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Overview The Approach Partners Driving Efficiency Looking Ahead

How Dorman Products Scaled Global Sourcing with ACS

Dorman Products is a pioneer in the motor vehicle aftermarket industry. The company specializes in identifying frequently failing parts and designing innovative repair and replacement solutions. Product development has long been one of Dorman’s key differentiators, with more than 5,000 new products launched just last year. But producing great parts is only the starting line.

People rely on their cars and trucks daily, and few can afford to wait (or overspend) when something breaks or requires service. Even the best-designed part holds little value if it isn’t affordable or readily available when needed. That’s why Dorman is driven to pursue new solutions not just in product development, but also in improving the supply chain that gets them to customers quickly and affordably.

With over 138,000 distinct SKUs as of December 31, 2024, and a global sourcing footprint, Dorman’s supply chain is as dynamic as it is complex. As part of its vision to diversify sourcing amid a period of dynamic tariffs, the company needed a trade partner that could keep pace with growth and support a global strategy.

Specifically, Dorman was looking for a partner with the following qualifications:

  • A strong global presence, allowing us to enter and scale new countries quickly
  • End-to-end visibility (i.e., from PO placement to empty container return), giving us the ability to better communicate PO and shipment status across the organization
  • A best-in-class booking platform that would continue to remain current with new advances and release updates that Dorman could leverage

After an exhaustive search, it was clear that ACS offered the right combination of internal expertise and system capabilities, powered by its partnership with Infor Nexus, as well as the global sourcing footprint needed to help Dorman achieve those goals.

Having been through several complex partner onboardings before, Dorman immediately recognized that this origin management onboarding was different, easy and straightforward.

ACS brought a dedicated implementation team to the table, ensuring a full vetting of end-to-end processes, from EDI mapping and testing to vendor orientation and training. While Dorman was already familiar with origin management, the company was impressed by the depth of insight ACS offered throughout the process.

“They asked questions that challenged our knowledge of how things really work at a detailed level,” the Dorman team shared. “As a result, we have a deeper understanding of our own operations than before.”

The results spoke for themselves. With EDI integration in place, Infor Nexus now provides real-time visibility into purchase orders, automatically capturing any order changes, whether it’s destination, quantity, or ship date, on a timely basis.

Using a single platform, Dorman can now:

  • Manage bookings efficiently
  • Highlight exceptions
  • Manage consolidations
  • Keep communication flowing across thousands of shipments each year.

137000

The number of distinct SKUs we help Dorman manage

Now operating at a steady state, and with ACS now part of DP World, the partnership between Dorman and ACS has grown even stronger. The Control Tower model aligns multiple origin locations, essentially operating as an extension of the Dorman team to provide a single point of contact and consistency across various regions.

The dedicated ACS-DP World Account Management team knows Dorman’s business inside and out, maintaining consistent communication through regular meetings and standardized reporting. Together, the teams keep tight control of shipments with full visibility, identifying and resolving issues before they become roadblocks.

This structure has paved the way for continuous improvement initiatives. One notable example is the rollout of a system-generated Commercial Invoice and Packing List. By standardizing key documents, Dorman eliminated inconsistencies and gained stronger control over downstream data flow.

This single change significantly reduced manual effort and now serves as the backbone for several internal processes, boosting both efficiency and reliability across operations.

While Dorman continues to expand its journey with ACS–DP World, the roadmap ahead is clear. The company plans to leverage additional platform capabilities, including Contract Sourcing and Predictive ETAs, to further optimize performance and decision-making.

With a solid infrastructure and trusted partners in place, Dorman’s teams can now focus on what they do best, innovating across the supply chain, delivering parts faster, and keeping vehicles on the road. The journey continues, and the road ahead looks promising.

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