March 2012
HDA Truck Pride a Strong Force at HDAW
* HDA Truck Pride represented over one-third of the distributor attendees.
* HDA Truck Pride member, Fleet Brake, was awarded Distributor of the Year.
* HDA Truck Pride member, TransAxle, was awarded
Remanufacturer of the Year.
* HDA Truck Pride represented key personnel within the JOC, Conference
Leadership, Program Committee and the Educational Session participants.
* HDA Truck Pride stood out in the crowd on Wednesday,
as 119 people fashioned tan colored polos proclaiming
“Wherever the road takes you… we’re there.” (And we were!)
Thank you to those members that attended our Membership Meeting on
Monday. We had 68 companies participate in our meeting, so that we could
update you on our accomplishments in 2011 and look ahead at our goals for
2012. The social networking is always a bonus. The remainder of the week was
packed with 79 vendor meetings, 5 media sessions, 3 potential new member
meetings and don’t forget the late evening social gatherings. The theme of this
year’s event “Corporate Culture” was spot-on and the material delivered
was well received.
Mark your calendars for next year:
HDAW 2013 will be January 21st – 24th at The Mirage in Las Vegas.
In February, we participated in TMC. The traffic at our
TMC booth was constant and steady all three days. Many fleets are interested
in utilizing the HDA Truck Pride network for parts as well as service. We held 14
pre-arranged fleet meetings, and dinner events during the week. The
most enlightening information still seems to be garnished during informal,
social settings. Several of our competitors and companies that you would not
expect, are also positioning themselves to offer parts and service packages.
In March, we held our annual TSE Roundtable and Marketing Committee
meeting in New Orleans, LA. Meritor hosted the event, including an
opportunity to attend the SEC Basketball Quarter Finals Tournament. We had 8
TSEs and 6 vendors participate in this event and gathered some solid ideas for
HDA Truck Pride to implement, along with suggestions for our PIP Vendor
Sponsors to digest. The main topic: TRAINING! Look for our National Training
Library to debut in San Antonio.
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2012 Events:
April 25th – 29th
HDA Truck Pride Annual
Membership Meeting
San Antonio, TX
June 2nd – 5th
HDDC – Vancouver, BC
June 21st – 23rd
Great West Truck Show
Las Vegas, NV
August 22nd – 23rd
Commercial Vehicle
Outlook Conference
Dallas, TX
Aug 23rd – 25th
Great American Trucking
Show
Dallas, TX
Sept 10th – 13th
TMC SuperTech
Pittsburgh, PA
Sept 16th – 19th
CVSN Aftermarket
Distribution Summit
Niagara Falls, ON Canada
Oct 30th – Nov 1st
AAPEX / SEMA
Las Vegas, NV
INDEX
HDAW..............1, 2 & 3
TransAxle HDROTY....4
Fleet Brake DOTY.......4
Culture of
Survival......................5
HDATP Meeting.........5
Benson Expo..............6
M e r it o r O n l i n e
Training......................6
Truck Service Marketing
Roundtable................7
HDAW: Corporate Culture - The Foundation for Success
Opening Ceremonies, Distributor of the Year, and Educational Session
Mike Betts, President & CEO of Betts Spring and Co-Chair for HDAW
2012, drives the message home for the week's theme of Corporate Culture.
Don Reimondo - Moderates the Educational Panel session
"Competitive Distribution Strategies for a Winning Future."
Weldon Parts - Finalist for 2011 Distributor of the Year.
Denise Rondini (Truck Parts & Service), Dave Settles (Weldon Parts),
Daryle Settles (Weldon Parts), and Craig Kruckeberg (Minimizer).
Tidewater Fleet Supply - Finalist for 2011 Distributor of the Year.
Denise Rondini, Lee Williamson (Tidewater Fleet Supply), Allan
Only the brave few actually made it to breakfast - Bryan Matzek
and Sara Douglas (Weldon Parts).
Mark Willis (HDA Truck Pride) driving home the fact that Truck
Service Experts is the premier aftermarket service program in
the industry.
Mark Fredrick (Hauler Supply), Edward Neeley (Truck Supply of SC)
and Bobby Naples (LITP) respectfully honor the flags.
Betts Truck Parts in full force at the educational sessions (Don Devany,
Lonny Kamper and Steve Thatcher). Excellent models of the HDA
Truck Pride shirts - looking good guys!
Allan Parrott (Tidewater Fleet Supply), and Craig Kruckeberg.
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Trade Show
New Products, New Technology & Show Specials
Bobby Naples (Long Island Truck Parts),
Edward Neeley (Truck Supply of SC) learn
about the new Dorman Heavy Duty product
offering.
Steve McEnany, John Minor and Mike Callison
Jr. (Midwest Wheel) tackled by the ISN and
SPX team to buy a new DPF cleaning machine.
The team from Total Truck Parts (Tom Fitzpatrick,
Jack Wilcosky and Leo Cordeiro) intrigued by
GE's new packaging.
Pine Wood Derby
It's not about how pretty the truck is, it's all about the speed!
Weldon Parts is in it to WIN!
Fleet Brake takes home 3rd place - Congratulations!
The Point Spring team is at it again, as Joe Reder tries
to persuade an extra discount out of Bendix.
Chris Redden and Keith Ohlmann (Republic Diesel)
Celebrating the HDAW festivities with ECCO.
3
TransAxle Named Heavy Duty
Remanufacturer of the Year
Fleet Brake – Distributor of the Year 2011
TransAxle celebrates their Remanufacturer of the Year award with
all of their employees - Feb 2012.
John Bzeta recognizes his employees for the DOTY Award
Fleet Brake Parts and Service of Calgary, AB and
Carolina Rim & Wheel of Charlotte, NC were named
co-winners of Truck Parts & Service’s 2011 Distributor
of the Year award. The award was sponsored by
Minimizer and presented during the opening session
of HDAW 2012. HDA Truck Pride was proud to be
represented by 3 of the 4 finalists, including
Tidewater Fleet Supply and Weldon Parts.
John Bzeta, president of Fleet Brake, accepted the
award for his company. “I’d like to thank RandallReilly, Truck Parts & Service and Minimizer for this
award,” says Bzeta. “This award is a credit to our
employees and the work they do. Thanks to everyone
here for all your support of the aftermarket. I believe
the people in this room are what this industry is all
about.”
TransAxle was awarded the Heavy Duty
Remanufacturing Group’s prestigious “Mike Hill Heavy
Duty Remanufacturer of the Year Award.” The award
is given to a company or individual who has
demonstrated innovative ways to create and grow a
successful business model and in the process
supported industry efforts to advance the science of
remanufacturing. According to Bill Gager, President of
APRA/HDRG, the panel’s decision to recognize
TransAxle was because they are a leading
independent remanufacturer in the aftermarket, with
expertise, depth of inventory and integrated logistics
to provide a comprehensive solution to customers’
remanufacturing needs. “TransAxle has consistently
demonstrated a strong effort to focus on their
customers while using, 'best in class' techniques to
improve the performance of remanufactured
products”, states Gager. “TransAxle participates in
sharing these best practices to advance the
performance of the industry as a whole."
TransAxle has 4 remanufacturing plants, 22
distribution locations, 35 regional sales professionals,
50 inside technical experts and 80 delivery people.
Their mission statement, according to CEO Dave
Olsen, is “To be the premier remanufacturer of
transmissions, axles and hydraulics. Remanufacturing
is receiving a great deal of attention in industries as
diverse as printer cartridges and cell phones. But the
heart of remanufacturing has long been the
automotive and heavy duty industries. On behalf of
the TransAxle team, we are excited to be recognized
by our peers in the industry.”
Fleet Brake was founded in 1978 by George Bzeta.
The company began with a focus on people;
employees and customers. Fleet Brake operates 13
parts locations, 8 service facilities and 2
remanufacturing locations with 300 employees.
Fleet Brake continuously invests in technology. They
began reorganizing and reassessing their systems to
make the business better, stronger, more efficient
and poised for future opportunities. By analyzing the
roles and responsibilities of key employees along with
process flow for primary tasks, Fleet Brake has been
able to utilize systems to assist their employees. The
systems and reporting they have developed help to
create order, structure and accountability, which has
had a positive impact on the business and on their
TransAxle is the East Coast's largest remanufacturer and employees. "Our main competitive edge is our people
and specifically the service they provide," says Bzeta.
supplier of specialty drive train products, including
"From salespeople to technicians to delivery drivers,
manual transmissions for all sizes of trucks, Allison
we create a 'service edge' to differentiate us from the
automatic transmissions, light duty automatic
competition. This is and always will be a people based
transmissions, transfer cases, steering components,
industry. But if you embrace technology to assist
brake and wheel products, hydraulics and suspension
those people and give them the right tools, they can
products for both on highway trucks and off highway
heavy equipment.
become extraordinary people."
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Culture of Survival – Competitive Distribution
Strategies for a Winning Future.
Don Reimondo at podium, Robyn Spitzke, Kyle Treadway, Don Nugent and
John Wensel - educational session panelists.
This educational session was moderated by Don
Reimondo. The panel consisted of four unique
and successful business that have not only
shown the ability to "survive" but to flourish
in this ever changing industry we call the
Commercial Vehicle aftermarket. The panelists
included: Robyn Spitzke, President, Fort Garry
Industries – Winnipeg, MB; Kyle Treadway,
Principal, Kenworth Sales – West Valley City , UT;
Don Nugent, Purchasing Manager, US Transport –
Denver CO; John Wensel, Principal, Wensel’s
Service Centers – Spring City, PA. Four companies
representing different components of the supply
chain.
billboard, yellow pages, google, NTTS and their
own website.
John sees the future and survival of this industry,
especially at the end user level focused on
technology – online ordering and parts inquiries,
training – technical training online, shop clinics and
certification, inventory management – more
frequent deliveries or consigned products.
John also shared his views of what the end users
expectations are for the future, including
leveraging technology to increase sales,
diversification and increased product lines as well
as product choices (good, better, best), increased
access to information and new product offerings,
especially as it relates to new technology and
regulatory compliance and finally, enhancing
partnerships between the end user, distributors
and vendors.
John Wensel - Owner Wensel's Service Centers
The purpose of the panel was to discuss the ever
changing needs in the marketplace, what the
requirements for doing business will look like in the
future and how distribution strategy and culture
will need to adapt or change to meet those
requirements. All four of the panelists commented
about relationships, employees, technology,
regulatory issues, customer service, diversification
and continuous improvement. Wensel’s Service
Center (an HDA Truck Pride Truck Service Expert)
actually grew during the recession, from
one location to three. John saw the need for allinclusive fleet repair, from road service and towing
to engine overhauls, alignments, hydraulics, and
spring repair as a key for his long-term success.
Wensel’s also utilizes various marketing efforts
beginning with vehicle graphics as a moving
2012 HDA Truck Pride
Membership Meeting
April 26th - 29th
San Antonio, Texas
**Make sure to register
on our website
if you haven't already!
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Benson Expo
Meritor Provides
Online Training
The Meritor BullPen is a convenient web portal
designed for dealers, fleets and service garages to
access Meritor’s product information and training in
one central location. Users will have access to more
than 1,000 documents including product
presentations, sales literature, product videos and
photos, service bulletins, parts books, and web-based
training. Online training—with its expanding range of
course material, easy access and ability to monitor a
participant’s progress, has set a new standard for
customer and product support.
The Benson Expo was an all week sales meeting for
the Benson Automotive and Heavy Duty sales
teams, store managers, shops and key
management. They started off with a building
blocks team building exercise and meeting to plan
their upcoming year and what was needed to build
a solid foundation for their business plan. That
evening they had their own Oscar Awards
Ceremony. They had the theater set like a
Hollywood Oscar event complete with Red Carpet
for all the attendees to walk down. The entire
event was filmed by the local cable company as
they gave out sales and other performance awards.
The online university incorporates the latest, most
effective online tools available in web-based
education into a system designed to provide Meritor
product training, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The
website training curriculum has a broad course
offering to support the needs of technicians and
aftermarket sales professionals, drivers, and warranty
administrators. Meritor currently has over 100 webbased courses that cover the company’s full range of
products. The site is continually evolving and new
courses are added on a regular basis. At the end of
each course there is a test and if a score of 90% or
higher is obtained, a certificate of completion is
given.
The trade show portion of the meeting was a
“Speed Dating” program where two Benson
employees at a time met with manufactures in a
table top setting for 7 minutes. The Benson
employees got a brief sales presentation and Q&A
period before a siren went off signaling them to go
to the next booth. The vendors liked it and by the
look on the employee’s faces they seemed to as
well.
Who Should Complete the Online Courses?
Commercial Vehicle Service Technicians
Commercial Vehicle Sales Professionals
In-House Trainers
Commercial Vehicle Drivers
Secondary and Post-Secondary Commercial
Vehicle Educators
The last piece of their expo was a Steak and Beans
dinner. This was to recognize those that achieved
their individual business pans and those that didn’t.
The store managers, and their sales team members
that achieved their plan were served Steak on china
with crystal and silverware. Those that didn’t make
plan got a plate of beans and plastic ware along
with Styrofoam cups to drink out of.
What you need to get started
High-speed internet connection
Computer’s web browser with Adobe® Flash
Player and sound capability
Computer printer
Go to the Meritor BullPen to register
o www.meritorbullpen.com
o Set up a new user ID and password
The Heavy Duty team had a separate sales meeting
with Mark Willis from HDA Truck Pride covering the
merger, Truck Service Experts program and Canadian
Fleet opportunities.
Access this training at www.HDATruckPride.com
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Truck Service Marketing Roundtable Meeting
The TSEs wanted to see regional business training
sessions in the future. As one TSE commented, "We
need to work on our business not in them in order
to be profitable and grow." The TSEs present liked
the idea of being able to meet with their peers
from other markets to see how they are dealing
with issues in their business.
This year the HDA Truck Pride marketing
committee and staff met with the following
vendors: American Forge and Foundry, RSC – Gunk,
Meritor, Tectran, Timken, Truck-Lite and the
following Truck Service Experts: Davenport and
Willingham - New Berry, SC; Interstate Fleet Service
– Chesapeake, VA; KW Mechanical – Whitecourt,
AB; Mississippi Truck & Trailer Repair – Rock Island,
IL; NC Eagle Services – New Caney, TX; Southern
Diesel Repair – Gaston, SC; and Tidewater Express
– Chesapeake, VA for an exchange of ideas to guide
the Truck Service Experts program into the future.
The most common thread from the Truck Service
Experts was the need for training. Whether vendor
supported, outside vocational or business training,
whatever the format, training was on top of the list
for all in attendance. We heard from the vendors
present that they had web based training that offers
certificates of completion of their specific training.
We discussed the ASE testing and the importance
of being ASE certified in competing for fleet
business and business that is going to the OE
dealer. We will be rolling out this training
information through our website in San Antonio.
The TSEs were pleased to see the new signs and
unified look of the HDA Truck Pride signs and
identity items. The TSEs were very interested in
helping the HDA national fleet accounts with their
repair needs.
The TSEs told the vendors the importance of the Hot
Packs to them. They discussed the advantage they
see by being offered new product information
either through samples or sell sheets in the Hot
Packs. They feel one of the most significant
advantages they have from Hot Packs is being the
first in their market to have the newest product
offerings.
There was a great deal of discussion about being
able to come to an HDA Truck Pride Annual
Meeting. The TSEs said they saw a great deal of
benefit in being able to receive business training,
as well as attending the trade show and
specific vendor technical and new parts training.
Other topics included the elimination of our Toll
Free Locator service. It was agreed that the new
interactive website’s advantages outweighed the
locator service. Since we are listing all TSEs on the
NTTS Breakdown directory and their website and
now also on Fleet Net America, the committee
felt the money could be better spent elsewhere.
We heard about council meetings being held by
distributors for the Truck Service Experts and the
benefits the TSEs saw in those meetings.
At the end of a very long day, the vendors were
given the opportunity to tell the TSEs about
their respective companies and their new products.
There was a great deal of interest on the part of
the TSEs and the vendors in this session.
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The Largest Provider of Parts and Service to the Commerical Vehicle Market.