Challenging the Status Quo in the Heavy-Duty Aftermarket

Episode 307: Challenging the status quo in the heavy-duty parts industry can lead to greater opportunities for companies today. Learning to reinvent while staying true to core values is the key. In today's dynamic business environment, embracing innovation and reinvention is crucial because it enables you to optimize operations, stay competitive, and drive greater efficiency and profitability.

Join us as Jamie Irvine and our featured guests Lisa Bowman, Technical Sales for Zillion Heavy Duty Parts, Seth Stokes, B2B Relationship Manager for Circuit Board Medic, and Dan McClave, the President of Switchblade Turbo discuss the importance of embracing change that leads to success, opportunities for growth, and remaining competitive.

Show Notes: Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com for complete show notes of this episode and to subscribe to all our content.

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Transcript

Jamie Irvine: 0:39

You're listening to the Heavy Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, jamie Irvin, and this is the place where we have conversations that empower heavy duty people. What is involved in challenging the status quo in the heavy duty parts industry? In this episode, we are going to speak to three exhibitors that were at HDAW this year, who are all challenging the status quo in the trucking industry in their own way. You're going to learn why having a strong why or reason for your company to exist is so important, and also how sometimes you have to completely reinvent yourself in order to continue to challenge the status quo and be successful in the industry. We're also going to talk about why you need to take advantage of the changes in the industry, especially when it comes to technology, and, finally, we're going to talk about why sometimes you just have to simplify things to get something to work better.

Jamie Irvine: 1:40

Really excited about this episode. So let's get started. First up, we spoke to Zillion Heavy Duty Parts. This is a company that has a very fascinating why. Their reason for existence is very fascinating. In addition to that, this is a company who has needed to completely reinvent themselves in order to continue to challenge the status quo. Listen into my interview with Zillion Heavy Duty Parts. We're here at HDAW 24 in Grapevine, texas, and my guest today is Lisa Bowman, the technical sales director at Zillion Heavy Duty Parts. Now, lisa began her career in the diesel aftermarket industry in 2007. She has experience in shipping and receiving, customer service, purchasing, marketing and sales, and we've had every job, like I did.

Lisa Bowman: 2:30

I have. Yes, I have Thanks for having me, Jamie.

Jamie Irvine: 2:33

Lisa, yeah, we're so happy to have you on the show. So Zillion Heavy Duty Parts, that's a name that maybe people don't recognize. So tell me what was the name last year if they were here and they were looking for the booth, Because Zillion didn't exist.

Lisa Bowman: 2:49

You may have recognized Ambak Aftermarket.

Jamie Irvine: 2:52

Ambak Aftermarket. Okay, so their parent company is Ambak International. They've been on the show before and let's talk about the three divisions that really made up Ambak International.

Lisa Bowman: 3:04

So Ambak had three divisions the DOD manufacturing and aftermarket no-transcript.

Jamie Irvine: 3:12

Right. And so they have this long history of manufacturing. If I remember correctly, they've been in business since 1910. That's correct and that's just incredible, right, a company with over 100 years. Yeah, they do this patriotic work with the Department of Defense, not just the US, but the Allied Defense sector. They do this spec manufacturing, which is really interesting because there's a rebuilding component to that, there's high tolerances. And then talk to me a little bit about the aftermarket division, because you were working for AMBAC when it was AMBAC aftermarket. So what's the aftermarket all about?

Lisa Bowman: 3:45

Yeah, so that was the one thing that didn't fit. It was really hard to streamline our business processes having the DOD and the manufacturing all together in one, so to separate that it was just a great idea. So we decided to turn it into a standalone company and rebrand it as Zillion.

Jamie Irvine: 4:06

Right. So one of the things that is interesting with the Department of Defense work people don't maybe think about it off the top of their head, but if they think about it for just a minute you can imagine the security protocols necessary to work with any defense of any country. And that really makes it hard as an aftermarket company that you have to be very competitive. You have to move quickly, make decisions quickly, and that was really kind of holding them back, wasn't?

Lisa Bowman: 4:32

it. Yes, definitely yeah.

Jamie Irvine: 4:35

So Zillion let's talk about this new division. Right now it's Zillion Heavy Duty Parts, a AMBAC international brand, but it's very rapidly moving towards becoming its own standalone company. When you set a company up for the first time, you have to start with the fundamentals, like why are you going to be in business? So what is Zillion's? Why?

Lisa Bowman: 4:55

So we came up with a mission statement be revolutionary and create liberty.

Jamie Irvine: 5:00

Be revolutionary and create liberty. So that's a really interesting thing. Most people who would talk about like a company why are you in business? They say, well, we're in business to sell heavy duty parts, or we're in business to serve the trucking industry. Be revolutionary and create liberty. That's got our attention, so let's break that down. What does it mean to be revolutionary?

Lisa Bowman: 5:21

So, to be revolutionary, we want to change the status quo that everybody else does in the industry, and we're going to use things like technology and get different suppliers in this heavy duty industry.

Jamie Irvine: 5:34

Right. And when you talk about technology, the whole industry has really started to shift. So it started with technology on the equipment, but we're seeing how technology and the way you operate a business is really starting to change things and I think that that concept of needing to be revolutionary, to think about things from a different angle, try to challenge the status quo. That's going to be a real ingredient to the success of this new company. When you agree.

Lisa Bowman: 6:00

Yes, definitely. We need to make it easier for the businesses to buy from us Customers in general all across the board, having their own portals into our system. So it makes it easy. They don't have to call for pricing. It's all right there, ready to go?

Jamie Irvine: 6:18

Yeah, so there's another component to this Y, though, which is to create liberty. So what does that mean?

Lisa Bowman: 6:23

That's right. We want to create economic liberty for employees, customers and suppliers.

Jamie Irvine: 6:29

OK. So that's a real holistic view of the business environment and I like that because I've often been a believer and I remember hearing this a long time ago. It made so much sense to me. It's like if a company takes care of their employees economic liberty for your employees then they do a really great job. They take care of your customers. That creates economic liberty for them. Then they buy from the company and then the company does well and it becomes this positive feedback loop. But even suppliers are part of that mix, because without suppliers you just don't have a business. That's right.

Lisa Bowman: 7:01

Yeah.

Jamie Irvine: 7:01

So I love that you have to look at the whole thing. When you're here, you're going to be leaving this podcast booth and going right into the exhibition hall where there's all these people going to be checking out the new, brand new Zillion booth. What products are you going to be talking to them about?

Lisa Bowman: 7:17

We'll be talking about fuel injection and aftermarket. We also want to expand the under the hood components that we are carrying now. We want to make that broader and we're looking to find new distributors. While we're here, Right.

Jamie Irvine: 7:31

So fuel injection was always the core of the business, so that's a big part of it. You've also brought on an after treatment line. That was one of the first product lines that Zillion expanded into in that under the hood category. And then there's some new products coming and that's part of why you come to HDAW right, you're here to sell, but you're also here to buy, so that's good.

Jamie Irvine: 7:52

So when you are talking about fuel injection and you work in a technical sales environment, so what are some of the common questions you get from people? Maybe, if they've never sold fuel injection before, what are they worried about?

Lisa Bowman: 8:05

They're worried about the components. They need to do the whole job, not just the injector. They need seal kits, they need maybe hoses, fuel lines and such, and we want to be able to offer all of that to our customers.

Jamie Irvine: 8:21

Yeah, and that's so important to look at the whole piece right. Oftentimes the one component is the thing that people change because they think that's the problem.

Lisa Bowman: 8:29

But there's all these other issues. That's correct, yeah.

Jamie Irvine: 8:33

And really fuel injection and after treatment. You could apply that logic to both of those systems. It's not just a replacement part, it's the entire system you have to look at the entire system. Yeah, so thank you so much for taking some time Coming by the booth. You've got to get out on the floor, right?

Lisa Bowman: 8:48

now Sell, sell, sell. All right, thank you so much for having me.

Jamie Irvine: 8:51

Yeah that's great, that's great. So if you haven't had a chance to check out this new company which of course you wouldn't, it's brand new go over to zillionhdcom. That's where you'll be able to find a lot of great product data on that website. But it is a business that is really built to take care of the distributor, so you do need a login to get access to that. If you want to become a distributor of Zillion, then you want to go to zillionhdcom and you can press that button to become a distributor. We'll get you signed up.

Jamie Irvine: 9:21

Yep, right, yeah we will, and then you have access to great data. You'll be able to buy those products on right on the site. That's fantastic.

Lisa Bowman: 9:27

All right, Thanks Lisa, Thanks Jamie.

Jamie Irvine: 9:29

I'm really excited to see what Zillion Heavy Duty Parts does in the future, especially since our consulting company is very intimately involved in what they are doing over at Zillion. So if you haven't had a chance, make sure you go and check them out. Also, all the parts that they sell you can buy on finditpartscom, so that's good to know. We're going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsors. We'll be right back. Are you deferring maintenance because of filter cost or availability? Or, worse yet, are you trading down to no-name filters to try to save a few bucks? Either way, you're rolling the dice. The good news there's a new premium filter option for fleets Hanks Filtration. If you're responsible for a fleet, you won't believe how much using Hanks filters will save you, but you've got to go to heavydutypartsreportcom slash Hanks to find out more. It's heavydutypartsreportcom slash H-E N-G-S-T Head there. Now this episode of the Heavyduty Parts Report is brought to you by Find it Parts, your ultimate destination for heavy-duty truck and trailer parts. Discover a vast range of parts at finditpartscom. Don't spend hours a day looking for parts. Instead, visit finditpartscom and get them right away.

Jamie Irvine: 10:45

Next we spoke to Circuit Board Medics. Now, this is a company that was created to fill a need in the industry that didn't even exist a few years ago. As trucks became more complex, they got a lot more technology and that means a lot more circuit boards, and Circuit Board Medics saw an opportunity to provide a great service to the industry and an entire company was created to fill that need. Listen into my interview with Circuit Board Medics, and my guest today is Seth Stokes. He's the B2B relationship manager of Circuit Board Medics. Circuit Board Medics has been on the show before. We'll include that interview in the show notes. Seth, you started out your career in sports media and radio broadcasting and you've got a background in automotive, but here you are with Heavyduty now.

Seth Stokes: 11:31

Right, it's amazing where life takes you. Yeah, started out in sports radio years ago and I've always been tinkering the cars and trucks so that's kind of my passion. And then one thing led to another and before you know it I'm working for Circuit Board Medics and helping them build this you know, heavy duty side of things and further business to business relationships within the company.

Jamie Irvine: 11:49

Yeah Well, we're so happy to have you here on the Heavyduty Parts Report. I like to talk to people, especially when we're at shows like this, because it's an opportunity for us to think about it. You know what's trending, what's coming next. So what trends are you seeing in heavy duty electronics when it comes to commercial equipment?

Seth Stokes: 12:06

Well, the thing that we're seeing the most now is and it's kind of strange to say it at this point, but electronics are starting to become legacy products for a lot of OEs.

Jamie Irvine: 12:16

So you got to explain that to me Right.

Seth Stokes: 12:18

So, like 10 years ago, you think of legacy product. You're not thinking of your digital instrument cluster, or you know the shifter on the side of the steering column controlling the transmission. But now those things are getting to be, you know, products that OEs maybe not support for an extended period of time anymore, so they may be ending their life with the OE. Until a couple of years ago that was kind of a foreign concept and you're seeing more and more electronics get into these trucks now and you know, just like anything else, the OEs going to support it for as long as they can, but after a while they've got to bow out and that's kind of where we come into play and that's what aftermarket's all about.

Jamie Irvine: 12:54

That's right. Really, that's what Heavyduty Aftermarket Week is all about. So you know, when I think of trucks like I started in the industry in 1998, things had started to move towards the electronic kind of type of vehicle, but there was still a lot of mechanical systems. Now we're in 2024. So give us an example of an electronic system that might actually surprise people in a commercial truck, right?

Seth Stokes: 13:19

So a good example that pops into mind for me is the HVAC module in a lot of the Ken and Warwick and Peter Bilts. That's on a communications network in the truck so it's communicating with the instrument cluster, the body control module, the ECM, all that's connected. So if that goes down there's a potential that brings the entire communications network on the truck down and all it does is literally just controls the heat in there inside the cab. But it is electronic now it communicates on its own network. And why they went that way?

Seth Stokes: 13:50

I don't know, but you know it's just one of those things you don't. You look at a you know a big truck driving down the road and the last thing you think is going to be electronic is the thing that controls your heat in there like that, and would that have knobs on it?

Jamie Irvine: 14:03

Right, right, and still you have to have the potential of, like, bringing that truck to a standstill. That's kind of crazy. So you know, so you know. It's just one of those things that you think is going to be electronic. When there is an opportunity in the market, entrepreneurial people will find a way. Circuit Board Medics is just one of those great stories of a company that's just really risen because of the demand and the need. Talk me through what are the services that Circuit Board Medics is really now known for.

Seth Stokes: 14:29

We're trying to eliminate as much downtime as possible for people, and not just in the heavy-duty sector, but also in the light-duty sector. What we're known for now is a very quick and high-quality repair and return service, as well as offering what we call exchange items Things like a VGT actuator for a Cummins engine or something like that, something that we're going to have on the shelf. A guy calls us hey trucks down because of this actuator. When can you get me one? We can ship it out that same day. We're known as just a high-quality and quick-to-the-market kind of company that can pivot easily with things that are happening PSGs, for example, on the 5.9 Cummins and those fuel pumps. That's something that we're working on now to provide a solution for when there's not one. We like to do the hard things.

Jamie Irvine: 15:16

The hard things. Give me a couple more examples of a use case where somebody would say I listened to the Circuit Board Medics on the heavy-duty parts where I now know where to send this thing. Give me a couple other examples.

Seth Stokes: 15:30

You're driving around in your Peterbilt and it stops shifting gears, that shift stalk stops working. You can come to us, you can send that to us Within one business day. It'll be headed back to you. Your instrument cluster stops reading your fuel or your air pressure or anything like that. You can send that instrument cluster to us. We can repair that one business day, ship it back out to you. Or even, to a greater extent, the ECMs on these things are both on the side of the engines. They take a lot of heat. They see a lot of stuff Get dripped on them, leaked on them oil and all that. Stop working and send it to us. We can repair it. Get your truck back up and running.

Jamie Irvine: 16:06

I can imagine that there's probably when I was rebuilding pneumatics, both on air and hydraulic systems, the big advantage was always that the OEM replacement part was going to be quite costly or maybe it wasn't even available any longer the repair and return service. It was where you didn't have to give up the unit that you had. I know you could get it repaired and have it come back. Is it really that kind of a system and what kind of cost savings are we actually talking about that that creates?

Seth Stokes: 16:35

Well, a lot of times, with repair and return, there's no programming necessary. Okay, a lot of these modules have some sort of programming involved. If we're repairing the module off of your truck, it's plug and play. When you get it back, there's no need to have anybody program it for you. You should just be able to plug it in, put the bolts back in it and take off down the road doing what you were doing, as if you have to buy new from a dealer or somewhere like that. If it's available, I understand doing that, but if you have to, but then you have to have it programmed. Not only do you have the cost of the part, then you have the cost of the programming, cost of the labor, all that stuff. We're saving money in a couple of different avenues.

Jamie Irvine: 17:09

Can you give us an example of a customer of yours that you were able to help and talk through the impact it had on their business? One of the things. I'll tell you something, seth, when I was selling parts yeah, I was selling replacement parts but I remember many times where someone maybe a wife of a truck driver would call and say thank you for helping us out. And I would never forget the one time where we helped with the transmission problem and she literally had. You could tell there were tears in her eyes and she was saying to me we didn't know where the food was going to come for our kids and because you took care of that transmission issue, we were able to feed our kids this week, thank you. I love those kinds of stories of how it's. Yes, there's the dollars and cents and running the business, but then there's also the human side to this and, at the end of the day, heavy duty people. It's important that they flourish. So talk me through a couple of examples where you've been able to really help your customers.

Seth Stokes: 18:01

Yeah, one of our core values as a company is people. We care about their stories and so when someone calls and says they have this issue, that's just the circuit board is just the hard part of that issue. The issue is the lost wages for not being able to use the truck for work or, if it's a passenger car, not be able to get to work or the washing machine's broken the house now they can't do laundry. That's causing a deeper problem.

Jamie Irvine: 18:26

And all of those electronics that you guys do fit, all those applications. So you could actually help a truck driver or a repair shop that's fixing. You could help them with the commercial trucks, their own personal vehicles and appliances and you could help them in every level.

Seth Stokes: 18:43

Yes, sir, that's it. So when the CPC-4 crisis happened with the freight liners, we were able to develop a repair for that module and now we have them on the shelf. We can send them out pre-programmed. But we had so many stories because when that thing went down it's a body control module your throttle wouldn't work. It's the thing that's in the dash of your vehicle, but your throttle doesn't work when it messes up.

Jamie Irvine: 19:04

So that's it your car is not driving.

Seth Stokes: 19:06

So we had tons of people calling with that as a problem. They're not being able to use the truck for work, they're not making money, they're not being able to feed their families. Tons of stories for that one, but one in particular is a truck driving school and I think they exclusively use those trucks. None of the trucks were running. They couldn't teach future drivers how to drive these things.

Seth Stokes: 19:25

That's the last thing we need right, it's contributing to the shortage, exactly exactly. And it was such a thing that he drove multiple states and brought us several from multiple states away, got a hotel, stayed till we had it repaired and took them back just because they were being stolen out of vehicles and stuff like that, and got all of his fleet of trucks back up and running. And it's stuff like that. That we just we love hearing those stories behind it. And we recently released our Allyson TCM with the LML Duramax's another you know lighter duty application. But those guys, I mean they're using those trucks for their landscaping companies, their construction companies, stuff like that, and able to get those you know $80,000 paperweight out of the yard and back on the road making money for guys again. It's just a wonderful feeling.

Jamie Irvine: 20:09

Yeah, so what are you doing to ensure that? That the quick turnaround like I keep hearing you talk about that? It's obviously an area of focus for your company, but as you, your volumes have continued to grow. How do you maintain that same level of service?

Seth Stokes: 20:24

We have a wonderful team of people and we practice a lot of lean processes, but we just have a lot of dedicated, really good, talented, smart people who figure out the best way to do things in a repeatable manner. And we don't take and just so if an ECM comes in and this one component is messed up, we're not just changing that one component, we're addressing everything that we know is wrong on the board. One, because it acts as a preventative measure. Two, it just makes the unit better than it was when it was new. And three, it is something that we can, you know, build out and it becomes a. You always do this to this thing when it comes in. There's no like well, this one may take an hour or this one may take three, depending they all. Just it's all the same. So we're able to maintain that level of quality and standardize all of our repairs. So, no matter what product you're getting, it's it's. They all have gone through kind of the same rigmarole through us.

Jamie Irvine: 21:17

Yeah, that's fantastic. So if you would like to learn more about what this company does, go to circuitboardmedicscom. Links will be in the show notes. Seth, thank you for taking some time. I know these trade shows are very busy and you got a lot of people to talk to, so thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Hey, thanks for having me on. I think it's fascinating that an entire company was created to fill this specific need. I hope that you go check them out and certainly, if you're selling parts, you want to keep them in your back pocket because your customers may have some trouble with circuit boards and you can use their repair and return service to be able to get those fixed and back to your customers really quickly. A great, great service.

Jamie Irvine: 21:56

Finally, we spoke to switchblade turbo now. This is a fascinating company. They've been on the podcast before and in the links in the show notes you'll be able to go and listen to that original interview that I did. But I think what's really interesting about my conversation with them today is how, at the end of the day, all they did is they took something that was complex and they simplified it and they got it to work better and to challenge the status quo. It doesn't always mean you have to go in the direction of greater complexity. This is a great example of where simplicity actually is better for everyone. Listen into my conversation with switchblade turbo. So my guest today is a returning guest on the show Dan McClave, president of Switchblade Turbo Chargers. Dan spent the majority of his career in automotive manufacturing and the remanufacturing industry. That's close to my heart, and now you're the president at Switchblade Turbo Chargers. You're serving the heavy duty agricultural and industrial markets. Dan, welcome to the heavy duty parts.

Dan McClave: 22:55

Thank you, nice to see you. Yeah, you too.

Jamie Irvine: 22:56

Thanks for taking some time away from the booth and coming to see us. Like I said, it's so busy in there.

Dan McClave: 23:00

I almost lost track of time, so it's been great.

Jamie Irvine: 23:03

So since the last time you were on the show, some things have changed. Walk us through what's changed.

Dan McClave: 23:09

Mostly what's changed is we've made progress. I mean, business has picked up and thank you again for having me on the show. We started building out our team in the technical engineering aspect sales and marketing and just continued to build inventory to start to supply bigger customers.

Jamie Irvine: 23:25

Yeah, it's fantastic to watch a company with a great product trying to solve a real problem and having the success you deserve. So what is exactly the product that you're promoting? Tell us more. Is it just another shop that rebuilds turbochargers, or what's different? Now, people who've watched the original episode, which we'll put- links in. They already know the answer to this, but maybe the ones that are new to the show haven't seen it before. You can tell them.

Dan McClave: 23:48

Well, the main product that we're manufacturing and selling is called the Switchblade Turbo Charger. It is a modification to an existing OE turbo that significantly improves performance to heavy duty trucks, ag equipment, you name it to the tune of significant fuel savings in dollars.

Jamie Irvine: 24:06

Right, okay, so let's go a little bit deep on the actual product. So in a turbocharger, in its current setup, the way that it comes, oe from the truck, we hear about turbos and the VGT, and then you're going to retrofit with the Switchblade Turbo. So talk about the differences in the actual turbocharger and how it works.

Dan McClave: 24:28

Okay definitely so. The Switchblade Turbo Charger we basically have and it's a patented design by Jim Blalock we're essentially adding one additional moving part to the turbine housing of the turbo that fluctuates and goes up and down throughout the operation of the turbo. So really, what he's invented is a two-in-one turbo. It's small at rest, so it spools up a lot faster.

Jamie Irvine: 24:53

No lag.

Dan McClave: 24:53

Traditional turbo, no turbo, lag Right, and then, as you're gaining speed and pressure's increasing in the housing, that vein opens up, and now it's a larger housing at speed. So you're getting the best of both worlds. So, at takeoff, fast takeoff, increased boost, pressure, no lag, and at speed, major fuel efficiency and savings.

Jamie Irvine: 25:13

Okay, so if I retrofit my truck with your turbo charger, when I take out that other one do I need the VGT part?

Dan McClave: 25:19

No, you don't really need the VGT part. There's no electronics, which might sound scary to some people that how can you do something without electronics? But it's a very simple, easy design and it really just replaces the stock turbo or whatever turbo is on the vehicle at the time, whether it's a cat engine, detroit Cummins, you name it.

Jamie Irvine: 25:39

Okay now, one of the things that people will hear me talk about a lot on the show is that you have to look at the whole system. So turbo is part of a larger system. It impacts the after treatment and other systems in the engine. So what have you done to make sure that the rest of the system continues to operate as it's supposed to?

Dan McClave: 26:01

Well, we've had sales for the last five or six years of this product. We've never had one problem with an engine failure or anything resulting from our turbo. So it is an existing system and part of a larger system. But what we're really doing, jamie, is enhancing the performance of the engine. And again, go to our website. Look at our customer testimonials. People are just singing the praises of this turbo and it's just a matter of scale. Now we have to get it to more people.

Jamie Irvine: 26:28

So there is a component I remember you talking about with pressure and back pressure and things like that. Can you explain that?

Dan McClave: 26:35

Yeah, sure. So to get a little more technical, typically the ratio of boost pressure to back pressure is two to one. Double the back pressure to half boost pressure. What this system does is it actually increases the boost pressure to basically equal that of back pressure. And people will say that's impossible.

Seth Stokes: 26:54

It's not.

Dan McClave: 26:55

We have data, we have customers that have videoed their boost and back pressure gauges. While the switch blade is running and it's just attributed to that design, we're getting more volume of air into the system, which is getting into the engine, and it's just burning fuel a lot cleaner.

Jamie Irvine: 27:09

A lot cleaner, more efficient. So I remember you saying that when this system is installed, things like, for example, the black smoke coming out of the stacks is eliminated. What is that actually eliminating? Not just the smoke, but there's something more about that.

Dan McClave: 27:23

Yeah, there's really two things there. And again we have tons of videos from customers showing this with and without the switch blade, and all the black smoke is coming out of the stack is unburnt fuel. That's waste, and when I was a kid I thought, wow, look at that truck, the black smoke looks really cool yeah it's not.

Dan McClave: 27:39

So all that fuel now is being burned more efficiently, so it eliminates the black smoke. The flip side of that with all that unburned fuel is it's putting soot into the oil, so oil changes are more frequent. We have one customer in particular. He doubled his oil life on all of his equipment. Caterpillar has tested this this is not.

Lisa Bowman: 27:58

I'm saying it, but it's verified Absolutely.

Dan McClave: 28:02

So he went from 100 hours oil changed to 200.

Jamie Irvine: 28:06

So at the outset of our conversation you talked about a significant improvement in fuel. Can you go into more detail about what the expected gains will be from retrofitting to this? And really it's not really a retro, it's more of an upgrade to this switch blade turbo.

Dan McClave: 28:21

Yeah, so we're calling it Jamie and investment in your equipment. It's not a sunk cost. If you have to replace your turbo with ours, it's actually going to save you money. And this is a touchy subject to because fuel efficiency. There's so many factors involved with that, not just the turbo. So we tend to say this with a disclaimer, but we've seen some of our customers. Again I have references. They've gone from four miles a gallon to almost six. We have one customer in particular near me. He's saving $140 per day in fuel that his truck is running. So the turbo paid for itself in about a month and he just keeps asking for more turbos to retrofit his fleet. So that's really what we're seeing on the fuel saving side. And again, it's going to differ because guys drive differently fuel costs vocation Exactly.

Dan McClave: 29:10

So the amount of weight that you're hauling all factors, but we can pretty much stand behind that you are going to see significant cost savings.

Jamie Irvine: 29:18

Yeah, it's one thing to have a marginal difference, that that you know. Okay, great, I'm picking up a little bit, but how much, right. It's another thing to get to a significant amount where you can actually calculate it in dollars, save, like with that one example, and that's what's really important here. So I think what do you recommend when somebody is thinking like, okay, I want to do this, I'm convinced, but before I start, how do they call you? And do you guys talk through their vocation and their fleet and what they're up against and kind of help them to see what the possibility could be Like? How do you work with your customers to really kind of take that first step?

Dan McClave: 29:53

Yeah, that's a great question and again, they're more than happy, willing to call us. There's information on our website. It really has to do with what engine you're running and what your horsepower, because that will determine the type of turbo that we supply you and in some cases there's other accessories that are needed. So we now have the ability you can order off the website. We would get the order and immediately call the customer and say, hey, we just got your order. Any questions? Because we just talked to someone at the show and he's he's been ready to take the plunge with this, and then that's almost why I was late we, I think, convinced him to go ahead and try one. But it is. It's a different product. Some people haven't believed the claims of the cost savings, which is fine, but honestly, what I've done is I've given a turbo away, said Look, don't pay me for 90 days. If you're not happy, I'll take it back. If you are, then let's start a business relationship.

Jamie Irvine: 30:44

We have ever had anybody send him back. No. Now, when you do retrofit, you've got a core. What do you do with?

Dan McClave: 30:50

that they can keep it. We are also re manufacturers, so we're happy to take that off their hands as well. So it's a conversation.

Jamie Irvine: 30:57

Yeah, fantastic, fantastic. Well, if you want to learn more about this great product, first of all I would say, go back and listen to the original episode and also go over to switchbladeturbocom. That's where all the information is, and now you can buy it off the website. So thanks for taking some time.

Dan McClave: 31:11

Thank, you so much, really great to see you. You too, okay as well. Thanks.

Jamie Irvine: 31:15

Well, this brings today's episode to a conclusion. I hope you enjoyed my conversations with three companies that are truly challenging the status quo in the trucking industry. Next week we're going to continue our coverage of HDAW, where we are going to talk to some of the manufacturing Titans in the industry. Tune in for that episode so you don't miss out. If you haven't already go to heavydutypartsreportcom, hit the follow button, sign up to our weekly email so you never miss out on the great content. We're only going to send you one email a week just updating you on what's new on the show, so don't have to worry about us spamming you. Go ahead and follow us there. Also, if you are enjoying listening to the podcast on your podcast Player of Choice, if you haven't already hit that follow button for free, and if you like watching the video version, make sure you subscribe and click the notification bell on YouTube. Thank you so much for your ongoing support and a big thank you to the guests this week and our sponsors. As always, I want to encourage you to be heavy duty.