OREANDA-NEWS. Finding the proverbial needle in a haystack can be an everyday part of the job for Emerging  Market Services’ Gerry Ardanowski.

A parts tech specialist with Emerging Market Services, Ardanowski scours the globe – virtually – to locate parts dealers need for customers but have been unable to find.

Dealers in markets like Malaysia and Nigeria know to “contact Gerry” if they can’t find a part – and he’ll succeed almost every time.

“They might not be able to locate it for any one of a number of reasons,” Ardanowski says. “A lot of vehicles were built or modified with unique parts, depending on the market they were shipped to, so there may not be many extra parts around. Sometimes a vehicle is too old and parts are no longer available.”

Vehicles are modified at ports for the country they’re being shipped to. Some might need to be equipped with an extra tow hook, or a different certification sticker or manual. For example, mirror warnings on vehicles being shipped to the Middle East have to be written in Arabic. The vehicles aren’t built with Arabic language on the mirrors, so those have to be changed at the port.

To be successful, Ardanowski says he needs to know every vehicle from bumper to bumper.

No parts are in greater demand than others, he says. Some parts take a heavy beating because of the way the vehicles are used – in mining operations or oil fields, for example.

He may get 20 to 30 requests a day, often for multiple parts. He says some he can locate in five minutes, while others take longer.

Ardanowski has a number of resources available to him to track down needed parts, beginning with a parts catalog, and estimates he is able to locate what’s needed more than 95 percent of the time. He may learn that a dealer in one country has an old part on a shelf that a dealer in another part of the world may need for a customer. Ardanowski also has colleagues around the world he can turn to if a part proves particularly difficult to locate.

“Gerry knows how to find the right part. His ability to locate parts for dealerships around the globe is truly remarkable," says Lou Folino, program manager, EMS. “Whether it’s a dealership in Puerto Rico, South Korea or Saudi Arabia, they all know that Gerry is just an e-mail or phone call away from resolving their parts-related issue.”

Ardanowski appreciates being given the time he needs to locate parts. “I’ve always believe that “you do whatever needs to be done and take as long as it takes to help the dealer and the customer.”

Ardanowski has been with Ford since 1978, getting his start as an hourly employee serving as a garage attendant. After working in the garage’s parts department he became a salaried garage employee and then joined Ford North America.

Ardanowski joined one of Emerging Market Services predecessor organizations, Worldwide Direct Markets, around the turn of the century. Throughout all his assignments, he’s stayed focused on helping others.

“What I like best is that I’m in Allen Park but there’s someone in Mongolia, for example, who needs help, and I can help them,” he says. “It’s a good feeling to be the guy they contact and to be able to help them.”