This week we hear from Benny Araujo, marketing manager for Four Seasons. Araujo has worked for Four Seasons since 1998. Prior to joining Four Seasons, he worked as a sales manager for Dayco Products. Araujo began his career in 1985 with Eaglemotive (Kool Klutch/Imperial), working in the marketing department. A graduate of the University of Texas-Arlington, Araujo has a BBA in Marketing. In this AMN exclusive, Araujo talks about the company, its reman products and their environmental benefits and the impact of being a "seasonal" business.

Four Seasons is part of a larger organization, Standard Motor Products. How does that corporate structure affect your organization?

“Being a part of Standard Motor Products gives us stability and corporate backing for continued expansion and new innovations. We get corporate support but we also have our own dedicated sales force that handles engine and temp products, which allows us to have a leadership position in the industry.”

You face tough competition from foreign manufacturers, particularly in your line of remanufactured compressors. What do you see as the value proposition for your reman compressors?

“One of the great features in the Four Seasons compressors is that we install many new components back into our reman compressor. We do so much in the way of component replacement and structural integrity improvements that we now refer to our compressors as re-engineered instead of just reman. Because of all that we put into them, we feel that our re-engineered compressors stretch the very definition of “remanufactured.” We also include ICE 32 in all Four Seasons-manufactured re-engineered compressors for even better performance.

We know what is going into our compressors. They are all 100-percent leak tested. Because they come from an ISO/TS-certified facility, you can count on consistent quality and we can usually supply them at a better price than overseas units – whose quality and/or components can be suspect if not certified by on-site sourcing specialists.”

Tell us about your PSP (Problem Solving Parts) Program?

“Four Seasons is unique in offering such a wide range of p rod ucts designed to address specific aftermarket problems that the OE suppliers overlook. Many times the OE design itself causes a problem that gives us an opportunity to help the technician provide his service in a more efficient manner. Our experience in the aftermarket has helped us to identify these much-needed solutions and make them available to our customers. We have devised literature and a monthly newsletter to highlight these “Problem Solving Parts.” On the whole, our entire line is really a “Problem Solver” as well. It is fully cataloged; we offer training and tech support, fast order turnaround, and many of the other things that our customers need to be successful in this market.”

Why did you make the decision to add ICE 32 to your reman compressors?

“We were initially skeptical because the claimed benefits of ICE 32 seemed too good to be true. After several years of testing the p rod uct, we are now believers that ICE 32 has many true performance and compressor-life-extending benefits. Without getting too technical, ICE 32’s main operation is how it coats the internal system. This coating literally protects the moving parts and allows the heat-exchange components to be more efficient. But what really drove our decision is that when ICE 32 is used, the internal operating temperature of the compressor is decreased. This leads to extended compressor life which is a big bonus for consumers. This was recently verified in a fleet study over a two-year period in Houston . As part of a performance testing program, the Silver Eagle Budweiser distributor in Houston has been using ICE 32 in the AC units of their entire fleet and their compressor failures have gone from an average of 20 a year to none within two years.

In addition to whatever base lubricant is required, the ICE 32 that we include in our compressors is a full-charge – it has all you need to protect your system. And let me say that what really demonstrates our belief in the benefits of ICE 32 is this: We added ICE 32 to all Four Seasons manufactured compressors at our own expense – we did not raise prices as a result of this change. We know that we, and our direct customers, will get that investment back in fewer warranty returns and happier customers.”

With the current popularity of being "green," how does your organization address the benefits of recycling and remanufacturing?

“We have always been thinking ‘green,’ long before it became popular. In fact, remanufacturing has been recycling for more than 50 years. Reman saves valuable resources by re-using them for a valuable product.

By remanufacturing, we are keeping parts out of the resmelting process longer, using fewer raw materials in the long run, keeping millions of tons of metals out of landfills and reducing air pollution. Energy savings worldwide in a year equal the electricity generated by five nuclear power plants or 10 million barrels of crude oil. In addition, at Four Seasons, we are constantly looking at changing how we do other things, like packaging, to be more environmentally friendly.”

Most people think of air conditioning as a seasonal business. How do you address the seasonality of your product category?

“That is one area we are always working on improving. For example, we are developing a promotion to help move product in the coming Spring, prior to the actual AC season. We will announce the details of that program at AAPEX/AWDA.”

What are the environmental and economic benefits of keeping a car’s AC system well-maintained and how do you promote this to customers?

“We provide a lot of training and information to our customers about how properly maintaining a vehicle’s AC system can help their customers get better gas mileage, which in turn will save them a lot of money in the long run. In fact, recent studies have shown that most cars actually get better gas mileage above 35 miles-per-hour when using a properly installed AC system with the windows rolled up than a car not using AC and the windows rolled down.”

As a primarily U.S./North American business, what do you think about the increasing globalization of the auto parts industry?

“We see it as a tremendous opportunity for us as well our customers to get quality product at better and better prices. This takes work, but we are willing to do what it takes to remain competitive in this market. It is important to make sure that our suppliers are quality companies, capable of meeting our standards. There are many suppliers in the market and, again, it takes work to find them and develop a good relationship.”

Where do you see the North American aftermarket headed in the next five years?

“There are so many changes and technologies that are coming into play that make [thinking ahead] that far a hazardous prediction at best. However, we see the role of the Internet and web-delivered services as a major factor in the future.”