Auto Care Assn. product standards available in China

The Auto Care Association’s (ACA) ACES and PIES product-based data standards, widely adopted by suppliers and their distribution partners in North America, will be available in China.

Suppliers in China can use ACES (Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard) and PIES (Product Information Exchange Standard) to provide detailed performance and physical attributes of automotive products to differentiate their products on features and value, not just price, according to Bethesda-based ACA.

“ACES and PIES have long been the preferred standards for electronic data transfer in the North American auto care marketplace,” said Bill Hanvey, the ACA’s president and CEO.

“The use of ACES and PIES in China serves as an acknowledgement of China’s increasing footprint in the global automotive aftermarket, as well as its rapidly growing domestic market for aftermarket parts and service.”

The ACA said it is working closely with local Chinese organizations and plans to provide training and seminars in order to support adoption of the standards throughout the industry.

ACES makes compiling an electronic catalog with quality, consistent content about thousands of product lines possible and efficient, the association said. Using ACES, suppliers can describe vehicle configuration with valid database values. Suppliers can define product terminology with a database of product names, all in a computer-readable format for the exchange of this information from supplier to receiver.

The PIES standard defines the rules of managing elements of product information, product images and product attributes, the ACA said. PIES defines the format of the information and the valid values. By using it, customers and those in the distribution chain will know what a product looks like, what it weighs, the size of the box and how many are packed inside, the length of the warranty, the country of origin, the performance attributes, and more, according to the ACA.