American Tire Distributors (ATD) was presented with three Blue Diamond Awards for creating business impact through technology and for its contributions to human capital. These Blue Diamond Awards, judged and presented by the Charlotte Area Technology Collaborative (CATC), recognize ATD for creating the greatest business value in the deployment and use of information technology systems and making major contributions to the development and recruitment of IT talent to the Charlotte area.

ATD received one business impact award for creating a tool that helps tire dealers maximize profits that was developed by ATD’s Advanced Analytics Center of Excellence (AACoE).

Its second business impact award lauded the company for creating a technology solution for its customers that was designed to simplify, automate and add complete transparency to the order placement and fulfillment process.

Using a combination of technologies, ATD created a solution that makes the entire distribution process transparent to users. The CATC judges took note that these innovations collectively brought the entire replacement tire industry into the 21^st century and acknowledged the challenges facing companies attempting to change the way traditional industries conduct business, according to ATD.

For the Blue Diamond Award for Human Capital, ATD was recognized for creating a work environment that was sufficiently challenging and innovative, which helped it attract over a dozen data scientists to Charlotte in a short period of time. In the process, the company is also working to create the nucleus of a new analytics community in the Charlotte area with a series of community initiatives:

• Holding the “Reinvent the Wheel” hackathon;
• Launching the “Medium” blog in November 2018;
• Launching an internship collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the Fall of 2018;
• Hosting the first Data Driven Charlotte mixer at ATD (October 2018);
• Active participation in various area speaking engagements.

“What’s most gratifying about these awards is that they focus not on our investments in technology, which have been substantial, but the results those investments delivered to our customers, our partners, our people and the business as a whole,” said Stuart Schuette, ATD’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “For ATD, transforming through technology has always been about unlocking the untapped value in this business for the benefit of everyone – from the manufacturer to the consumer – and that capability lies at the heart of the value we deliver to this industry.”

The Blue Diamond Awards recognize innovation in both creation and use of information technology that is taking place in Charlotte. Tim Eisenmann and Jaimie Bass accepted the award on behalf of ATD.