After another strong year in 2023, HDA Truck Pride has set lofty goals for its operation and members for 2024 and beyond.
During the opening general session at the organization’s 2024 Annual Meeting Thursday in Grapevine, Texas, President and CEO Tina Hubbard excitedly shared the group’s successes since its previous event last year. HDA Truck Pride has added eight members and expanded its network by more than 130 locations since the beginning of 2023.
The company has posted a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2% over the past five years, and its central pay program continues to grow, with 120 of 140 members now committed to the system. Business across the group is good, and Hubbard told her audience of members and supplier partners Thursday that all should be proud of their recent successes.
But she also said the success hasn’t changed the company’s lofty overall goals; on the contrary.
With a new corporate vision statement and continued improvements to the organization’s technologies, training materials and vendor base and CV Logistics business, Hubbard says HDA Truck Pride is optimistic that its next five years could be stronger than the last.
The new vision statement is the group’s way of committing to that target.
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“We want to ‘transform the commercial vehicle aftermarket into a community that inspires people and businesses to realize their potential,’” said Hubbard.
One way HDA Truck Pride is working to realize its members potential is through its training programs.
Education Manager Martin Redilla recognized vendor Cummins-Meritor for its commitment to developing education courses for its member base during Thursday’s session, and also highlighted Vander Haag’s and three individual network distributor sales professionals (Tim Cobb, Acme Truck & Brake; John Fabus, Michigan CAT; and Scott Demay, Truck Supply Companies) for their continued excellence in completing training modules.
Hubbard name checked Heavy Duty 101 at Northwood University and The Seminar by CVSN as two vital training curriculum’s HDA Truck Pride recommends for its members, and said the group even has scholarship money available for distributors introduced in sending students to Northwood’s courses.
Hubbard also said another way the group is bolstering its member operations is its efforts with its vendor base to support distributor e-commerce portals. “It’s a proven fact [businesses] now have the opportunity to increase your business threefold on products you can properly describe online,” she said, adding within the last year the number of distributors benefiting from the group’s e-commerce services has grown from 8 total to more than 20% of the network.
HDA Truck Pride is working on other tech integrations too. Hubbard said there are 51 separate ERP systems being used by the group’s 140 member companies. That much variability is challenging, but Hubbard said HDA Truck Pride is working with top vendor Karmak to streamline new efficiency solutions for its member companies that it intends to scale out across the network. She said nearly two-thirds of Karmak users have already committed to the new solutions, and is optimistic more distributors and systems will be integrated in the year ahead.
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Finally, Thursday’s session also touched on right to repair, and how HDA Truck Pride and its members can support the greater aftermarket by speaking out in support of H.R. 906, known as the REPAIR Act. Hubbard brought Auto Care Association’s Lisa Foshee and Kristen Kellogg of CVSN on stage to update the industry on the REPAIR Act.
With 52 cosponsors, 26 from each party, Foshee said “now until Nov. 4 is our opportunity to win this thing in D.C.” She said the REPAIR Act would create a level playing field in the automotive and commercial truck industry where everyone would have access to repair and maintenance information. Foshee said the clarity and focus of the REPAIR Act draft could work to the aftermarket’s advantage — the bill doesn’t cover other industries like construction or agriculture, nor does it request access to driver or vehicle performance data — but getting out of the committee and to the House floor and Senate will take industry backing from everyone.
“You can’t be someone who sits on the sideline and says ‘It’s great they are doing this,’” she said. “Don’t look around and think someone is going to handle this for the industry.”
Kellogg agreed, adding there are two proposed amendments to the resolution that could cut heavy trucks out of the law entirely, so trucking needs to be vocal and vigilant in pushing legislators to reject those changes. She also noted CVSN has connected with organization’s in Canada about a possible right to repair movement there, saying if the U.S. is able to pass a national standard there’s a good chance Canada could do the same.
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The women also provided a link to attendees that they could use to send letters to their legislators urging them to support the REPAIR Act in this Congress.
“Now is the time to get involved,” Kellogg said. Added Foshee, “The cards are in the right place, we have to play them.”
