What Is ACES and PIES Data?
- ACES and PIES are a type of data that has been standardized for the automotive industry through meticulous and careful improvements over the last several decades.
- ACES stands for “Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard” and supports automotive application aka fitment data. Fitment data can include a vehicle’s make, model, year, engine, transmission, and a lot more.
- PIES stands for “Product Information Exchange Standard” supports unique product data that can be attributed to the manufacturer such as weight, measurements, UPC/GTIN, brand name, Brand ID etc.
Why use ACES and PIES Data?
- Imagine a distributor that wants to integrate with multiple part manufacturer. Without ACES and PIES data from each manufacturer, the distributor would have to spend an exorbitant amount of time to standardize all of the different catalogs in order to list the products for sale to its own customers. ACES and PIES data provides a streamlined system for categorizing aftermarket auto parts, simplifying their tracking, sorting, and identification.
Creating ACES and PIES and Sharing It
- The Auto Care Association, which is the standard for the industry, maintains ACES files, using the guidance of the Auto Care Association’s Technology Standards Committee.
- The Auto Care Association also updates the vehicle applications database. This application database is known as VCdb for “Vehicle Configuration Database.” Monthly updates keep it current. Vehicles as far back as the 1896 model year if manufactured in the United States, 1942 (Canada).
- You can see the diagram above and note the correlation between the databases. 60,000 specific combinations of year/make/model cars and trucks are contained within this database and as of January 2023, the standard now covers 32,353 motorhome and recreational vehicles that have been manufactured in the US and Canada.
Creating ACES and PIES and Sharing It
Gluon provides you tools to integrate data you receive from your manufacturers and easily import and publish it to your sales channels.