Max Dull has worked in the automotive aftermarket for more than 30 years. He began his career in 1978 as a mechanic, then a machinist, moving on to work in distribution as a counterman and later a general manager. Dull joined the manufacturer realm in 1987 as marketing manager for AE Engine Parts Inc., a division of T&N Industries. Through T&N’s acquisition of Clevite Engine Parts late in 1989, Dull became part of the AE Clevite management team, eventually being promoted to vice president of Product Management. During this time, Dull was named to the board of directors of AE Clevite Engine Parts Inc. in the United States, as well as to the board of directors of AE Components Eastern in Hong Kong. In addition to his responsibility at AE Clevite, Dull took on the added responsibility of managing the aftermarket operations in Hong Kong, as well as a sourcing office in Japan and a sales office in Australia. 
When the Dana Automotive Aftermarket Group combined with Clevite Engine Parts, Engine Management (Echlin), Beck/Arnley and Wix Filtration in 2000, Dull was named vice president of Product Management for this new Under Hood Group. In this position, Dull was responsible for product planning, sourcing, purchasing and service engineering for all of the divisions mentioned. In addition, at various points during the three years that he served in this position, he also had responsibility for sourcing offices in Japan, China and Taiwan, as well as managing a small Dana trading company (ITG), based in Nashville, Tenn.
In 2003, Dull was promoted to vice president of Product and Operations, and general manager for the Beck/Arnley division of the Dana Automotive Aftermarket Group. The daily workload was substantial, as the business required total restructuring, while at the same time being marketed for divestiture. The Dana Automotive Aftermarket Group was later sold to Cypress and the Affinia Group was formed as the new owner. Affinia immediately announced its desire to divest Beck/Arnley, and when no suitable buyer for Beck/Arnley was found, Dull stepped in to purchase the business in March 2005. Dull completed the deal on his own and formed the Heritage Equity Group as the umbrella corporation that he would use to attract other investors; therefore, becoming both president/CEO of Heritage Equity Group and president/CEO of Beck/Arnley Worldparts Corp.
After successfully restructuring Beck/Arnley, Dull and the Heritage Equity Group completed the sale of Beck/Arnley to Uni-Select Inc., with Dull returning to his previous role of vice president and general manager of Beck/Arnley.
Dull is currently on the board of directors and serves as a corporate officer of Beck/Arnley Worldparts Inc. under the Uni-Select, Inc. ownership, as well as a corporate officer of Uni-Select, Inc.
Today, Beck/Arnley has a solid and growing business foundation, backed by the strong financial and corporate infrastructure support of its parent, along with an extremely talented executive management team that has been assembled over the last year. In this exclusive interview, Dull updates us on the latest in Beck/Arnley’s transition and plans for the business in 2010.
Last time we talked (July 2008), Beck/Arnley was just transitioning to new ownership. Any updates? How has this transition gone?
In the traditional context, that question does not apply to our situation. Often key elements of an acquisition involve changes in management, procedures and systems, with a focus on synergies that reduce costs. The danger in that methodology is that many times, changes implemented in the name of cost reduction synergies harm the core value proposition of the business being acquired. From the start, this acquisition has been about the benefits that both the shareholders and Beck/Arnley’s WD, Retail, and OES customers would experience when a large, financially stable corporation acquires a business with a highly respected brand name and a solid core value proposition for the purpose of investing for growth. Beck/Arnley remains a separate operating division, with Uni-Select remaining just one of our many customers. Our base infrastructure of people, procedures and systems has not changed, nor has our core value proposition. However, additional investment from our new owner has enhanced our business in many areas. For example, the management team that was here before is still here, but we have added strong talent in product development and dynamic industry veterans to our existing executive management team. Another example is our ability to invest in inventory and new part additions at an unprecedented rate. Beck/Arnley, our customers and our owners are all seeing the benefits of this strong commitment to investment for the long term.
In many of the press releases Beck/Arnley has issued this past year, the phrase “application specific sourcing” seemed to be emphasized a lot. Can you expand on what this means and talk a little more about why this is an important aspect to Beck/Arnley’s service offering today?
Application Specific Sourcing is one key element of Beck/Arnley’s core value proposition. Everything at Beck/Arnley starts with the OE part number and a sample of that specific OE part. From there, we source one part at a time. Many of our competitors will claim OE or OE match because they source an entire category of parts from a manufacturer who has some OE business. At Beck/Arnley, we have a multi-million dollar parts sample library and an extensive supplier database covering 800 suppliers in more than 35 different countries. We want to know what manufacturer made that particular part on that particular vehicle in that particular model year. There may be more than one approved OE production supplier and more than one approved OE service supplier. We diligently research every part on every application to understand all of these details and then we make the best sourcing decision for that part on that vehicle for that model year. When we say there are OE or OE exact match parts in the Beck/Arnley box, we deliver this promise to our customers. The only way to do that is through careful diligence and intense research backed by an extensive sample parts library and global sourcing database. Likewise, we are not sourcing categories of parts by country of origin to find the cheapest option. Bottom line, we source one part at a time to find the best part for that application. That’s Application Specific Sourcing. You may also have noted that I mentioned OES as part of our customer base. We are not only sourcing from OE manufacturers around the world, we are also selling to the OEMs themselves. You won’t even be considered as a supplier to the OEs, especially on safety related products like brake system components, without this high level of global sourcing expertise and absolute commitment to quality. Whether it’s supplying a Beck/Arnley OES customer or Application Specific Sourcing for one of our WD or retail customers, the commitment to quality and detail is the same.
While Beck/Arnley does not sell directly to technicians, they always remain top of mind as those “who throw away the box.” What does Beck/Arnley do to appeal to import specialist technicians and differentiate itself from the competition in technicians’ eyes?
It starts with the Application Specific Sourcing process I just described. Professional technicians will not compromise quality. From there, our research is focused on service dealers and how these professional technicians do their jobs. We enhance what are already the highest-quality parts with solutions that make the technician’s job easier by cutting labor time and reducing comebacks. Beck/Arnley parts are an exact fit, so no labor time is wasted retrofitting universal style parts. Many times we will include the fasteners and ancillary parts needed to do the job. In some cases, we have even found ways to enhance the parts themselves for ease of installation. We also research high frequency comeback issues at service dealers to provide solutions. Specific examples of what I am describing here can be found in the product information section of our website, at www.beckarnley.com. It’s not good enough to simply match OE form, fit, and function of the part. We strive to go beyond that by providing enhancements for ease of installation and solutions to avoid comebacks. That is why Beck/Arnley is the most well recognized brand in the industry with import technicians, as proven by independent studies.
The company made a number of new hires this year, which is great news in today’s economy. What is driving this growth?
Two things are driving the addition of experienced, high-quality individuals to both our product research and executive management ranks. First, our new parent is providing us the ability to invest in our business and that starts with investing in the best people. Second, is our absolute commitment to quality and providing solutions, which means we are constantly raising the bar for ourselves internally through recruiting the brightest and most creative individuals to challenge the norm and go well beyond average. And those two things are fueling growth, which in turn means the need to add even more talent to our ranks.
We also noticed that Beck/Arnley now has a Facebook fan page. How has your experience on Facebook been so far, and what role will social media play in your marketing efforts going forward?
Social media complements our other marketing activities, providing another vehicle for us to communicate to our customers with a priority given this year to reaching technicians. Our Facebook page is a place for our fans to learn about new products, share their stories, interact with each other and provide feedback to us. We also realize that our technician and customer audiences are motivated through this type of touchpoint in our marketing. While social networking is new and exciting, it is only one way to communicate. We realize that in today’s environment, it is important to employ a variety of methods, including advertising and public relations, to reach the broad audience of aftermarket professionals that exists today. Social networking is one element to enhance an already powerful Beck/Arnley brand relationship with customers.
