Data driven: HDA Truck Pride outlines corporate initiatives at 2019 Annual Meeting

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Updated May 14, 2019

HDA Truck Pride: Focus ForwardIt’s data time at HDA Truck Pride.

During the opening general session of the group’s annual membership meeting Thursday in Orlando, Fla., several team members shared their plans for integrating data tools and resources into the group’s operational structure to better serve their members and ensure HDA Truck Pride is able to continue in its mission to be “the premier, most cohesive supply chain to the commercial vehicle industry.”

In kicking off Thursday’s festivities, President and CEO Don Reimondo spoke on behalf of the organization’s members in thanking their supplier partners for the organization’s strong sales year in 2018. Reimondo says HDA Truck Pride’s national network nearly saw across the board sales gains last year and is optimistic similar numbers (or better) are along for the association this year.

“To our supplier base, we can’t do this without you and without your support,” Reimondo says. “We are in this together and we look forward to growing together with you.”

After Reimondo’s brief introduction, Thursday’s session shifted into an update from many of the organization’s department leaders — including newly promoted COO Tina Hubbard.

With North America’s truck population and average age swelling to all-time highs, Hubbard says now is a great time to be in the aftermarket. She admits the competition is fierce — “we are being impacted by every corner of our business” — but says HDA Truck Pride’s comprehensive industry expertise is a major differentiator against tech companies entering the market “who don’t have a clue about how things work in trucking.”

Hubbard adds this year’s meeting theme, ‘Focus Forward,’ is an apt description of the group’s strategy to invest in programs, technology and people that will keep its members’ operations thriving for years to come.

That’s where data comes in, she says. Through data acquisition and analytics, Hubbard says HDA Truck Pride can better understand not only its own distributors but also the needs of its customer base.

“I’ve spent four years talking to you up here about data,” she says. “Now it’s time to talk about how to use that data.”

“If we don’t have data, we are not going to be successful,” adds HDA Truck Pride Director of Program Management Jeff Tyler, who followed Hubbard’s presentation Thursday. “We want to use data to make educated decisions for our suppliers and our members.”

Such decisions will be most visible in the group’s inventory management processes. Hubbard and Tyler say HDA Truck Pride is currently acquiring raw sales data from its suppliers and distributors that it will analyze and then distribute to both parties to help the group make better ordering and purchasing decisions that will keep customers on the road.

The data initiative will be found in other areas, too. Using product information management (PIM) data provided by suppliers, HDA Truck Pride says it will offer end user customers enhanced online ordering and purchasing options; while a new fleet purchase program will sync customer data across the distributor network to provide regional and national fleet accounts with centralized order, billing and payment options.

Coupled with other investments in marketing, web resources and its CV Logistics warehouse, the HDA Truck Pride team believes group members should be pleased with the organization’s direction in this year and beyond.

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