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Automotive Distributor Founds Growth Strategy for Next Century

9 March 1999

Automotive Distributor Founds Growth Strategy for Next Century On General Automation's mv.ENTERPRISE Platform

            General Automation Solution Provides Relco Corporation
       With an IT Architecture for Web Integration and Data Warehousing

    IRVINE, Calif., March 9 -- General Automation, Inc.
(OTC Bulletin Board: GAUM) today announced that Relco Corporation
(Reliable Automotive), the nation's largest specialty automotive accessories
distributor, has completed its implementation of General Automation's
mv.ENTERPRISE database management system on a Groupe BULL Rack computer.
Relco selected General Automation's AIX-based solution to replace a
proprietary Sequoia system, enabling the company to streamline large, multiple
databases, facilitate a boost in sales and order entry processes and provide
an IT architecture for future growth.
    "We are committed to helping our customers adopt new technology and
providing greater accessibility to leading edge solutions," said Jane M.
Christie, General Automation president and chief executive officer.
"Relco's selection of our open, high-end environment, mv.ENTERPRISE, enhances
its competitive edge by opening the door to a variety of industry-standard
tools and best-of-breed solutions, including ODBC, Web integration and data
warehousing."
    As a major wholesale and retail supplier of specialty automotive products,
Relco Corporation, based in Overland Park, Kansas, has an ambitious growth
plan that had been hindered by a nine-year old outdated IT system.  With the
priority of maintaining its competitive advantage and integrating leading-edge
technologies, Relco migrated to General Automation's AIX-based mv.ENTERPRISE
environment on a Bull Escala Rack computer and a Tower computer platform.
    The 568-user mv.ENTERPRISE system supports Relco's 300 employees and its
complete business operation including sales, distribution, customer service
and financial applications.  Relco distributes products on the wholesale end
through Reliable Automotive, supplying specialty accessories to Western Auto,
Advance Auto, Pep Boys, NAPA, Carquest and jobbers throughout the United
States.  In addition, Relco direct markets products through Sears'
Shop-at-Home, Bass Pro Truck World and Wholesale Advantage, shipping
automotive parts to 95 percent of the continental U.S. through 11 nationwide
distribution centers.
    "Operating on the old system was increasingly slow and we needed a
platform which was flexible in its own right and compatible with future IT
requirements," said Dan DeSive, Relco's manager of information technologies.
"The combination of the Escala hardware and the mv.ENTERPRISE database has
given us the horsepower we needed to increase productivity and the open
platform we needed to be able to integrate the latest third party software."
    According to DeSive, the mv.ENTERPRISE solution has opened the door to new
technologies and middleware solutions that had been unfeasible on the previous
system.  "Now that we have an open software environment, we can incorporate
strategic third-party applications that will take our company to the next
level," he explained.  "General Automation has been very supportive in our
efforts to evaluate leading-edge solutions such as Liberty ODBC, RedBack Web
integration, EDI, data business intelligence and data warehouse tools."
    After a review of competitive databases and warehouse management systems,
Relco chose mv.ENTERPRISE because of performance, ease-of-use and time to
spare.  "We felt General Automation's product offered the best overall
solution to our needs," DeSive said.  "We were sacrificing productivity,
efficiencies and data availability on the old machine and needed to get to a
high-performing, open environment very quickly.  mv.ENTERPRISE was the only
system with a simple conversion process that also provided the increase in
performance our company demanded."
    Relco, which publishes and mails millions of catalogs per year, generates
up to 300,000 sales calls per month.  DeSive noted that the conversion to
mv.ENTERPRISE on a Bull computer has greatly improved the company's sales
efficiencies, because the system is operating at a speed where the operators
can deal with more customers in shorter amounts of time.  Its customer service
and distribution departments have seen immediate benefits through the speedy
access to information, the ability to work more efficiently and to better
serve its customers, he said.
    "GA's technology made it possible for Relco to execute a major
reengineering in a short period of time with minimal outside assistance," said
William Rice, general manager of General Automation's System Solutions
Business Unit.  "GA is committed to providing companies with solutions that
are cost-effective and easy to implement, while carefully managing rapid
corporate growth."
    "The level of support from General Automation's sales and systems staff
has been excellent," DeSive concluded.  "They established a partnership with
us right from the start, introduced us to third-party products, and
orchestrated cooperation from GA suppliers as we needed them to stay on track
with our conversion schedule.  We have a great deal of faith in the stability
of General Automation's products and the quality of its technology.  We expect
that General Automation will help us evolve and strengthen our IT processes
well into the next century."

    About General Automation (http://www.genauto.com)
    General Automation, Inc., headquartered in Irvine, Calif., is the premier
supplier of computer hardware, software and services to an industry where
businesses still depend on their legacy computer systems today, but must
enhance them for tomorrow.  General Automation and its worldwide network of
Value-Added Resellers (VARs) offer a broad line of Windows NT and UNIX
platforms, database software, middleware, Internet development tools and
professional services.