Talk:Genuine Parts Company

S. P. Richards

The office supply portion of the company is named after Samuel P. Richards, a merchant during the Civil War in Atlanta and the company dates from around that time.--Jrm2007 (talk) 15:34, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

S.P. Richards

Didn’t GPC spin off SPR as an independent entity 07/01/2020? 2601:CA:C200:4D40:0:0:0:2D88 (talk) 10:34, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

Motion Industries -> Motion

I believe Motion Industries is now called Motion; not comfortable editing something that is a hyperlink. And then what do you do with (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Industries), again, not comfortable with this. Mtanquary (talk) _Motion" class="ext-discussiontools-init-timestamplink" title="2 years ago">18:52, 13 December 2023 (UTC)

History 2024

There is a Company timeline section and a history section. The history section only has a very broad history background. I'd like to add detailed history for 2024 and work backwards to 2023->2000s. Any suggestions.

Also would something like this be appropriate?

In 2024, GPC expanded its market presence by acquiring Motor Parts & Equipment Corporation (MPEC), the largest independent owner of NAPA stores in the United States. The acquisition added 181 locations across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. However, the transition was not without controversy. In Charlotte, Michigan, employees at a local NAPA Auto Parts store reported being unexpectedly terminated following the acquisition, leading to concerns about the handling of the workforce during the consolidation process. This development underscores the challenges that can accompany major corporate acquisitions, particularly in managing employee relations and maintaining community trust.

Prts-fan (talk) 18:16, 10 August 2024 (UTC)

Only if you can cite reliable source(s) for every part of that paragraph, including independent coverage of the Charlotte, MI store employees being terminated, the concerns their termination caused (and who was concerned), and what it underscores. Without one or more sources, that paragraph sounds like prohibited original research to me. General Ization ^Talk 18:34, 10 August 2024 (UTC)

I was thinking of this citation: https://www.fox47news.com/neighborhoods/charlotte-eaton-rapids/napa-auto-parts-store-employees-in-charlotte-say-they-were-blindsided-and-fired and a reference to their own pr for timeline of when it happened. https://www.genpt.com/2024-05-01-Genuine-Parts-Company-Announces-Acquisition-of-Largest-NAPA-Independent-Store-Owner-in-the-U-S Prts-fan (talk) 17:06, 12 August 2024 (UTC)

If you look it cites Former employee Curtis Smith. Are you suggesting the paragraph has his name in the paragraph? Prts-fan (talk) 17:08, 12 August 2024 (UTC)

COI disclosure and request

Hello! My name is Angie and I'm an employee of Genuine Parts Company. I'm creating an account here to make some suggestions for a few pages related to the company, including this article and NAPA Auto Parts.

I'll do my best to follow Wikipedia's rules for conflict of interest editing. This means I'll be asking editors to review my suggestions rather than making the changes myself. I look forward to working with editors!

A lot of the text in the current article is based on old versions of the company website. I understand this is not ideal on Wikipedia, so I plan to share some draft text based on news sources as a replacement. Instead of going through the article by paragraph, I wonder if editors would be willing to remove some of the paragraphs based on bad sources? I'll add a request below with some specific ideas.

Thanks! AG GPC (talk) 17:17, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

I would like to suggest removing these sections:

1. Genuine_Parts_Company#Automotive_parts

2. Genuine_Parts_Company#Industrial_parts

3. Genuine_Parts_Company#Electrical/electronic_materials

Also, I suggest removing these parts of the History section:

1. "For the next 50+ years, GPC, in relationship with NAPA, the National Automotive Parts Association, grew rapidly as independent garages for car repair emerged to meet the needs of the nation's growing number of motor vehicles. In the last 35+ years, GPC has continued to grow through the acquisition of other companies in the automotive industry, as well as in the industrial, office and electrical industries."

2. "Today GPC is a parts distributor with over 3,100 operations and approximately 48,000 employees."

References

This will make the article shorter but hopefully easier to update when I suggest some text suggestions and other updates based on better sourcing. Thanks for your help, editors! AG GPC (talk) 17:17, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

Not done for now: Hi. I haven't reviewed the subsections listed, but I don't think I was provided a rationale. As for the 2 paragraphs quoted, I did delete them, with an explanation provided in the edit summary. PK650 (talk) 04:57, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

Inappropriately sourced text

User:PK650: Thanks for removing this text based on my request above. I'll flag some additional content that is based on old versions of the company website. I propose removing the following four paragraphs:

Extended content

1. The Automotive Parts Group, the largest division of GPC, distributes approximately 475,000 automotive replacement parts, accessory items and service items throughout North America, Australia and New Zealand. In North America, parts are sold primarily under the NAPA brand name. The company's GPC Asia Pacific business serves the Australasian markets primarily under the brand name Repco.

2. The Industrial Parts Group, which operates under the name Motion Industries, offers access to industrial replacement parts and related supplies and serves over 150,000 MRO and OEM customers throughout North America and in all types of industries. These include the food and beverage, forest products, primary metal, pulp and paper, mining, automotive, oil and gas, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries.

3. The Office Products Group, which operates under the name S. P. Richards Company, distributes more than 62,000 items to over 6,300 resellers and distributors throughout the United States and Canada from a network of 45 distribution centers. Customers include independently owned office product dealers, large contract stationers, national office supply superstores, mail order distributors, internet resellers, college bookstores, office furniture dealers, janitorial and sanitation supply distributors, safety product resellers and food service distributors.

4. The Electrical/Electronic Materials Group, which operates under the name EIS, Inc., distributes process materials, production supplies, industrial MRO and custom-engineered value added fabricated parts to more than 20,000 customers, including original equipment manufacturers, motor repair shops and a broad variety of industrial assembly and specialty wire and cable markets in North America. Products cover over 100,000 items including wire and cable, insulating and conductive materials, assembly tools and test equipment.

References

Thanks again for your help, editors! AG GPC (talk) 19:43, 18 December 2024 (UTC)

I've removed the text above, albeit with some misgivings because no rationale was provided when removal was previously requested (in the thread directly above) and no rationale was again provided in this request.

However, it did seem to me that the material was essentially promotional (e.g. numbers of customers, long lists of products, etc.) and was sourced only to the company's own website, so removal is hopefully non-controversial. Axad12 (talk) 13:17, 22 December 2024 (UTC)

History improvements

Hello again! I would like to offer some improved text for the History section. The section says:

Extended content

• In 1925, Carlyle and Malcolm Fraser founded GPC, with the purchase of Motor Parts Depot in Atlanta, Georgia for $40,000. They renamed the parts store Genuine Parts Company. The original Genuine Parts Company store had annual sales of just $75,000, and six employees.

References

The company was founded in 1928, not 1925, so the current text is inaccurate based on the New York Times obituary, and the rest of the text is unsourced. I propose replacing this text with the following overview of the company's History, including founding, headquarters locations, executive leadership, and Forbes rankings:

Genuine Parts Company (GPC) was founded by brothers Carlyle and Malcolm Fraser in Atlanta in 1928.

GPC's headquarters were located at Atlanta's Circle 75, in Cobb County, starting in 1979. Approximately 400 employees worked in the 115,000-square-foot space. In 2014, GPC announced plans to relocate its headquarters to Wildwood Office Park, next to an existing operational support facility.

William P. Stengel II is GPC's president and chief executive officer (CEO). He joined the company as GPC's first chief transformation officer in 2019, became president in 2021, and became chief operating officer in 2023. Stengel succeeded Paul Donahue, who became the CEO of GPC in 2016. Donahue succeeded Tom Gallagher, who initially continued as chairperson, until Donahue was elected by the board of directors to that role in 2019. Donahue transitioned to executive chairman in 2024.

GPC ranked number 239 on Forbes' America's Best Employers list in 2017 and number 262 on the magazine's list of America's Largest Public Companies in 2018. The company also ranked number 678 on Forbes' World Best Employers list in 2020, and number 731 on the Forbes Global 2000 list in 2024.

References

This summary is based on reliable news sources. Can editors please review this proposed content and update the article appropriately on my behalf? Thank you! AG GPC (talk) 16:28, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

Done Likeanechointheforest (talk) 21:54, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

Subsidiaries improvements

Thanks to Users Axad12 and Likeanechointheforest for help with the above requests.

Similar to above, I'd like to offer some improved text for the Genuine_Parts_Company#Subsidiaries section. In its current form, this section is entirely based on GPC's website and an annual report (not secondary coverage). I propose replacing this text with the following overview of the company's current and former subsidiaries, based on reliable news sources:

Extended content

Main articles: Motion Industries and NAPA Auto Parts

Among Genuine Parts Company's subsidiaries is NAPA Auto Parts; pictured is the exterior of a NAPA Auto Parts shop in the commercial historic district of The Dalles, Oregon, in 2014.

GPC has two primary business segments: Motion, which focuses on industrial products, and the automotive brand NAPA Auto Parts.

According to Industrial Distribution, Motion started as a distributor of bearings and industrial supplies, and expanded to offer products related to automation, conveyance, hydraulics, fluid power, and robotics. GPC acquired Motion in 1976. GPC's electrical products division, EIS Inc., merged with Motion in 2018, before being sold in October 2019. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Motion has approximately 9,000 employees and 170,000 customers as of 2023.

NAPA Auto Parts was established in 1925. Some NAPA Auto Parts stores are owned and operated by GPC, but most are independently owned and operated. There were approximately 6,000 NAPA Auto Parts stores in 2020.

GPC acquired UAP Inc. of Canada in 1998 and the Australian car parts supplier Exego Group in 2013. GPC and its four business units acquired nineteen companies in 2016. In 2017, GPC acquired a 35 percent stake in industrial distributor Inenco Group, as well as Alliance Automotive Group. GPC acquired Kaman Distribution Group (KDG), a provider of industrial solutions such as automation, conveyance, and fluid power, in 2022.

Former subsidiaries

In 1975, GPC acquired S.P. Richards, which was described by Industrial Distribution as "a distributor of general office products, technology products and accessories, office furniture, JanSan and safety supplies".

In 2018, GPC announced plans to merge the "workplace essentials distributor" Essendant into S.P. Richards, following a spin-off of S.P. Richards to become an independent company called Essendant. GPC sold S.P. Richards through a series of transactions in 2020, starting with the Canada division in January. The U.S. operations were sold to an investor group and the Supply Source Enterprise business, which included The Safety Zone and Impact Products operations, were sold to an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital. GPC continued with Motion and NAPA Auto Parts.

References

You'll notice the replacement text generally covers the same topics: NAPA, Motion, and S.P. Richards. I've attempted to explain the relationships between these businesses without going into too much detail since there are separate pages for Motion and NAPA. Can editors review this proposed content and update the article appropriately on my behalf? Thank you! AG GPC (talk) 16:55, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

@Likeanechointheforest: Are you available to review this request since you helped with the History proposal above? Thanks! AG GPC (talk) 03:27, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Hi there! I won't be able to for a while, but I can look when I can! Likeanechointheforest (talk) 23:27, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

@AG GPC Done! Likeanechointheforest (talk) 15:22, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

@Likeanechointheforest: Thank you! I appreciate your assistance. I have requested updates to the Infobox and Introduction below, if you're available to take a look at some point. I have also posted some edit requests at Talk:NAPA Auto Parts that are related to GPC if you are interested. Thanks again for your help here! AG GPC (talk) 17:33, 29 January 2025 (UTC)

Done - Closing as completed - if this is a mistake please revert this edit. Thanks, Encoded  Talk 💬 17:13, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

Infobox and Introduction

Hello again! I would like to suggest an updated Infobox and Introduction:

Extended content

Genuine Parts Company
Traded as	NYSE: GPC S&P 500 component
Founded	1928 (1928) in Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Founders	Carlyle Fraser Malcolm Fraser
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia , United States
Key people	Paul Donahue (chairperson) William P. Stengel II (CEO)
Number of employees	60,000
Website	genpt.com

Genuine Parts Company (GPC) is an American automotive and industrial parts distributor based in Atlanta, Georgia. Established by brothers Carlyle and Malcolm Fraser in 1928, the company has approximately 60,000 employees. In addition to the United States, GPC has operated in Australasia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom. GPC's subsidiaries include industrial parts distributor Motion as well as NAPA Auto Parts, which primarily sells parts in North America.

References

This Infobox provides the correct founding date (1928), has updated "Key people" and "Number of employees" fields, and includes Motion as a subsidiary in addition to NAPA. The updated Introduction focuses on the company as a whole and where it operates, as opposed to the current one which focuses on product distribution. It also includes the founders and establishments date, and adds mention of Motion as another subsidiary.

As a final request, I recommend deleting the "Company timeline" section because much of the text is unsourced and the subsidiaries are covered in the request above. My user page User:AG GPC/Genuine Parts Company shows draft text for this and my previous requests. I hope this is helpful.

@Stracci~909: I am making you aware of these requests since you may also be reviewing related suggestions at Talk:NAPA Auto Parts. I am trying to improve both articles and clarify the relationship between GPC and NAPA. Thank you for reviewing! AG GPC (talk) 19:04, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

Done Likeanechointheforest (talk) 13:21, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

WinParts (NL)

I placed an order with Dutch company WinParts (www.winparts.eu) and, in an automated replay mail, saw a phrase <quote>This email and any attachments, contain Genuine Parts Company confidential information [...] </quote> so apparently there is a link? Could someone elaborate? Jan olieslagers (talk) 21:11, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Company overview

Hi, editors! My name is Jerry and I work for Genuine Parts Company. I would like to continue the work started by User:AG GPC above and at Talk:NAPA Auto Parts.

For this article, I would like to start by suggesting the removal of the "Company overview" section. In the History improvements request above, AG GPC proposed replacing some incorrect content. The proposed "Company History" section was accepted and added by User:Likeanechointheforest (thank you!), but the "Company overview" section remains. Here are the issues with the current "Company overview" section:

• The founding date 1925 is not accurate. The citation (the company website) says 1928. (The added "Company History" section is correct.)
• The company's website is used as a source for the first sentence and an annual report is used for the second source.
• The headquarters location is already mentioned in "Company History" and S. P. Richards is already covered in the approved "Subsidiaries" sections.

Essentially, most of this section is not necessary and any helpful facts could be moved to the approved "Company History" section. User:Likeanechointheforest and other editors, are you ok with removing the "overview"? Thank you for reviewing this request. JerryGPC (talk) 19:36, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Done You're right, not a whole lot worth keeping there. Section removed with one sentence moved to the company history section. Cheers, DiscoursesonLivvy (talk · contribs) 20:01, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Company timeline

User:DiscoursesonLivvy: Thank you for reviewing the above request, and for updating the article.

I'd like to submit another similar request. I suggest removal of the "Company timeline" section, which is mostly unsourced except for the few entries pointing readers to official websites. I don't think there are any entries here worth keeping because they are already covered in "Company history" or "Subsidiaries", or are not particularly significant milestones. This section seems unnecessary to me, but what do User:DiscoursesonLivvy and others think? Thank you for reviewing. JerryGPC (talk) 15:12, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Infobox

In the infobox, can someone make the following corrections:

• Founded should be 1928, not 1925
• Number of employees should be 60,000, not 48,001
• Subsidiaries should be Motion Industries and NAPA Auto Parts

These changes would make the infobox match the article text. These changes were also suggested in a request above reviewed by User:Likeanechointheforest, but some of the fields are still incorrect.

Thank you. JerryGPC (talk) 15:12, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Reply 11-JUN-2026

  Edit requests approved    Spintendo  03:52, 12 June 2026 (UTC)