Centric Parts Wins Fast Undercar Vendor of the Year

On February 20th, Centric Parts won Fast Undercar's Vendor-Of-The-Year Award at their annual franchisee meetings in downtown Los Angeles, which also coincided with their 20th anniversary celebration event. The prestigious vendor award is based on multiple factors including:

*       Product Quality

*       Line Fill

*       Lead Time Performance

*       Overall Consistency

*       Dominance in their respective category

*       Personnel & Customer Service

The award was accepted by Charlie Kirkland, Vice President of Group Distribution & Business Development:

"On behalf of the management team and all our employees at Centric Parts, thank you so much for this award. The award is validation for the effort each and every one of our employees make every day to ensure we deliver the very best products and services possible. The partnership between Fast Undercar and Centric Parts dates all the way back to our beginnings as a company. It is gratifying to see the success we have had together and we look forward to many more years working together!"

Centric Parts Receives 2017 Mackenzie Warehouse Service Award

Centric Parts Receives 2017 Mackenzie Warehouse Service Award

Centric Parts has won the 2017 Mackenzie Warehouse Service Award for “meeting or exceeding all standards.” The Service Award was presented at the 5^th Annual MAC555 Dinner and tabletop show on Thursday night at the Verdi Club in San Francisco. When the awards were presented by Michelle Mackenzie-Menendez and George Salfiti, Centric received the loudest cheer. This is the third time Centric has been honored by Mackenzie.

“The participants in the Mackenzie MAC555 program were especially vocal in thanking Centric for providing quality products,” said Centric Parts VP of Sales Mike Musso, “…and this year they went out of their way to praise the Centric reps as well. Jim Grimes, Ron Bessette and David Perry were singled out for all of their hard work in the field – and for always going above and beyond.”

Approximately 30 vendors were on hand, along with 40 of Mackenzie’s top customers and select MAC555 prospects. Centric Parts was well represented by Mike Musso and sales reps Ron Bessette, Jim Grimes and David Perry who were able to interact with the MAC555 installers as well as selected MAC555 prospects. We received a lot of praise and positive feedback from the group.

Not only did the guys man the booth, but they also pitched in with kitchen duty for the night’s gala awards dinner, helping prepare pork tenderloin for the 160 guests.  Joining Mike, Ron and George in the kitchen was David Wofford (second from left) from Pronto who leads their Smart Choice program.

This is just the latest honor for Centric Parts. Some of the other awards we’ve won over the past 12 months include:

- Import Vehicle Community -- Best Performance Product

- Pronto -- Partnership Award

- Turn14 Distribution -- Supplier of the Year

- FMSI -- Award for New Assignments & Applications

- NPW – Million Dollar Vendor Club

- APA - Approved Vendor of the Year

Centric Parts Named 2015 Supplier of the Year by Turn14 Distribution

The StopTech division of Centric Parts - North America’s leading manufacturer and supplier of OE and aftermarket brake and chassis components and systems - has been named Supplier of the Year by Turn14 Distribution. The award was presented on Nov. 4, 2015 at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, by Turn14 CEO, Jon Pulli.

In presenting the award to Centric Parts National Performance Sales Manager, John Marshall, Pulli stated that the honor is “in recognition of excellence in communication, supply chain support, and product innovation.”

“This is a great honor,” said Marshall. “We greatly value our partnership with Turn14 and we look forward to mutually growing both of our businesses together in the future.”

The Turn14 Supplier of the Year Award represents just the latest honor for Centric Parts and its StopTech performance brand, which have garnered dozens of industry and customer awards since its founding in 2000.

2015 Parts Authority Tradeshow NY

Citi Field Centric Sighting

Held at Citi Field, the home of the NY Mets, The Parts Authority’s annual show attracted more than 5,000 installers and jobbers this year, their best turnout ever. Working the Centric booth were reps Shane Brown, Terry Dolan and his team, as well as our own national sales manager, John Marshall.  Centric took home a Partner of Excellence award, while Shane won his own as Service Rep of the Year.

“We had so many people coming through the booth saying exactly the same things,” explained Marshall. “We kept hearing how our products solve problems and eliminate comebacks. One customer said he is 100% Centric and wouldn’t dream of using anything else. It was a very positive experience.”

We had a huge space on the premier vendor floor this year. This is reserved for Parts Authority’s top suppliers.

This year's shirts

Cool view from the booth level

Fancy Calipers

We see some really unusual and cool things here on a pretty regular basis, but this one really stands out. We just rebuilt a set of these calipers for a customer and it's pretty obvious that somebody spent an incredible amount of time and $$$ to get this looking just right.

As we understand, it’s a type of photo-etching process that involves a wax film with the design on it, laid over the polished chrome body and then an acid solution etches out the various design elements, giving it a 3-dimensional texture.

Apparently, they’re going on some kind of Cadillac show car, according to Senior Technical Specialist, Will Pringle. "I can only imagine what the rest of the car looks like: Texas Longhorn steer antlers out on the hood, cowhide seats and a matching pair of chromed Colt 45s on the console, maybe?"

Whatever show vehicle it ends up going on, we couldn't resist showing off this craftsmanship.

Mackenzie Warehouse Honors Centric with Distinguished Service Award

Last week Mackenzie Warehouse held their 3rd annual MAC555 dinner and table-top show where Centric Parts was honored with the 2015 Distinguished Service Award for Exceptional Quality and Devoted Service. When the awards were presented, Centric received the loudest cheer.

“The participants in the Mackenzie MAC555 program were especially vocal in thanking Centric for providing quality products,” said VP of Sales Mike Musso.

Approximately 26 vendors were on hand showing and talking about their products, along with 37 of Mackenzie’s top customers and select MAC555 prospects. Centric Parts was well represented by Mike Musso and sales reps Ron Bessette and David Perry who were able to interact with the MAC5554 installers as well as selected MAC555 prospects. We received a lot of praise and positive feedback from the group.

Not only did the guys man the booth, but they also pitched in with kitchen duty for the night’s gala awards dinner, helping prepare tri-tip for the 200+ guests.  Leading the activities in the kitchen were Mackenzie’s Sales Manager, George Salfiti, who also happens to be a Certified Chef. 

AutoBild Magazine Picks StopTech as Best BBK in Comparison Test

In the December 2014 issue of AutoBild Magazine, the editors rounded up several big brake kits from some of the biggest names in aftermarket braking - Brembo, AP Racing, Performance Friction, K-Sport and StopTech - to compare head-to-head.

As a test subject, the magazine chose a modified BMW M3 that was put through a series of tests with each system to determine which brake system gave the best overall performance when judged on objective and subjective criteria. The judges looked at braking distances, fade and feel among other things.

As a benchmark, AutoBild used the stock BMW M brakes that come stock on the car. Not surprisingly, all of the aftermarket brakes scored much better than the BMW units, except one. The Brembo system finished just behind the BMW brakes, with a combination of poor performance and poor feel. At the other end of the finishing order, StopTech was named the overall winner, after scoring a perfect 5 out of 5 in every single category!

"No weaknesses came to light during the installation," according to the editors. "On the contrary - the caliper features a cover that can be opened for the easy removal of brake pads."

Other areas of praise were the system's lower weight, shorter stopping distances and fade-free performance - not to mention the lower price compared to the Brembo and PFC systems. You can read the whole English translation of the article here.

Click each page to enlarge.

Centric Honored for Third Consecutive Year as NPW Million Dollar Vendor

 Left to right – Chris Pacey, Dan Lelchuk, Larry Pacey, Mike Musso

Just like last year, National Performance Warehouse (NPW) once again started its 2015 FAST Expo weekend off with a black tie dinner gala, and once again Centric was honored as a Million Dollar Vendor. This marks the third consecutive time Centric has been honored this way, along with being named Vendor of the Year by NPW in 2013 and 2005. On hand to accept the award this year were President/CEO Dan Lelchuk and Mike Musso, VP of Sales.

The event was held at the historic Miami Beach Resort, in its famous Starlight Ballroom, which features panoramic views of the Miami skyline as well as the acclaimed infinity star effects out its windows. This is where stars such as Dean Martin, Jackie Gleason and Frank Sinatra once entertained. The dinner was held to recognize NPW vendors in the “million” dollar-plus purchase category for their efforts to grow with NPW.

Larry Pacey, CEO and president of the company, offered these remarks about the Club and Expo weekend: “Our FAST Expo is the kick off for our 2015 selling season and most of our suppliers are already in town. We appreciate what all our suppliers do for us and we wanted to do something special for them, so we created this club to commend those at the forefront and hope that we encourage others to make it to the club level as membership benefits our suppliers, our customers and of course, NPW.”

Centric Parts Employee Spotlight: Gregg Murphy

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. We’ve all heard that expression before, but when it comes to discarded brake parts, who could possibly see them as treasure? Gregg Murphy can, that’s who. Gregg is one of our Centric employees who works at the Hebron, Kentucky Qualis Automotive facility in Quality Assurance. While most people would see these items as scrap metal, he sees the occasional rejected item and thinks, “That would make a terrific planter!” So rather than scrapping these rejected parts, Gregg started making treasures out of the trash soon after he joined the company in 2004.

As you can see in the photos, he’s been busy – making planters, bookends, clocks, and door stops out of brake drums and rotors among other things. His art has gained quite a following and has even attracted attention from a well-known car guy – Mr. Jay Leno. Gregg sent him a set of rotor bookends a while back and was repaid with an invitation to visit Jay’s garage.

For those who don’t know, Jay’s “garage” is a very well-known but very difficult to get into cluster of warehouses near the Burbank airport. In these massive anonymous buildings Jay keeps and maintains a fleet of over 200 vehicles. They are some of the rarest and most sought-after cars in the world and for any car-lover it is a truly special privilege to be able to see them in person. And now thanks to Gregg, future visitors to the garage will not only see a bunch of legendary automobiles, but they will also get to see the rare and beautiful Qualis bookends that Gregg made for Jay right there among the Porsches, Ferraris, Bugattis and McLarens. And we hear that those bookends will soon be joined by a set of Gregg’s planters too.

But Gregg’s artistic talents are not limited to just discarded brake parts. He also works in paper and plastic from time to time. In fact, Gregg’s latest creation is a set of semi-truck PEZ dispensers with our corporate logos on them. Because you can’t just go out and buy a set of trucks with our logos on them, Gregg purchased several with Ace Hardware logos on them and got to work. He was able to remove the old logos and replace them with our logos before carefully returning the trucks to their boxes and sealing them back up. The result is a set of Centric Parts and Qualis PEZ dispensers that look like they were purchased that way. They’re also a good match for Gregg’s previous truck project, a scale model tractor and triple trailer.

“I’m working on my next project for display here in the QA Lab,” added Gregg, “but it’s a couple months away from completion. When I complete it I’ll send you photos.”

Well done. Gregg! It’s always fun to shine a spotlight on hidden talents within our Centric Parts family. Keep up the great work and let us know when your next creation is ready. In the meantime, we’ll be looking at our trash a lot differently from now on.

Look for Pink Calipers to Support Brakes for Breasts in October

Centric Parts Sales Rep, Shane Brown, came to us with a rather unusual request a few weeks ago. He wanted a dozen brake calipers… painted pink. While we were tickled pink to help him out, we just had to know the whole story behind the request. It turns out it’s a great story about an even better cause.

Shane ordered the pink calipers to help support Brakes for Breasts, a movement that has been supporting The Cleveland Clinic Breast CancerVaccine Research Fund since 2011. Dr. Vincent Touhy and his team of researchers at The Cleveland Clinic have successfully tested a breast cancer prevention vaccine in their lab and are working to move the testing to human trials soon. They hope that the vaccine will “Put the brakes on breast cancer.” And it’s easy for all of us to help.

All October, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, participating auto repair shops are offering free brake pads during every brake service, with customers only paying for the labor and associated parts. It’s a pretty good deal for customers but also for the Clinic, because 10% of those brake service fees go straight to Dr. Touhy and his team.

To help promote the program, Shane is holding clinics at several Centric customers in his region and loaning out the pink calipers to display at 7 different locations. But the promotion isn't limited to just a few shops in that area. There are hundreds of shops and stores participating in the program across the country. And just like almost everything else…there’s an app for that. Just search for Brakes for Breasts in the AppleApp Store or on GooglePlay and you’ll find the free app. It will give you some background information on the program and how to donate, plus a directory of participating shops and stores in 28 states.

With Winter approaching, it’s probably a good time to have your brakes checked, and Brakes for Breasts makes it an even better proposition in October, so get out there and help support this great cause.

Compton Facility Surpasses One Year Without a Recordable Injury

Centric's Compton, California facility recently surpassed 365 days without a recordable injury, a milestone we celebrated with a group photo and a visit by the Tommy Burger truck. Our Compton facility is primarily used for manufacturing our StopTech high performance and racing components, as well as research and development, so the extensive use of material handling equipment and manufacturing machinery makes this safety accomplishment extra noteworthy.

Each Centric facility is committed to protecting the safety of its team members, and best-practices are shared between them. The Compton team’s 365-day milestone was the result of every team member’s continuous awareness, effort and care on every shift. By identifying and correcting potential problems before they occur, Compton hopes to extend its record for another 365 days and beyond.

We are proud of all of our employees at all of our facilities, who have kept Centric among the safest and most productive automotive aftermarket manufacturers since our founding in 2000, but especially proud of our Compton workforce for reaching the 365 day mark. Congratulations on one year and here's to the next milestone!

Cost Less Billboard Proclaims Centric Love

Here's something we always love to see - and to acknowledge! Cost Less Auto Parts in Vancouver, Washington sent us this photo of their newest billboards. It's one of two they've set up in the area.

They are probably one of - if not the - busiest retail auto parts stores in the Northwest. Customers must take a number when they walk in if they want to be waited on by one of the 15 or so countermen.

When a store spends their own money to advertise our parts, it not only makes us proud, but it also shows how much they care about letting people know they carry our products. Thanks for supporting us and thanks for your business.

Team StopTech Comes Out Fighting in 25th Anniversary World Challenge Season Opener

The 25th Anniversary season of Pirelli World Challenge racing got off to a roaring start this past weekend with the running of the 2014 Cadillac Grand Prix of St. Petersburg brought to you by StopTech. World Challenge has always been one of StopTech Racing's favorite series, so it was nice to see our company, our products and our customers so prominently featured during the Grand Prix weekend.

Not only was the race presented by StopTech, but StopTech is the Official Brake System and the Official Brake Friction of the series this year. Plus, the group of drivers using StopTech that we affectionately refer to as "Team StopTech" had a really strong showing with Andy Lee taking second and Jack Baldwin claiming third in Sunday's GTS race. Both cars run full StopTech Trophy Big Brake Kits that are essentially the same as the kits you can buy for your high performance street cars and race cars.

Nor surprisingly, Jack Baldwin qualified his #73 RESET-MD/Motul/StopTech Porsche Cayman S on the pole after leading both Friday practice sessions. "It was exciting," Baldwin said. "For us, it was a situation where track conditions in traffic fell in place, I got a clean lap on drying conditions and that's what paid off. There were still some slick spots. But this track suits the RESET-MD Cayman really well."

While Round 1 was scheduled to be run on Saturday, inclement weather caused it to be cancelled. Therefore, Sunday's standing start grid was based off the qualifying results.

Andy Lee of Colorado Springs, Col. had qualified third in the No. 20 Best IT/Crown 7 Chevrolet Camaro and while Baldwin lost some ground on the start, Lee was able to move into the lead ahead of second-place qualifier, Lawson Aschenbach. Lee and Aschenbach battled throughout the race with slower traffic eventually helping Aschenbach take the lead with just a few laps to go. A disappointed Lee held onto second with Baldwin third.

Lee, twice a polesitter at St. Petersburg and a frequent lap leader at the track, came up short of the win once again. But it was a fighting effort from the third-year driver who was named GTS class rookie-of-the-year in 2012.

“I don’t know how many laps led I’ve had here without winning,” Lee said. Referring to the backmarker who gave Aschenbach his chance to pass, Lee added, “Every year this place seems to bite me in one way. I thought he’d open the door, but he turned down on me. He didn’t do it on purpose. That’s part of getting around here.”

In third place was polesitter Jack Baldwin, who was slightly behind the Camaros for most of the race but was pleased with his third St. Petersburg podium in the last two years.

“We lost a bit off our starting position, but the race was good from my point of view,” Baldwin said.

You can watch the race broadcast on NBC Sports Network April 6 or on-demand at world-challengetv.com. You can also follow all of the series action at world-challenge.com.

The next round of the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge Championships is the Roar By the Shore presented by Kia in Long Beach, Calif. on April 13, part of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend.