Parts Town Unlimited, a digitally focused company with more than $2 billion in annual sales, has named a new chief information officer.

Jamie Head, chief information officer, Parts Town Unlimited

Jamie Head, a 20-year veteran who most recently served as chief digital and technology officer of Ocean Spray Cranberries, will apply his experience to push forward the food-service and HVAC parts distributor’s strategy of using data to improve operations and grow revenue, Parts Town CEO Steve Snower said.

“We are really excited to have Jamie join us for this chapter of Parts Town Unlimited’s growth,” Snower said in announcing Head’s appointment. “His experience understanding how technology and data can accelerate value for our customers, manufacturer partners, and team members will be a huge asset to our organization. We look forward to partnering with Jamie to aggressively pursue our vision to be the global leader in high-tech distribution of mission critical replacement parts across several categories.”

Prior to his role at Ocean Spray Cranberries, Head held senior technology executive roles at pharmaceutical company GSK and confectionary and pet food manufacturer Mars Inc.

“Head brings a wealth of experience leading and partnering across various digital transformations and capability building for growth and efficiency,” Parts Town said.

“I am very excited to join Parts Town Unlimited and am looking forward to contributing to their continued focus on digital growth and innovation,” Head said in a statement. “The growth has been incredible over the years, but, importantly, the values-driven culture at Parts Town speaks volumes on who they are and how they operate.”

Parts Town’s scanner app.

Parts Town also recently launched a visual search application designed to help technicians identify the correct parts for HVAC systems. Parts Town says the HVAC Data Plate Scanner, available in the Parts Town mobile app, allows HVAC technicians to  “identify and purchase the exact parts they need by simply scanning the data plate on HVAC equipment.”

“Technicians are the backbone of our industry,” said Jeff Audette, senior vice president of HVAC at Parts Town. “Our mission at Parts Town is to equip our customers with the tools they need to work efficiently and effectively.”

Paul Hancox, SVP of ecommerce, Parts Town

Parts Town notes that, traditionally, HVAC technicians have relied on manually deciphering long model and serial numbers from data plates, a process that usually comes with errors or delays. “Parts Town’s HVAC Data Plate Scanner utilizes optical character recognition (OCR) technology to streamline this process,” the company says.

Paul Hancox, Parts Town’s senior vice president of ecommerce, will speak on B2B ecommerce growth strategies at the EnvisionB2B Forum in Chicago on Sept. 12.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].

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