As the new year gains steam, SEMA leadership and the Board of Directors have been considering new goals and offerings to help our members succeed. As always, we are looking at investments that would do the most good for SEMA members and the performance aftermarket in general. One focus this year is to deliver new and improved tools and services to help members quickly and efficiently develop new products.

Check Out the SEMA Data Co-op for the First Time…Again!

Imagine a world where you could manage all of your product data in one place, at one time, with the latest state-of-the-art tools. Imagine never again having to use valuable internal resources to create multiple product data files for your customers. Imagine providing better product data delivery than you ever have before, with less effort, lower cost and in the exact format each of your customers require. Imagine the data for your new-product launches being available in near real time, with virtually no delays in delivery to the marketplace. That, my friends, is what the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is all about.

Why Every Business Owner Needs a Plan

It’s as inevitable as death and taxes: If you’re a business owner, one way or another, you’ll eventually leave your enterprise. The only question is how—and whether you’ll do so on your own terms.

Will you retire gracefully? Pass your company on to family? Opt for a management buyout? Go for a merger or acquisition? Or will unforeseen circumstances force your exit sooner than expected?

The International Happy Hour at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas was the venue for the 2012 Global Media Awards. In front of a crowd of more than 1,000 exhibitors and international buyers, 150 companies learned that their products had been selected by a panel of 25 international journalists as this year’s hottest products, chosen from more than 2,000 entries in the Ideas Alive: New Products Showcase.

The SEMA Middle East Business Development Conference is a low-cost program providing the opportunity to meet face to face with buyers from throughout the Middle East. The 2013 event will take place March 13–16 at the Middle East Motor Tuning Show (MEMTS) at the Expo Centre Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The conference will be held in a dedicated SEMA hall.

In a joint effort, the Light-Truck Accessory Alliance (LTAA) and the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) have developed a new online tool that allows manufacturers to efficiently and effectively provide product training to hundreds or even thousands of resellers throughout the industry. The program is designed to help manufacturers save money on product training and spur sales.

The Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association’s (AAIA) Legacy electronic catalog standard was retired as of December 2012 and will no longer be supported or updated by AAIA. In order to meet the needs of today’s powerful business applications, the Legacy format has been replaced with the AAIA Catalog Enhanced Standard (ACES). Along with the vehicle configuration database, ACES provides a much more granular and rules-based standard. As the only industry-owned and operated data management service and centralized repository, the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is fully compliant with the industry ACES and Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES).

While the economy continues to influence the tire and wheel markets, the greatest impacts on the industry have resulted from the elimination of the tariffs on Chinese tires, the steady growth of lower rolling resistance tires, advances in technology and the proliferation of Internet research, according to knowledgeable wheel-and-tire pros and media. They shared their views for this latest look at trends in their segments of the specialty-equipment marketplace.

Breaking news from SEMA member companies, including Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. (TTC), Betts Spring Co., Design Engineering, Bilstein of America and more.

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