County Reduces Fleet Management Cost by Utilizing Cooperative Purchasing, Strategic Sourcing and AutoZone Branded Products
MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 2, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO), the nation's leading auto parts retailer and a leading distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories, announced today that it has been recognized by Cobb County, Georgia for cost savings through the AutoZone Strategic Partners program.
Cobb County, Georgia is facing the same challenges that all local governments are struggling with right now. How to continue to provide the same -- or greater -- levels of service with fewer dollars? In planning their 2009 budget, County leaders asked each department to reduce expenditures a minimum of 10%.
To meet this goal, the Purchasing Department, which includes both purchasing and fleet management divisions, looked to U.S. Communities and their auto parts and accessories contract with AutoZone.
AutoZone recently launched a Strategic Partners program as part of their government offering through U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance. The goal of the program is to partner with local governments in order to analyze common automotive parts purchased by governments nationwide and leverage that total volume to obtain better pricing. Additionally, local governments can save money by streamlining their purchasing operations and reducing the number of vendors they use to support their daily fleet maintenance activities.
As a result of implementing the Strategic Partners program, Cobb County expects to save over 30% on its automotive parts budget this year.
"AutoZone came onsite and provided the county with a very detailed review of all our automotive parts and purchasing processes," said Rick Brun, Purchasing Director for Cobb County. "Not only is the county saving money by switching to AutoZone brands and products, we are realizing administrative savings by reducing the number of vendors we use to manage our fleet operations. At the same time our fleet department has been very impressed with the excellent service provided daily by AutoZone."
Because the AutoZone contract was competitively solicited and awarded by Charlotte-Mecklenberg Purchasing Services in North Carolina through the U.S. Communities program, any state and local government agency in the country can order what they need from the contract and never have to go out to bid. This speeds up the process to complete a cost savings review and cuts down on the administrative costs normally associated with the bid process.
U.S. Communities is a nonprofit instrumentality of government founded in 1999 and is comprised of nearly 36,000 participating agencies nationwide. It grows by over 400 agencies each month. In 2008, participating agencies purchased over $1.4 billion of products and services through contracts offered by U.S. Communities.
"The goal of AutoZone is to help our customers exceed their targeted purchasing goals and provide the AutoZone brand of WOW! Customer Service," explained Larry Roesel, senior vice president of AutoZone commercial. "The U.S. Communities contract allows government agencies to realize their savings goals faster by reducing the amount of time it takes to adopt our Strategic Partners program through the U.S. Communities contract."
As part of a nationwide awareness campaign, AutoZone is launching the "AutoZone; Great Brands, Great Products" initiative as a complement to their Strategic Partners program and the U.S. Communities contract in 2009. The goal of the initiative is to share many of the cost saving experiences being realized by local governments like Cobb County with all of the local government agencies across the country. In these challenging economic times, it is rewarding to know that local governments are working hard to save money and maintain community services at the highest level possible.
About AutoZone:
As of February 14, 2009, AutoZone sells auto and light truck parts, chemicals and accessories through 4,141 AutoZone stores in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in the U.S. and 158 stores in Mexico.
AutoZone is the leading retailer and a leading distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States. Each store carries an extensive product line for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products. Many stores also have a commercial sales program that provides commercial credit and prompt delivery of parts and other products to local, regional and national repair garages, dealers, and service stations. AutoZone also sells the ALLDATA brand diagnostic and repair software. On the web, AutoZone sells diagnostic and repair information, and auto and light truck parts through www.autozone.com. AutoZone does not derive revenue from automotive repair or installation.
About U.S. Communities:
U.S. Communities(tm) Government Purchasing Alliance is a nonprofit that assists local and state government agencies, school districts (K-12), higher education, and nonprofits in reducing the cost of purchased goods through pooling the purchasing power of public agencies nationwide. This is accomplished through competitively solicited contracts for quality products through lead public agencies.
Today more than 35,800 public agencies utilize U.S. Communities(tm) contracts and suppliers to procure more than 1 billion dollars in products and services annually. Each month more than 400 new public agencies register to participate. The continuing rapid growth of public agency participation is fueled by the program's proven track record of providing public agencies unparalleled value.
CONTACT:
AutoZone, Inc.
Financial:
Brian Campbell
(901) 495-7005
brian.campbell@autozone.com
Media:
Ray Pohlman
(901) 495-7962
ray.pohlman@autozone.com