Members of NEXUS North America met in Atlanta, May 22-23 to network and exchange ideas during the organization’s N! North America Connecting Days 2017. The second annual event provided a forum for NEXUS North America founding partners, The Automotive Distribution Network (The Network), Automotive Parts Associates (APA Group) and VIPAR Heavy Duty, to meet with current and prospective global supplier partners.

In March 2016, the three organizations joined NEXUS Automotive International SA (N!), a leading global aftermarket trade group. The new NEXUS North America entity serves as the exclusive partner for N! in North America.

“The NEXUS Automotive International community continues to expand, growing in both distributors and key supplier relationships, and we’re proud to support the community through Connecting Days. This event helps further those global alliances while maintaining a North American focus,” said APA Group president and CEO Gary Martin.

N! Connecting Days provided NEXUS North America members with the opportunity to hold productive one-on-one meetings with suppliers and a forum for the three groups to share ideas, knowledge, and strategies and to facilitate discussions on mutual opportunities.

The event also served as an ideal setting to recognize key partners crucial to the success of the organization and the aftermarket in general. This year inaugural supplier and technology awards were announced. NEXUS North America presented the “Supplier Partner of the Year” award to Bosch and its “Technology Partner of the Year” was awarded to WHI Solutions, Inc.

“The success of NEXUS North America is based on the free exchange of ideas between the partners and our suppliers. This has led to opportunities to collaborate in many areas,” said David Prater, president of The Network. “We appreciate the input and support of all of our partners, but it is gratifying to recognize these two companies who have gone above and beyond in their support of NEXUS.”

NEXUS North America continues to deliver value to its members through real-time collaboration in areas such as membership, PDC access to parts, and technology. Members have collaborated on a variety of projects, including a B2B platform to provide an e-commerce solution for end user customers as well as national accounts with vehicle ranges from class 1 all the way up to class 8.

“The work among the members of our group on this technology project is precisely the type of collaboration we envisioned when we formed NEXUS North America,” explained Chris Baer, president and CEO of VIPAR Heavy Duty. “We anticipate more projects like this that help us better serve our customers.”