Truck Equipment always wants to do the right thing. Whether that be for its customers, its employees, its vendors or its community, it doesn’t matter.
The company relies on a “win-win” formula to ensure its business decisions are mutually beneficial for all involved, and President Matt Schroeder says he and his leadership team spend a lot of time thinking about doing the right thing whenever they’re faced with a choice.
He says that’s why the Truck Equipment focuses so much of its time and resources on its workforce. Schroeder knows it is the company’s staff that enables it to be so diversified yet nimble; process driven yet service oriented; focused on delivering value while also growing sales and maintaining margins.
Schroeder says, “I don’t think you can invest in people and be doing the wrong thing.”
It’s clear he’s right. With its 70th anniversary approaching and its operational capabilities never better, Truck Equipment is a dominant player in its marketplace. And on Tuesday, that dominance was recognized, as the company was named winner of the 2025 Trucks, Parts, Service Distributor of the Year Award at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) in Grapevine, Texas.
“It’s such an honor to be up here recognized in this industry as a Distributor of the Year,” Schroeder said in receiving the award. “We’ve got 85 team members back in Wisconsin and Michigan that brought us up here. A big thank you to my dad, Lynn, a lot of you know him. We’ve got Gary Wik in the house as his farewell retirement. Gary, Lynn, there’s countless people I should name and have them up here.”
Truck Equipment was chosen as the winner over prior winner Truck Supply Companies, two-time finalist Wheeler Fleet Solutions and first-time honorees Harbor Truck Parts and Southside Trailer Service. Now in its 24th year, the Distributor of the Year Award program is sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN), Cummins, High Bar Brands, Interstate Billing Service and Procede Software.
Earning the Distributor of the Year Award is the latest accolade for Truck Equipment, a company with an established history of success.
Founded as a service shop in Green Bay, Wis., in 1959, Truck Equipment’s willingness to evolve and meet the ever-changing needs of its region’s trucking community can be seen in its earliest partnerships.
[RELATED: How Truck Equipment transforms relationships into powerful business strategies]
Truck Equipment’s initial service prowess spurred the development of its upfitting business, which was vital to the early growth of national carrier Schneider. Customer satisfaction in its bays also led to the creation of its parts department by in 1982 by Lynn Schroeder (who would later become the company’s owner and chairman), and that division was one of the earliest STEMCO and Euclid distributors in the Midwest.
The business also spent time as a trailer dealer, and since has grown beyond its conventional parts and service capabilities to also offer emergency vehicle upfitting, custom fabrication, signage, graphics and more.
Truck Equipment's location in Escanaba, Mich. The company has five locations overall.
“We built this business on relationships,” says Lynn, who is now retired. “That’s one thing we’ve always told vendors. It can’t be good for us or good for you. [Decisions] have to be 50/50 good for both of us.”
That applies to employees, too.
Matt and his siblings Mike and Mandy Morgan, along with the company’s entire leadership team, continue to follow in their father’s leadership footsteps. The trio say employee engagement and development is as important as any product the company stocks, and Truck Equipment recently partnered with employee coaching and curriculum business Dignify to further support its employee development. Matt says through Dignify, Truck Equipment is able to better understand what interests and motivates employees, enabling the company to create unique training and career opportunities for all associates.
Truck Equipment’s employee retention has always been strong, but Matt notes the program is just another way to sustain the company’s strong culture in the years ahead. Matt says Truck Equipment doesn’t have huge expansion plans ahead but it does intend to keep growing — steadily and “for the right reasons,” he says — and cultivating a more talented, committed and experienced workforce is the best way for the company’s future goals to be achieved.
“We want to continue investing in our people and give them skills and tools to be better humans,” Matt says. “We hope they are taking away something from their experience at Truck Equipment.”
He adds winning the Distributor of the Year Award gives him confidence in the company’s direction.
“I think it’s validation that we’re on the right path,” he says.
