By Michael V. Freeze
managing editor, Counterman

Industry Leaders Talk of Embracing Change and Collaboration

DETROIT -- A panel of industry leaders, moderated by Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) President and CEO Bob McKenna, tackled the subject of the rapidly evolving automotive aftermarket from a supplier’s point of view at the Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium in Dearborn, MI.

The panel, that consisted of Mike Howarth, senior vice president of KYB America, LLC; Frank Ordoñez, president of Delphi Product & Service Solutions and vice president of Delphi Corp; Al Stecklein, group president of Global Aftermarket Division for Gates; and Gordon Ulsh, CEO of Exide Technologies, gave insight on wide range of topics affecting the aftermarket.

The subjects of change and collaboration were at the forefront of the discussion. The panel gave various examples of change happening throughout the aftermarket.

“A lot of power and influence is passed down to the distributor,” said Howarth. “And the service dealer’s business is dropped off to the customer.”

He explained that more routine vehicle maintenance continues to go unaddressed, at a rate at $60 million, as studies show.

“That is a disaster waiting to happen,” commented Howarth. “We have to take care of our customer, the service dealer, day in and day out.”

Ordoñez told the audience that technology is a vital piece of the puzzle for improvement in the industry. He mentioned that today’s vehicles have more computers than the Apollo landing capsule used for space missions decades ago.

“Technology is the growth of the vehicle,” said Ordoñez. “[Even in tough financial times], you can not take your eye off of the research and development.”

With the subject of change looming large in the discussion, the panel ended with the theme of collaboration among distributors, manufacturers and service dealers.

“The world is getting smaller,” said Ordoñez. “We made an effort to get into the repair market. [Our philosophy] is ‘sell what we make.’ In the future, distributors will have to deal with multiple OEMs. The market is changing.”

Howarth also brought attention to the changing dynamic of the service dealer and the manufacturer.

“I see very little effort by manufacturers [in communicating to] the service dealer,” said Howarth. We assume they understand, but they don’t. We throw pamphlets, but that is not helping. If we can’t recognize that, then we have a problem.”

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