To expedite parts deliveries to customers, Navistar is establishing a new parts distribution center (PDC) in Memphis, Tenn., while also enhancing its dealer parts inventory management system to increase the breadth of parts already on its dealers’ shelves. In addition, to facilitate optimal engine calibration, new International LT and RH Series models built after June with an International A26 engine will be able to make cellular over-the-air authorized updates.
“We keep finding new ways to set the industry benchmark for uptime,” says Michael Cancelliere, president, truck. “The actions we are launching today will make it easier for customers to keep their trucks on the road by providing quicker access to key repair parts while enabling remote, cellular calibration of their engines for peak performance.”
To be opened later this year, the Memphis PDC will be the company’s seventh PDC in the U.S. and its 10th in North America. The new PDC’s location in Memphis will enable Navistar to deliver parts the next day to more than 95 percent of its dealers’ service locations. This will help assure that Navistar’s International service network will have even more expedited access to parts needed for customer repairs, the company says.
“Establishing our new PDC in Memphis will allow our dealers to place emergency orders for replacement parts as late as 11 p.m. Eastern time, and receive the parts early the next day,” says Josef Kory, senior vice president, parts. “Designed with lean and highly efficient processes, the PDC will offer industry-leading cutoff times for next-day parts delivery resulting in greater Uptime for our customers.”
Complementing the new later cut-off time for parts orders will be new enhancements to Navistar’s retail inventory management system, which will increase the breadth of parts maintained in dealer inventories, while reducing the depth of parts dealers need to keep in stock, the company says. Having a wider array of parts on dealer shelves at the time of repair will maximize uptime for customers.
“Our new user interface has been developed to provide best-in-class parts fill rates,” says Chintan Sopariwala, vice president, uptime initiative. “The user interface was developed working collaboratively with the International dealer network, using an algorithm that was built in house and successfully tested at multiple locations. It provides dealers with easy access through a front-end dashboard, along with an ability to dive into the details as needed.”
An additional uptime initiative will start with new trucks built after June, when all new International LT and RH Series models equipped with an International A26 engine will include the capability to make remote cellular over-the-air updates to authorized engine calibrations and programmable parameters. This innovation builds on International’s introduction of over-the-air calibration using a WiFi signal.
Remote engine calibration using cellular will enable customers to keep their engines operating with peak performance and fuel efficiency without returning to home base or stopping at a dealer location for an update. In addition, remote programming of fleets’ engine parameters enables customers to control factors that deliver performance, safety and efficiency, the company says.
