Meet Acme Truck Brake & Supply Co., first-time DOTY finalist

The Trucks, Parts, Service Distributor of the Year award program has returned! 

Once again graciously sponsored by Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN), Cummins, High Bar Brands, Interstate Billing Service and Procede Software, this year’s program features three prior finalists and two operations in the running for aftermarket's highest honor for the time. These finalists were selected by input from the independent aftermarket and trucking industry during an open nomination period earlier this year. 

Beginning today and in the months ahead, TPS will consistently spotlight our finalists and their wonderful operations, recognizing and congratulating them for their success leading up to the presentation of the 25th Distributor of the Year Award at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week in January in Grapevine, Texas.

We begin today with Acme Truck Brake & Supply Co., a first-time finalist for Distributor of the Year. 

When was your business founded, and by whom?

We were founded on June 7, 1990, by Bill and Jan Dudek.

How many locations do you have?

We have locations in Elk Grove Village and East Dundee, Ill.

How many employees do you have?

We have 38 employees. 

[RELATED: Finalists named for the 25th annual DOTY Award]

How does your business recruit new employees?

We use ZipRecuriter, Indeed, ACT Auto Staffing and local staffing agencies.

What is your company’s value proposition?

We provide fleets, repair shops and owner-operators with solutions. We do this by helping them secure accurate information or quality products at competitive prices with highly trained parts personnel.

Do you offer any additional services to complement your parts offering?

We have machine shops at both our Elk Grove Village and East Dundee locations that perform the following labor operations:

• We cut drums and rotors for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles.
• We reline brake shoes for industrial, automotive, and heavy-duty applications
• We rebuild fan clutches
• We resurface flywheels
• We rebush torque arms, leaf springs and body mounts
• We make custom hoses for hydraulics, fuel, air brakes and air conditioning
• We make custom u-bolts and battery cables. 

[RELATED: Truck Equipment earns 2025 Distributor of the Year]

At our East Dundee location we also do the following:

• We repair, rebuild and manufacture driveshafts
• We do u-joint and hanger bearing replacement
• We repair, rebush front axles
• We rebush spindles

How do you differentiate your business from your competitors?

Our parts personnel are very diverse. We have the ability to communicate in Spanish and Polish. We offer our customers a way to send texts to our main phone number so they can share pictures and descriptions of the parts they need. We offer e-commerce to customers who have accounts with us. We don’t just deal with a Peterbilt or Freightliner — we deal with all vehicles and we do it without having the advantage of looking up parts by VINs.

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The biggest difference is our personnel; whether it be countermen, delivery drivers, purchasing agents, accounting, or warehouse personnel. These people have been with us an extraordinarily long amount of time, which make them very knowledgeable about the products, processes and labor operations we perform. 

We are an ESOP, we all help each other solve problems.

What is the biggest challenge facing your business in 2026?

Recruiting young talent that want to make this their career.

Why do you believe the heavy-duty aftermarket has nominated you for this award?

They see how our business model has developed using education and e-commerce. They see how our ESOP can make a difference in company growth.

Stay tuned, as next week we will share more about 2026 award finalist Freedom Truck & Trailer Parts.