The final event in the lead up to Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) 2017 in Las Vegas, Monday’s supplier and fleet panel discussed a broad range of issues ranging from new mobility technology to vertical integration to e-commerce.
“A new industry is evolving with mobility technology,” says Joe Mejaly, senior vice president and general manager, Denso. “There are growing businesses thriving doing nothing more than telematics. The way the industry works continues to evolve.”
Lee Long, director of fleet services, Southeastern Freight Lines, Inc., says the use of telematics has greatly changed the industry in recent years.
With telematics, “We can go back and see where a driver has been and where they are going, if they are using the cruise control,” Long says. “Technologically, we have to stay ahead of the game.
“We have noticed a lot of our mom and pop customers have not kept up with the times, as far as investing in technology. We do a lot of training with our vendors to help them.”
Mejaly says technology will continue to be an issue for the independent aftermarket.
“Technology is changing our life in every way,” he says. “It is a challenge and something that will bring an advantage for awhile, but entrepreneurs will keep working and they have to keep up.”
“There are a lot of challenges going forward and a lot to learn,” says Dwayne Haug, owner of Dwayne O. Haug Consulting.
With new product development continually evolving with OEMs, the panelists stressed the importance of training to keep up.
“No matter what OEMs put on a truck, we have to be trained and prepared for it,” says Walt Sherbourne, vice president of marketing and partner, Dayton Parts. “From an aftermarket standpoint, we have to have our parts available on the internet and easily available for our customers.”
The panel also was adamant that the independent aftermarket needs to come around to e-commerce. The panel’s fleet representatives, Haug and Long, say fleets operating in the market today are unable to function within the constraints of the conventional 8-to-5 distributor model anymore.
“We are going to continue to challenge [the industry] on e-commerce. We know you want to be everything for everyone but we need you to be everything in that moment for us,” says Haug, adding, “99.9 percent performance for us is standard. We don’t get a break on it. We cannot afford to have a truck down. We cannot afford to wait.
“[The aftermarket distributor] has to be something for everybody at the same time.”
The panel’s suppliers agreed, saying they are making efforts to develop e-commerce platforms that will work with their standard distribution model to allow customers to order parts at all times.
“I think we all have to think about e-commerce as a positive, not a threat,” says Doug Wolma, Dana’s vice president and general manager, Global Aftermarket. “It’s a solution for the end user, for everyone in the channel.”
And Sherbourne says distributors balking at the technology are only furthering the opportunities for new businesses to step into the market and capitalize.
“The question is who will take the first steps toward what is needed in the industry?” he says. “If the independent channel doesn’t wake up [e-commerce] is going to go right by them.”
