Arnott Industries - Todd Nash Interview

Executive Interview With Todd Nash, Senior Vice President Of Global Sales And Marketing, Arnott Industries

Todd Nash is Arnott's senior vice president of global sales and marketing. In that capacity, he is responsible for continuing Arnott's record of sales growth and customer satisfaction. Nash, a graduate of Florida State University, is a Florida Registered Certified Public Accountant. During his career, he has held several key management positions with Fortune 500 companies and has a successful track record of building highly efficient international sales teams and increasing sales globally. In this AMN Executive Interview, Nash brings us up to speed on the recent growth and expansion efforts the company underwent in the past year, and also sheds light on the unique expertise the company has amassed during its 25 years in business.

Todd Nash is Arnott’s senior vice president of global sales and marketing. In that capacity, he is responsible for continuing Arnott’s record of sales growth and customer satisfaction. Nash, a graduate of Florida State University, is a Florida Registered Certified Public Accountant. During his career, he has held several key management positions with Fortune 500 companies and has a successful track record of building highly efficient international sales teams and increasing sales globally. In this AMN Executive Interview, Nash brings us up to speed on the recent growth and expansion efforts the company underwent in the past year, and also sheds light on the unique expertise the company has amassed during its 25 years in business.

This past year was a significant one for Arnott Industries, with the expansion of the company’s corporate headquarters in Merritt Island, Fla., along with the opening of three new distribution centers – one on the West Coast, one in Canada and one in Texas. Are there more expansion plans in the works for 2013?

Arnott is always looking for ways to better serve our customers. In late 2011, we moved from a 44,000-square-foot building into a 200,000-square-foot facility with a larger R&D lab, additional CNC machinery and a state-of-the-art warehouse. This helped us release more than 20 new part numbers, and double our customer support staff in 2012. As you noted, we also added distribution centers in California, Texas and Ontario, Canada. This year, we are ramping up the development of new products for even more applications and adding a DC in the Northeast, as well as new logistics support operations in overseas. We’ve also invested in additional technology to help resellers, installers and distributors sell and install our products.

Arnott has been making air suspension replacement products for nearly 25 years – and proudly manufacturing on U.S. soil. Why is this an important value point for Arnott? Are there advantages as well? Tell us how you are able to compete when a number of other North American aftermarket suppliers have moved manufacturing offshore to remain cost-competitive?

Designing, manufacturing, and assembling products in our U.S. facility provide a higher level of quality control and a product excellence that our customers have come to rely on. Since our products already cost just a fraction of what the OE version costs, we don’t see a need to cut corners on quality just to save a couple of dollars.

The company has amassed a high level of design expertise in the quarter century it’s been in business, and is able to create products that either eliminate certain design issues or create new efficiencies in design, such as in the new E-Class rear shocks and the company’s patent-pending Electronic Bypass Module. Can you tell us about the company’s design process?

It all starts with the OE cores that we purchase. Arnott starts buying them long before we design a new replacement version or start remanufacturing them. We study them and note the wear points and other characteristics that we might be able to improve upon. Then, our engineers begin to work on the replacement design often crafting CNC-machined parts such as a unique piston and crimping rings. We also work with our air spring vendors to make sure we have a heavy-duty replacement that will provide a great ride and will be durable. Once we have prototypes we begin road testing them and documenting the results.

Arnott offers remanufactured shocks and struts, new replacement products of its own design and coil conversion kits – often for the same applications. How do customers view the many options?

We think it is important to offer a variety of air suspension solutions to fit multiple budgets and needs. A good example of that is our support for the 2003-2005 Range Rover L322 and MK-III. We offer a remanufactured front strut that costs under $300; a new spring assembly with a patent-pending upper mount and bearing design so an installer can fix the customer’s current strut; or an all-new strut from Dunlop for those who want to completely replace a worn out unit with an OE-equivalent. For other applications, Arnott is pleased to offer our own designs that we engineer and manufacture here. Of course, some customers want to completely replace their air suspension with a coil spring conversion kit and we offer those. too. Many even include our patent-pending Electronic Bypass Module to turn off suspension warning lights. Besides providing multiple choices and price points, we back all of our springs, struts and conversion kits with a Limited Lifetime Warranty.

As a remanufacturer, what are your thoughts on the future of this important segment of the industry? Do you feel reman products are embraced by consumers as an environmentally friendly repair option, as many in the industry hope they will be? What do you think is the biggest benefit of a remanufactured product?

Motor vehicle parts’ remanufacturing is the world’s largest remanufacturing segment with production estimated to be around $6.2 billion. We see great acceptance among consumers of our remanufactured products. Most of them cost 50 percent to 75 percent less than the OE version and many of our products actually improve on the OE design. We use better components such as CNC-machined crimping rings, heavier duty, name brand, air bladders and even better seals. We’re proud that we can keep these cores out of landfills, provide customers with a lower price and offer a quality product that is made in America and backed by a limited lifetime warranty.

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