Time and again on the stage of the Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue, presented by MacKay & Company and MEMA on Monday, presenters stressed the critical role data will play in the industry. Collecting it, analyzing it and sharing it will fuel aftermarket success both now and in the future.
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Shannon O'Brien, in her Talk From the Top: A Report on One-on-One Conversations with Top Aftermarket Executives, said many of her conversations revealed the need for more transparency when it comes to data. While O'Brien's sources, which are promised anonymity in exchange for answering tough questions, say suppliers have made some improvements in providing product data, they say the quality of that data is not where they need it yet. However, lack of transparency and data sharing still headed the list of what behaviors suppliers need to change.
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"Lack of transparency and clear communication about what's going on," one executive says. Another says, "Stop ghosting — it doesn't make sense," and still another asked for modern ways to communicate and transfer data. "For our lower scored suppliers, it is still not having product information available on their products," one says. "This data is important in our operations."
O'Brien warned the room that if suppliers don't share information, someone else will find a way to create that information for themselves, taking control away from companies.
Chuck Broadus, president and CEO of TruckPro, carried the data beat on during the 360 Degree View of the Heavy-Duty Aftermarket, moderated by John Blodgett of MacKay & Company and Lucas Deal from Trucks, Parts, Service. He urged attendees to "be nimble and move with a sense of urgency and speed," while panelist Don Gritzmacher, president of Enders & Associates, says his customers need more robust data that's discernable and usable,
"There's so much data out there right now and there's so many ways to consume that data," he says.
Gritzmacher called cross-referencing data "the holy grail," and urged suppliers to share product data while still protecting it.
"If I'm a supplier, embrace that," he says. "Make the information easy."
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Charles Masters, senior vice president and president of power solutions at Atmus Filtration Technologies, gave the supplier keynote speech later in the day.
"We're all at this kind of turning point," he says. "We thought of ourselves as a product company for many, many years. But we're starting to see that data is at the heart of what we do."
Atmus put sensors in its Fleetguard filters, powering the FleetguardFIT program. The sensors gather vehicle data and sends it back to Atmus, where it's analyzed and turned into action steps customers can use to extend service intervals, reduce maintenance costs and prevent costly repairs.
"FIT allows us to be the canary in the coal mine," he says, finding problems when they can be more easily fixed. He says the company is also using AImining customer data, purchaser data and fleet data, identifying more opportunities for its sales team to cross-sell or upsell customers on products to better fit customers' needs. So far, he says, the program has found more opportunities than Atmus can chase.
"Sometimes, the list of opportunities is longer than the list of stuff you can get done," Masters says.
Using data, he says, has tightened the relationship between Atmus, its dealers and distributors and customers. Masters foresees more suppliers joining Atmus in sharing data. "We're going to start to drop the barriers between sharing of data to optimize the service experience," he says, allowing for a curated customer experience that pulls data from all aspects of a vehicle's life. This creates a frictionless service experience for the customer.
Whichever suppliers choose to share data, Masters says, will be at the table, while suppliers that withhold data will be "on the outside looking in." Atmus itself, he says, intends to share data it gathers through its programs.
"I can't be saying we're going to do this and that and not doing it," he says, adding the company works with partners to. make sure the data doesn't got public but still allows them to connect with the customer. He looks forward to a time when data can flow directly to the hands of suppliers' customers.
Furthermore, there's an expectation people working in the industry are comfortable at least on some level with data and technological solutions. Masters says he started as a sales rep and can say reps "don't necessarily love data," but there's an expectation nowadays that they can at least be able to interface with the systems. The streamlining would make processes more efficient but wouldn't necessarily mean a reduction in workforce.
"I don't think it's going to be fewer people, it's going to be a different focus," he says, going back to the fact that AI has identified more opportunities than Atmus has bandwidth for.
Masters says data quality is the one thing HDAD attendees should take home with them from the seminar. "Making sure we understand the value of the data that we have and making sure that it's good data will be absolutely critical."
