Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue (HDAD) is an annual outlook conference, designed specifically for the heavy duty aftermarket supplier industry.
Held in late January in Las Vegas, it is presented by the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Assn. (HDMA) and MacKay & Company.
HDMA (www.hdma.org) provides industry leadership for NAFTA based original equipment and aftermarket suppliers in the on- and off-highway commercial vehicle equipment industry.
MacKay & Company (www.mackayco.com) is a specialized management consulting and market research firm that focuses on commercial on-highway vehicles, construction equipment, farm field machinery and related components such as engines and transmissions.
Principal Challenges
One of the sessions at the conference was a panel discussion on the major challenges those in the aftermarket have to contend with.
On the panel were:
- Scott David, director, strategic partnership and customer service, Eaton (www.eaton.com, a global technology leader in power management solutions that make electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power operate more efficiently, reliably, safely and sustainably.
- Dwayne Haug, principal owner, Dwayne O. Haug Consulting, a company that provides expertise and total consulting services to fleets, OEMs, suppliers and manufactures.
- Lee Long, director, fleet services, Southeastern Freight Lines (www.sefl.com), a leading provider of regional less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services.
- Jim Mejaly, senior vice president and general manager, Denso Products and Services Americas (densomedia-na.com), an automotive components sales, remanufacturing and distribution company.
- Walt Sherbourne, vice president, marketing, and partner, Dayton Parts (www.daytonparts.com), a company that offers brake, spring, steering, suspension, driveline and hitch and coupling product lines.
- Doug Wolma, vice president and general manager of global aftermarket, Dana (www.dana.com), a global leader in the supply of highly engineered driveline, sealing and thermal-management technologies that improve the efficiency and performance of vehicles with both conventional and alternative-energy powertrains.
Agreement
The panelists agreed that keeping up with technology is a major concern in the aftermarket, compounded by the increasing speed of technological change. This situation, they concurred, is worsening because the aftermarket is not adapting to change quickly enough.
Both technicians and truck drivers need to be continually trained in the new technology, the panelists said, because vehicles are growing more and more complex.
In addition to the desire for more training, the panelists said they would like to see changes in how the training is delivered. They favor more on-demand training and short instructional videos.
