That’s what Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) 2025 co-chairs Michael Keller, vice president of Category Management & Sourcing at FleetPride, and Jean Gregoire, president of Marmon Heavy Duty Brakes Group, focused on as they assemble the agenda for next month’s annual event.
The duo says the independent aftermarket has never been more vital, nor more in peril. Disrupters and competition continue to enter the market, and soft business conditions will send distributors into 2025 on a downswing. HDAW can’t eliminate those challenges, but Gregoire believes it can help distributors prepare to combat them.
“Our industry is changing rapidly,” he says. “For the independent aftermarket to succeed in the future, we have to be taking action now, and that’s the message we want to have. We want to encourage [attendees] to embrace change and take this as an opportunity to align your business to the future.”
“When things break free, are traditional distributors going to be ready?” adds Keller. “How can we help prepare them to break out in 2025?”
[RELATED: MEMA to hold forward thinking aftermarket Vision conference]
One way they say that’s possible is through a top-quality event. Which is exactly what HDAW has become.
Last January’s edition continued HDAW’s impressive run of record-setting attendances totals as more than 2,800 people converged on the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas, for the four-day event.
More are already expected this year, so much so that the 2025 theme of “Brake New Ground” could double as HDAW’s message to the hotel. Hotel rooms and booth space for January’s conference are already sold out, and the co-chairs say event organizers have secured availability at the nearby SpringHill Suites to accommodate attendees who are yet to secure their rooms.
“I don’t know how else to say it other than it has become the premier event for the aftermarket,” says Keller. “I encourage everyone to give it a chance. If someone hasn’t made it, I think they’re missing out.”
Gregoire agrees, adding the meeting schedule remains second to none.
“Anyone who has any significant impact on your business is going to be there. The worst thing you can do is not go and take advantage of the setting,” he says.
[RELATED: Parts sales indicator falls as fleet population reaches equilibrium]
As for the agenda, the co-chairs say they’ve focused their planning on previous event feedback and hot-button industry issues. “Brake New Ground” is more than a title pun — it’s a directive to the independent aftermarket.
The co-chairs believe the 2025 experience will motivate and invigorate attendees so they can return to their distributor operations poised to execute in a challenging marketplace.
“[HDAW] gives you the chance to put your finger on the pulse of the industry and hear what people think is going to happen in the year ahead,” says Keller.
“It’s now recognized as a ‘go-to’ show and I think that’s good for our industry,” says Gregoire. “We want to bring value to the experience so it continues to be viewed that way and the suppliers and distributors who attend continue to take advantage of the potential of the event.”
Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week will run Jan. 20-23, 2025, at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. For more information about the conference, and to register, go to the event website. TPS will have more about HDAW’s keynote speaker and new event features in the weeks leading up to the event.
