In June, Snap-on, Inc. made a huge investment in the heavy-duty repair sector with the acquisition of Diesel Laptops for $100 million. The Irmo, South Carolina-based company provides white-labeled diagnostic tools, software such as the Diesel Repair app, and technical troubleshooting and training for the on-highway, vocational, and heavy-equipment fleets. Founded by Tyler Robertson in 2015, the company has grown to more than 250 employees. The business will join Nexiq and Mitchell 1 in the Repair Systems & Information (RSI) Group.

Those are the basic facts of the acquisition, but what really made Snap-on, one of the largest names in all of vehicle repair, acquire Diesel Laptops? The initial details were sparse, but a few weeks after the dust settled, we caught up with Gerry Beronja, VP of marketing for the RSI group, who was able to shed some light on the deal and what it means for both Snap-on and Diesel Laptops customers.

[Lightly edited for clarity]

Fleet Maintenance: What was it about Diesel Laptops that made you want to snap them up?

Gerry Beronja: Beyond their diagnostic coverage, what stood out about Diesel Laptops is their ability to support technicians in the moment—through training and troubleshooting. And they have real-world expertise in some areas where we just didn't have the knowledge or tight customer connections. This includes training and support for Class 4 through 8, and we didn’t have any diagnostics and information knowledge in the off-highway and equipment space [construction, mining, and  agriculture]. And these are as critical as any sector.

But overall, we're looking really to accelerate our capabilities, not just add coverage.

FM: How long did the deal take to develop?

GB: We've been partners and had a relationship for a long time. They've been the top distributor of the NEXIQ USB-Link 3 for years. Through our partnership, we learned Diesel Laptops is extremely customer connected, so that combination really aligns well with Snap-on's focus on solving problems at the point of repair.

We were hoping there'd be an opportunity, and it did take a year from thought to fruition for us to close the deal. Over that period of time, we got to know each other really well, and what Diesel Laptops' strengths were: their remote programming capabilities, their training—"Fix the Vehicle”—and most importantly, their people. They just have people who know the industry extremely well.

FM: How will Diesel Laptops joining the company impact their employees and customers?

GB: In the near term, it's business as usual for Diesel Laptops customers and their partners. It’s the same team, all the same people committed to staying on board, with the same focus, and really strengthened commitment to technician support. And now they're backed by the additional resources and technology that Snap-on has.

When we were on site in Columbia, South Carolina, at Diesel Laptops training center with Diesel Laptops CEO Tyler Robertson and Tom Ward, [SVP and president of Snap-on’s RSI group] to let people know about the acquisition, they were told, “Get back to doing exactly what you were doing before; nothing really changes.”

FM: What will the acquisition change, considering Diesel Laptops’ support technicians are part of the same group as Mitchell 1, which has considerable repair info resources through TruckSeries?

GB: By the second day, we actually had the customer care team in Columbia equipped with Mitchell 1's knowledge bases. That's something they didn't have the day before the acquisition, and they had the day after the acquisition.

There were already existing relationships, so the conversations were ready to be had, and Nexiq, Mitchell 1, and Diesel Laptops are all excited for how they can benefit from the acquisition. We had spent a lot of time trying to work something out and knew what could be if we ever came together. And once it happened, we had a checklist of things to prioritize and get done. That was an easy one.

FM: How is this new repair group going to affect customer uptime and ease of repairs?

GB: We want to solve the simple questions with the best information. What's wrong with the vehicle? How much is it going to cost? And when can it be back on the road? Diesel Laptops is going to help us, together with Nexiq and Mitchell 1, to answer those critical questions faster.

For example, Diesel Laptops has cross-reference parts information—they know more about truck parts and cross-referencing code-to-part than anybody else in the industry. And putting that with Mitchell One’s shop management and estimating expertise in repair information is going to help us help fleets and customers.