Carl Brown is president of Hella Inc. and vice president of Behr Hella Service in North America. He also is director of Hella’s NAFTA – Aftermarket Region. As president of Hella Inc., Brown is responsible for both U.S. and Canada’s OE market and aftermarket. As director of NAFTA, he also oversees the aftermarket for Hellamex – Hella’s sales company in Mexico City.

Brown has been with the Hella organization since 2002. Prior to his appointment to Hella Inc. in 2007, he was managing director for Hella’s independent aftermarket operations in the U.K. and Ireland. Before Hella, Brown was marketing director for the Unipart Group in the U.K. from 2000 to 2003. He joined Unipart when it was spun off from Dana Distribution Europe, where Brown enjoyed a successful 20-year career.

In today’s Executive Interview, Brown talks in detail about the unique partnership between Hella and Behr, known as Behr Hella Service; how the company maintains its strong position; and also where he sees thermal management headed in the future.

Behr Hella Service recently hosted an event for automotive editors at Behr America’s Climatic Wind Tunnel in Michigan. It was an opportunity to see how simulated environmental pressures help fine-tune the company’s products. Tell us about this joint venture between Behr and Hella, particularly in the North American market, and the products the two companies offer.

Both Behr and Hella are suppliers to all major automotive and truck OEMs. Behr offers products and systems for thermal management, which include vehicle engine cooling and air-conditioning, and Hella is a specialist in components and systems for lighting technology and electronics. Both companies work well together and complement each other’s capabilities and core competencies. Each company is well-known for its highly innovative products and has more than 100 years of experience in its field.

Behr Hella Service is a joint venture between these two companies. The joint venture was implemented in Europe in 2005 and was rolled out to North America and other regions of the world in 2007. Behr Hella Service takes Behr’s range of engine cooling and air-conditioning products and puts them into Hella’s worldwide distribution network for the independent aftermarket. So, Hella practically acts as Behr’s sales force in the independent aftermarket.

Are the products offered by Behr Hella Service focused on one particular segment, or do you offer all makes/all models coverage?

In North America, we have been focusing on both import passenger cars and domestic heavy-duty trucks, so far. We offer nearly complete coverage for engine cooling and air-conditioning on European passenger cars. However, our Asian line has been expanded with many more applications in the past two years, especially the kind we need to stay competitive in this fast-growing segment of the market. This is an area of the market where we want to grow much further. In addition to this, we also offer heavy-duty products for domestic trucks and have recently expanded our overall program and support.

What solutions does the company utilize to maintain a strong distribution footprint?

In this area, Behr Hella Service is using Hella’s sales and distribution expertise to get its products to the independent aftermarket. During the past two years, we put a great deal of effort in “data readiness” and successfully brought all our products onto Epicor (formerly Activant) and WHI. As the population of European and Asian vehicles continues to grow, so does the interest of distributors that would not have dealt with these replacement parts three or five years ago. So, we are making sure we will be able to fulfill the needs of those customers as well.

When it comes to the climatic wind tunnel and R&D, what kind of technological/developmental benefits come from testing operations such as these?

It’s things like the climate wind tunnel that secure Behr’s position as not only the most innovative and quality-oriented supplier in the field but also one of the most prominent. Behr America is the largest OEM supplier in the field of thermal management in North America.

The Behr wind tunnel is just one of many resources, activities and details that help Behr Hella Service create the bigger picture of our position as a supplier with the best products for the aftermarket. We are utilizing Behr’s know-how and experience in design, quality and production to develop and sell products in the aftermarket that our competitors simply cannot deliver or even match.

In general, where do you see the A/C and engine cooling segments headed in the next five to 10 years?

In general, both areas will continue to be innovative and changing as well as challenging. The development will be heavily influenced by the need to reduce fuel consumption and air-pollution.

Engine cooling will need to fulfill additional tasks, such as battery cooling for hybrid and electric vehicles. In some cases, such as the Chevy Volt, engine cooling is already combined with air-conditioning to keep modern batteries at operating temperatures. So thermal management as a system becomes more important.

Also, with the trend of downsizing engines, the cooling of exhaust gases and charged air becomes more complex and important to optimize fuel efficiency and to fulfill future emissions standards. Air conditioning systems will need to consume less energy, be smarter in the way they operate and adapt to vehicles that do not use a combustion engine to run the A/C compressor. Low power consumption is very important to electric vehicles, as it ensures that more battery power is available to actually drive the car, rather than heat or cool it.