Technology is transforming the trucking aftermarket and suppliers who adopt early will gain competitive advantages.
- AI simplifies the purchasing journey by automating product information, fitment matching, inventory visibility, and customer-specific pricing across multiple business systems.
- APIs and AI enable real-time inventory sharing, allowing customers to see available parts not only from suppliers but also from distributors, critical for meeting demand quickly.
- AI enhances employee efficiency by helping teams find answers internally and automating routine tasks, freeing workers to focus on customer relationships and business growth.
The technology is in place and so is customer demand, Ram ChandraSekar and Bill Nunnery told the September Commercial Vehicle Pulse webinar from MEMA, and the companies that take advantage will be the ones to profit.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can make parts easier to find and purchase and, for suppliers, can make it easier for them to serve and sell, ChandraSekar and Nunnery say. ChandraSekar is founder and CEO of PhaseZero.AI and Nunnery is the senior director of the aftermarket, Americas, for Dana Incorporated.
From where the customer sits, the purchasing journey is straightforward. Identify the part needed, find it, find the right price, buy it. But on the back end, things are much more complex. Product information, fitment, inventory, customer-specific pricing and orders all have to come together, sometimes unifying several businesses systems — and fast.
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"The customer does not need to know of understand the complexity each of us face in the supplier world," ChandraSekar says. "They just want the right part and to get back to their work."
WIth AI, that can happen. And it can help an organization's employees become more efficient to boot.
"When you have hundreds or thousands of millions of parts, fixing (product information) manually is phenomenally challenging," ChandraSekar says. "This is where AI can help today."
It can also help piece together information about customers and ordering to help businesses respond to emerging trends more quickly. There's a lot to learn even from an unplaced order.
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Nunnery says that's where APIs came in for Dana. During COVID, he says, there were times when customers couldn't get parts. Being able to find available parts was critical.
"Everything ties back to technology," he says. Dana set up an API for inventory sharing and customers were able to come to its e-commerce platform and see not only what Dana had in stock, but also distributors' inventory. "It's leveraging the technology that's out there, whether it's using APIs or AI, to find out where that inventory is."
Technology can go deep into customer habits, making it easy — and therefore more likely — for customers to buy again and buy more. It can also suggest products related to the parts they're ordering to make sure the job is done right the first time.
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"That creates a better buying experience," ChandraSekar says. "That's where AI can help today and lead to more parts sales."
Again, there's also an upside for an organization's employees. AI assistants can help teams get answers inside the building as well, leveraging the same infrastructure for e-commerce and customer support systems.
"The goal here is not to replace, but every day efficiency to help our people who know our customers and our business well," ChandraSekar says.
That makes for happier, potentially more profitable customers, and often, more sales opportunities.
"It all gets back to what's important to the customer," Nunnery says. "It's speed, it's having a really delightful experience with a supplier, and being able to move fast."
And the time to get started is now. Begin, ChandraSekar says, by starting with an actual business problem. Start small, but make it measurable and think of the process as a journey, not a destination.
"It's not an AI project," he says. "It's leveraging AI technology to deliver business outcomes."
At Dana, the company put together an enhancement council to study where it could use technology to increase connectivity and to automate processes, keeping it moving at speed.
"He who owns the desktop wins," Nunnery says. "If you have a great e-commerce experience, customers will sometimes choose you for that reason."
Don't stop, either.
"Technology kind of perpetuates more technology," he says. "You have to get on board. You have to be an early adopter with an aspiration to always stay 10 yards in front of the other guy."
