VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT AUTOMATES CATALOG PRODUCTION FOR AMERICAN REMANUFACTURERS INC.

DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS - Vertical Development, one of the country's leading providers of content management systems, recently completed one of its most complex database projects to date. The project involved building relational databases containing applications for over 22,000 part numbers with links to schematic diagrams for American Remanufacturers Inc. (ARI). What's more, all the information is "mapped" so files can be exported in industry standard formats like AAIA, CCI/Triad, and NAPA.

The parent company of ABS Friction, American Caliper Exchange, Inc. (ACEI), American Driveline, ATSCO and Ohio Caliper Inc., ARI ranks as one of the largest remanufacturers in the U.S., with over 60 years of rebuilding and distribution experience. Their product lines include remanufactured brake, clutch, driveline and steering components for passenger cars, light and medium duty trucks, as well as brake calipers and steering components for heavy-duty trucks. Last year, ARI acquired Delta Automotive and now has cataloged over 16,000 SKU's for a full new brake and clutch kit line. The new brake program includes Road Proven friction, drums, rotors, hydraulics and hardware. ARI also private labels driveline components for major aftermarket distributors.

ARI previously produced its catalogs in-house, using traditional desktop publishing programs to output catalog pages. Its graphics intensive catalogs featured complex product section layouts, hundreds of schematic diagrams, and background watermarks for copyright protection. As the company grew so did its database of part numbers, making in-house catalog production very time and cost-consuming.

"We conducted an extensive search to find a partner who could help us manage our data, and get catalog production and mapping under control," said ARI Director of Product Management Mark Zemlicka. "We selected Vertical Development because their e-Publisher system is designed to handle extremely large databases, and it had the flexibility of handling our graphic needs, which we thought could not be automated," he added.

Vertical Development completed the project in three phases. The first combined over 4,700 part numbers for ARI's steering products (bellows, gear boxes, pumps, rack and pinion units, and kits) and driveline components (axle hardware, boot kits, CV drive axles, and prop shafts) into a single database. The second database covering ARI's line of brake components (caliper kits, drums, hoses, master cylinders, pads, rotors, shoes, wheel cylinders, vacuum boosters, and hardware kits) is more than three times the size of the first, with over 15,000 part numbers that fill more than 1000 pages in two catalog volumes.

Vertical Development's work for ARI is one of the firm's most complex, graphics-intensive database management project to date. It was so successful that Vertical Development is now working on phase three, ARI's clutch components database, currently on a competitive system, which includes over 2,200 additional part number listings.

With its powerful e-Publisher content management system, Vertical Development built systems that could meet ARI's needs. They also provided programming that links schematic diagrams to multiple product listings, duplicated graphic intense product sections, and outputs catalog pages watermarked with ARI's logo - accomplishments not possible in competitive systems. The e-Publisher system also includes a unique mapping process, enabling ARI's application data to be easily exported in industry standard formats like AAIA, CCI/Triad, and NAPA.

With e-Publisher, ARI can now manage its expanding database and automate catalog production. "Compared to our previous supplier, Vertical Development installed a system that met our complex graphic demands and lets us output catalogs faster for the thousands of customers who rely on our products," Zemlicka added.

A leading provider of content management systems, Vertical Development, Inc. offers e-Catalog, e-Pricing and e-Publisher systems that support simultaneous publishing to print, web and CD-ROM formats from a single data source. Their software has streamlined data management for companies nationwide in a variety of industries, including many of the largest manufacturers in the automotive market. Founded in 1983, the company has offices in Downers Grove and Elgin, IL

To find out more about the full range of systems and services available through Vertical Development, please call (847) 608-9142, or e-mail vertdev@dellepro.com. More information can also be obtained by visiting the company's web site at www.verticaldev.com.