
Agility is on the mind of suppliers and distributors.
At a Monday panel at the Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue, presented by MacKay & Company and MEMA, in Grapevine, Texas, executives from across the aftermarket stressed the need for companies to be nimble going into an uncertain 2025. The panel, A 360-Degree View of the Heavy Duty Aftermarket, included Chuck Broadus, president and CEO of TruckPro; Don Gritzmacher, president of Enders & Associates; Larry Gruendike, vice president of product management and the supply chain at Rush Enterprises; and Kyle Tradway, president and dealer principal at Kenworth Sales Company. It was moderated by John Blodgett, vice president of sales and marketing at MacKay & Company and Lucas Deal, editor and content director at Trucks, Parts, Service.
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"We've got to be prepared for all contingencies," Treadway says, in a theme that resonated throughout the one-day seminar ahead of Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week. "What we're entering into is kind of a redux of what we went through in 2020 and 2021."
That was the COVID pandemic. The panel agreed that some of the lessons learned then will apply to next year as well, including those having to do with supply chains.
"The supply chain is the supply chain and it only takes one break to leave the customer hanging," Gruendike says. He's looking forward to a dynamic 2025, and says the way to survive will be to "embrace the chaos."
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Broadus says he's still seeing some pandemic hangover in supply chains, with modifications made during COVID that still need some time to mature and even some areas that still need repair. He stressed the need for transparency. Distributors, he says, often stand between suppliers and angry customers, and the more information they have the easier time they have keeping those customers appeased, and that includes information about delays as well as useful product information.
"No one expects you to lose money," Gritzmacher says, "but we do have to talk to each other."
Vendors could definitely be more clear, Treadway agreed, and Gritzmacher continued that the industry, as a whole, is better than the squabbling over information.
"We should expect more of ourselves," he says. "We've been through a very traumatic experience."
Another lesson learned from COVID is the need to diversify sources for parts and materials. Broadus says customers created a diversity of supply themselves, and they're still in that same mindset today.
"As a distributor, we can't be beholden to a single source of every two or three sources," he says.
For members of the panel, customer relationships drive most, if not all, of the decisions the company makes.
"We listen to our customers," Gritzmacher says. "That's really the genesis."
Anything vendors can do to support the customer relationship is welcome. That includes data transparency, clear cross-referencing, ecommerce support and supporting maximum uptime.
Treadway pointed out the risk Cummins took in coming to market with its platform designed to conform to the EPA's Phase 3 greenhouse gas regulations, which are up in the air as a new presidential administration takes office. By releasing it early, Treadway says Cummins is helping even out the market volatility, if the regulations remain in place.
Gritzmacher sees holistic solutions as the key to keeping customers and Gruendike agrees. He says Rush's customers are increasingly demanding a deeper relationship and the company is fortunate to have the scale to be able to offer more complete solutions that makes the company a one-stop shop.
"The customer is the boss for us," Gruendike says.
That includes offering both reliable ecommerce and in-person options, meeting the customer wherever they are. Broadus says more information from suppliers really helps companies boost ecommerce capabilities, leading to less frustration and, ultimately, more business for everyone.
"You can't fight it, it's coming," he says.
Customers are more frequently online, and so are potential employees. All of the companies represented said they've scaled up recruiting efforts, especially on social media. Treadway says they have to talk to people on the platform they prefer.
"We put as much effort into employees now as we did for customers," he says.
Broadus says TruckPro is focusing on the learning curve for new and entry-level employees.
"We can't replace 20-30 years of institutional knowledge and experience," he says, adding the company is working to ramp up the learning curve without overwhelming the new employee. "It can be very exciting for someone."