic parts catalogue (EPC) software for the Japanese manufacturer’s global dealer network through to 2022.

The Sydney-based firm’s Microcat software program will be rolled out across Nissan’s global dealer network by the fourth quarter this year, and represents a significant coup for Infomedia given their current global contract with Jaguar Land Rover runs out this year.

The Microcat system helps dealers identify, locate and price specific parts while servicing or repairing a vehicle, and was the first software program to use vehicle identification number (VIN)-based parts interpretation.

It combines parts data management with cloud-based technology, is made in 29 languages and is used by more than 120,000 parts workers each day.

Infomedia CEO Jonathan Rubinsztein said using the Microcat system would help Nissan be more efficient in sourcing parts for service and repair.

“The signing of the contact with Nissan is significant,” he said. “The contract was awarded following a competitive tender and emphasises the quality and efficiency of our EPC for auto makers looking to outsource the management of their parts catalogues.

“By transitioning to Microcat, dealers will be acquiring capabilities to drive business improvement across the entire parts supply chain. We’ll be providing new tools that help integrate, analyse and exploit parts data to empower additional sales growth in the Collision and Mechanical parts segments.”

The global partnership comes hot on the heels of the recent announcement that Infomedia would provide its Superservice Menus quoting software to Nissan Australia and Nissan Europe.

Nissan global executive Shigeru Narita said Infomedia were the best of many candidates to handle their catalogue software rollout.

“Having gone through a global competitive tender we are very excited to have a selected Infomedia as our partner,” he said.

“We believe that they have the best technology, people and organisation for our global rollout and look forward to implementing their EPC throughout our business to drive the business change needed to get us onto a world leading platform.”

By Robbie Wallis