Fleet Exhibitors Shine at TMC2024 with Innovative Parts Solutions

Episode 313: At TMC 2024, we interviewed exhibitors who highlighted innovative solutions for fleets in the trucking industry, focusing on fuel efficiency, clean air systems, and streamlined maintenance. These advancements are vital for cutting operational costs, minimizing downtime, and ensuring regulatory compliance, ultimately improving your overall bottom line.

Join us this week as our host Jamie Irvine interviews Dan Funkhouser, VP of Commercial Sales at Yokohama Tire, Geoff Selby, Owner of Expello Air Products, and Jayne Orr, Sr. VP of Sales Americas for Accuride Corporation to understand how their products are impacting the industry.

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

Sponsors of this Episode

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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. Welcome to another episode of the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, jamie Irvin. In early March, I had the opportunity to attend the Technology and Maintenance Council's annual spring meeting in New Orleans this year. It was a great time. While there, I had the opportunity to also go to the exhibition floor and conduct interviews with those suppliers that were there at the show.

Jamie Irvine: 1:16

In this episode, you're going to get to hear three of those interviews. First, we're going to talk about tires with Yokohama. Second, we're going to talk about a with Yokohama. Second, we're going to talk about a total air system protection device from Expello Air Products. And then we're going to conclude this episode with a discussion about wheels, drums and solving problems for distributors with a unique solution from Accuride. Now, one of the overarching themes that you're going to hear is the value these manufacturers place on serving the trucking industry. In each of their own unique ways, they have demonstrated a real commitment to solving problems for the trucking industry and really providing the trucking industry with products and solutions that empower them to do their important work, which, in essence is take care of all of us Because, as we've said many times, the trucking industry is the backbone of society and without it our way of life would come to an end. So, first up, let's listen in to my interview with Yokohama Tire.

Dan Funkhouser: 2:22

My name is Dan Funkhauser. I'm the vice president of commercial sales with Yokohama Tire. My name is Dan Funkhauser. I'm the Vice President of Commercial Sales with Yokohama Tire Corporation.

Jamie Irvine: 2:28

Welcome to the Heavy Duty Parts Report, dan. Thank you, it's a pleasure, it's my pleasure. So we're here and the trucking industry is here. This is a big fleet show. When you think about the trucking industry and you think about its impact on society, what's your viewpoint of that and you think about its impact?

Dan Funkhouser: 2:42

on society. What's your viewpoint of that? Well, almost everything you touch in your daily lives is delivered by a truck. You have the over-the-road line haul trucks which haul stuff from point A to point B across the country, all the way down to the small little delivery trucks, the last mile delivery trucks that deliver food to your door, your packages to your door.

Jamie Irvine: 3:01

So not everything you touch now is brought by truck and the products that you sell. I know that you sell a wide range of products, so talk about some of the different locations that you have built tires specifically for.

Dan Funkhouser: 3:10

Well, we're built a tire specifically for the last mile delivery. We have some ultra wide base which is really more for a fuel business or a weight conscious fleet. That's more bulk. We've got some off-road products and some mixed service bikes that we sell as well. We're big in the refuse business fuel hauling, line haul, regional Basically all the segments are on the business. We have a solution for their needs.

Jamie Irvine: 3:33

When you have such a global view of the trucking industry and you're serving all of those different segments, how, as a company, are you going to manage that? What's the approach?

Dan Funkhouser: 3:45

Well, we've developed what we consider or call Yokohama's smart solution, and that basically includes what we feel about our product, our people and our company, and it's broken down into four pillars. We have longevity, efficiency, availability and dependability. We have some of the longest original mileage running tires in the marketplace at Case Care. Longevity we are extremely fuel efficient. Our people are extremely agile. We're able to react in the markets. We're extremely efficient. We're available at all the best dealers across the country, as well as the truck stop market. We're also available at OE Tractor and OE Trail, so the products are available. The truck stop market we're also available at OE Tractor and OE Trail, so the products are available and we are dependable. We have the most retreadable casing there is and our people have all been here for a long time. We have long-standing relationships and we don't go anywhere, so we are always there when our customers need us. So we are very dependable, not only from a product standpoint, but from a people standpoint and a company standpoint.

Jamie Irvine: 4:42

So, as a dependable company, your customers they're not just buying tires for the fun of it. There's a need there, right, yes? What kinds of problems come up that over the years, you've been able to address those issues, and how has that impacted your customers?

Dan Funkhouser: 4:56

Well, one of their biggest concerns is downtime. You know they can't afford to be sitting on the side of the road or they can't afford to not have product. We are available at all the major truck stops and, again, we're available at most large independent dealers. So, availability, we're able to get the tires, get the fleet up and running as quick as possible. Also, from you know, fuel economy is now a big push on fuel economy With the CARB regulations and other government regulations that are coming out. The Oklahoma makes an extremely fuel-efficient tire. And when it comes to doing the testing, the EPA tests the retreads. They use a Yokohama RY617 casing to test those retreads out for their fuel economy as well.

Jamie Irvine: 5:35

Right, and so the fuel economy side of it. When you actually see that measurable difference, how does that impact the fleet itself?

Dan Funkhouser: 5:43

Our goal is to be the lowest cost per mile tire there is in the market, and you have to include fuel economy in that equation Because tires, basically it's a component that adds more rolling resistance you have the less fuel economy that you can get out of a tire. So we basically want to have a very, very streamlined and fuel efficient product. Helps out with their bottom line. They have a ton of issues that they have to fight with. They have a bunch of things that are concerns, driver costs, maintenance costs in general. If we can increase their fuel economy and add to their bottom line that way, that's something in our favor.

Jamie Irvine: 6:16

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Can you just talk to me a little bit about one of the customers that you've helped recently, tell me what the situation was and how did you deploy all of these solutions you've been talking about to really make a difference for them?

Dan Funkhouser: 6:31

Well, there's a very big fuel hauler that we do business with and we've been trying to get into their fleet for a number of years and we just we couldn't really get along. We had some issues. We just couldn't get in there. They spec a lot of new trucks and they spec the ultra wide base. They chose to go with yokohama's ultra wide base, so we got our way into the fleet through the oe section. Okay, we also gave them a oe spec credit on their national account, which we replied to, which we applied to their national account. They had to spend that money over the road or through a dealership in order to use that credit up. So we took care of their OE fitment and we took care of their replacement sales with one transaction at the OE level. And the good thing about Yokohama, we are available at all levels of business. We make ourselves available. If our fleet wants to spec our product, we can get the product for them to spec.

Jamie Irvine: 7:21

It really sounds like you're a solution-based company and that you're looking at supporting the entire trucking industry. So, from that perspective, as an advocate of the industry, thank you so much and thank you for being on the show. Oh, thank you. You've been listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. My name is Jamie Urban. I've been with Dan Funkhauser, vp of Commercial Sales at Yokohama Tire. Commercial sales at Yokohama Tire. If you would like to learn more about their heavy duty products, head over to Yokohamatruckcom. Dan. Again, thanks for being on the Heavy Duty Parts Report. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Have a great day. That was my interview with Yokohama and, as you can see, they are truly dedicated to providing the trucking industry with solutions that do a number of things. One they're dedicated to they're also very, very focused on providing consistent distribution of their product so that, no matter where someone finds themselves, that product is readily available. So if they do have a tire blowout, they will be able to get a replacement tire quickly and get back on the road.

Jamie Irvine: 8:25

We're going to take a quick break now to hear from our sponsors and when we get back from our break we're going to listen into the other two interviews that I conducted at TMC. 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 Fanks 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. That's heavydutypartsreportcom slash H-E-N-G-S-T Head there.

Jamie Irvine: 9:07

Now this episode of the Heavy-Duty 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. We're back from our break. Before the break, we talked about tires. Now we're going to shift gears and we're going to focus on the air system of commercial trucks. Listen in to my conversation with Expello Air Products.

Geoff Selby: 9:40

Hi, my name is Jeff Selby and I am the owner of Expello Air Products and D&D Instruments.

Jamie Irvine: 9:46

Jeff, welcome to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. Thanks, jamie, glad to have you here. Before we talk about Expello and the products that you sell, I'd like to talk a little bit about the different segments of the trucking industry that you serve and why are they so important to society at large.

Geoff Selby: 10:01

Well, I mean trucking industry is important to society in general because it's how we move things around, it's how we get rid of things. We don't want Garbage.

Jayne Orr: 10:10

Garbage, for instance.

Geoff Selby: 10:11

Yeah, we do a lot of work with waste hauling fleets and all sorts of different types of fleets that deliver fuel and deliver all sorts of different products, so we keep them running and we think that's pretty important.

Jamie Irvine: 10:24

Yeah, yeah, I mean nothing like. The whole COVID time really highlighted how important the trucking industry is. I think a lot of people in the general public got to see why that was important. I think we always knew at our hearts, but then we got to be called essential workers, so that was great. So let me ask you something, jeff, when it comes to the different segments of the trucking industry that you serve, what are some of the common problems that they encounter?

Geoff Selby: 10:47

Well, so ARCS Bellow Valve really works within the compressed air system and every compressed air system Right, and every compressed air system makes water, Just kind of it's part of physics, yeah. And so ultimately, you know that can cause all sorts of problems downstream Up in Minnesota, where we're from, or Alberta, where you are. Yeah, it's going to be frozen in the wintertime, Right, but even down here in New Orleans, you know they end up with water and contaminants in the air system. It has a lot of downstream effects.

Jamie Irvine: 11:19

Yeah, let's talk about the downstream effects. So you know, think of the air system. What does the air system power? What does it power?

Geoff Selby: 11:25

Well, primarily brakes. Brakes, it's first there for safety. Yeah, kind of important, right Right?

Jayne Orr: 11:30

yeah.

Geoff Selby: 11:31

And so it's obviously the most important feature. But you know you've got air ride suspensions, you've got. You know it can be an input for, like a fan clutch, it can power the automated manual transmissions there's all sorts of components that rely on clean, dry air.

Jamie Irvine: 11:48

Yeah, and when those contaminants get in there, what can be the kinds of problems that that causes?

Geoff Selby: 11:53

Okay, well, so take a waste hauler, for instance. You think about a residential waste hauler? It's stopping in everybody's driveway, so the driver's really riding the brakes a lot during the day. It causes the compressor to run a lot. It's a real high air use application and ultimately that air dryer starts to get a little ineffective. As the day goes on it's passing through a lot of wet, dirty air. So what happens is that can get into the different pneumatic switches that run the features of the body and cause them to fail. And of course, again, if the tanks aren't being drained regularly, it can also freeze up in the wintertime and that means the truck doesn't move in the morning, which means your garbage doesn't get picked up.

Jamie Irvine: 12:30

Yeah, which again people like yeah truck doesn't move in the morning, which means your garbage doesn't get picked up. Yeah, which, again, people like. Yeah, people like that, exactly, exactly, okay, so those are the problems. What kind of a solution have you developed at Expello to solve that problem? How does it work?

Geoff Selby: 12:47

Well, so it's pretty simple. It would replace a manual drain, and what a lot of fleets will say is hey, those aren't getting drained as regularly as they should. So what this will do is, every five minutes, it opens for one second and just blows out whatever contaminants have formed in the tank. So it's water, it's dirt, it's pasture oil, it's corrosion, it's things like that that can then cause problems down the line and eventually end up in downtime for the vehicle.

Jamie Irvine: 13:08

Right, right. So what is a good time for a fleet to look at that Like when you think of, especially in a colder climate? This is not something you want to be addressing in January, right, Usually if you've let it get to January, you're probably already experiencing some problems.

Geoff Selby: 13:22

So yeah, you know, there's never really a bad time of year to take a look at your air system. Typically, fleets will go through a lot of extra steps in the late fall to prepare for winter, and that's a great time to look at whether Expello could be a good fit for you too. Yeah, exactly.

Jamie Irvine: 13:39

Walk me through what a fleet evaluation looks like. When Expello starts talking, maybe through a distributor or you're talking to a fleet, they're having a problem Like how do you go to evaluate the whole fleet and make your recommendations?

Geoff Selby: 13:54

Well, so typically what they'll do is you know, we hear from fleets all the time that say we have good air system practices, this isn't an issue for us, and I'm sure that that's true a lot of the time. Or they believe it to be true, or they believe it to be true.

Geoff Selby: 14:08

Yeah, but a lot of times, you know, you'll also hear them say yeah. We didn't think it was an issue until we pulled the cord on one of these trucks Right and all of a sudden it was like a hose going off in the garage.

Jamie Irvine: 14:18

It's supposed to be air and it's just water and it's water.

Geoff Selby: 14:26

High-pressure water going all over the place, so that's really just right there. That's where we're a good fit. Yeah, exactly.

Jamie Irvine: 14:33

So, once they've installed, Expello what is the economic impact on them? Because if they had those issues, we know that the really water in the tank is a symptom. It's not actually all of the problem. So how does once they install this simple solution, does it impact their total cost of operation after they've implemented?

Geoff Selby: 14:52

it Okay. Well, really, the big thing is just less downtime. Right, we want to increase their uptime by making sure that the you know the road calls that they were having because you know they had, you know a frozen brake line, the road call they had because the automated manual transmission has started to fail and the truck doesn't shift, those go away. The Expello will get rid of those that the contaminants are causing those issues and they'll notice it in the wrong time.

Jamie Irvine: 15:20

Yeah, fantastic, you've been listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, jamie Irvin, and I've been with Jeff Selby, president and Owner at Expello and D&D Instruments. If you want to learn more about this, particular product go over to expelloairproductscom.

Geoff Selby: 15:39

Links will be in the show notes.

Jamie Irvine: 15:40

Jeff, thank you so much for being on. Head to the Departments. Thanks, jamie, appreciate it. This is truly a very simple product and yet it has a big impact on making sure that the air system is not contaminated with water. One of the things I like about this product specifically is that it doesn't really require the driver or the technician to do anything. It works automatically, keeps purging that water and debris out of the air system, and that prevents upstream and downstream issues inside of the air system, which, of course, lowers total cost of operation.

Jamie Irvine: 16:12

When you're operating commercial equipment, you do have to put a fair amount of attention on your wheels and, even more importantly, on your wheel end components. My next interview is with Accuride. Now, accuride has a wide range of products that span both the wheel side of it and the wheel end side of it, and in that conversation, I really think that it's important for us to remember how selecting high performing products has an immediate impact on your total cost of operation. And Accuride provides a wide range of products to meet all the different needs of the trucking industry, regardless of what those needs are, from the highest performing, highest quality products to value products that might be applicable in certain vocations. What was really interesting about this conversation, though, is the additional things that Accuride is doing to specifically provide support to their distributors, so that their distributors can get the products into the hands of those that need it the most, which is, of course, owner operators and fleets that are operating commercial trucks and trailers. Listen in to my interview with Accuride.

Jayne Orr: 17:24

Hi, I'm Jane Orr. I'm the Senior VP of Sales for the Americas for Accuride Corporation.

Jamie Irvine: 17:30

Jane, you're finally on the Heavy Duty Parts Report.

Jayne Orr: 17:32

Yay, finally.

Jamie Irvine: 17:34

I've been looking forward to our conversation. You know, before we get into the products, I wanted to talk a little bit about just acuride's view of the trucking industry. Right like the industry is so important. If you work in the industry, you know that. But for those who maybe are just trying to learn about the industry that's getting exposed to it maybe for the first time, why is this industry so important?

Jayne Orr: 17:54

yeah, yeah, I mean obviously anything that you receive most likely came through from a truck Right and and so without the the trucking industry, and I think that became really apparent during the, the COVID lockdown, you know like we all learned that we were essential workers. I guess we didn't know that before COVID, although you know this is actually going to be my 35th year in this industry and I don't want to do anything else. It's just an honor to make parts for the trucking industry and our hardworking truck drivers, and so I love it.

Jamie Irvine: 18:33

Yeah, and over the years I've been in the industry, 26 years now and the people, the way that they are, just the way that they oriented in their life, the way that they treat one another, um, it is fantastic and you really saw that come out when times are tough, like heavy duty. People go to work when times are tough.

Jayne Orr: 18:51

Absolutely, yep, absolutely. We, uh, I feel the same way and and and. When I come to these events like this, even people that I used to work with or what you run into the same people. They might go to a different company, but they don't, they don't leave the trucking industry because we're, we are. You can still have good relationships, and that's that's hard to do in a lot of industries now.

Jamie Irvine: 19:13

Yeah, so give me an overview of Accuride and its position in the industry, so people really understand which segments of the industry you're working in.

Jayne Orr: 19:22

Sure, so we have three separate divisions. So our main wheel division, accuride Steel Aluminum Wheels. We're the only provider of steel and aluminum wheels and we provide those to. You know all of the segments of the industry, whether it's Class 8, class 537, even some light truck stuff, trailer, and then all of the segments of trailer. So if it's a dry van or a reefer or a tanker, you know pretty much. You'll see Accurate products on all of those things. We have our Gunite, which is our wheel end division, and we make those in the United States. So those are in Rockford Illinois. Those are wheel end products hubs, drums, slack adjusters. And then we have an offshore program. Kic is our brand and we bring in offshore wheel end products as well.

Jamie Irvine: 20:19

Right and for all the years that I sold parts like there is a need for that different levels of product because when you are dealing with that many vocations, there are appropriate times for certain products and others. You can use a different product.

Jayne Orr: 20:32

Correct, yeah, and having like, especially during the pandemic, having the option when container prices went to $30,000 and it was almost too expensive to bring products in from offshore. We had our domestic products that we could sell. So having an offshore partner for when that pricing is good and being able to flex, so we offer the best solutions to all of our customers.

Jamie Irvine: 21:00

Now, I used to work for distributors that bought product from you and we were able to go into the field and work with fleets. When you think about the kinds of challenges that fleets have, your company has taken, even though you're selling parts, you've taken kind of a unique approach to provide something more. Can you tell me about what that is?

Jayne Orr: 21:19

Sure. So what you know we're always looking to, especially now with the electrification right. So what can we do to provide a better product? And we know that those batteries are adding weight to the vehicle, so what can we do to lightweight our products? One of the truck manufacturers asked us if we could make a wheel that would actually be a little bit wider width but a little bit lighter weight so that it fit their application for electrification. So we're always working with the OEMs to find out what is it that we can offer differently. The one advantage that Acurite has over some of our wheel competitors is we offer both steel and aluminum wheels. So whether they're looking for, you know, a steel wheel is going to be a little bit heavier but it's a cheaper option, it's a less expensive option. Or if they're looking for, you know, the highly polished, beautiful aluminum you know wheel, we have that as well.

Jamie Irvine: 22:23

And those are two such completely different customers. Right, and that's why you do need this range of products. But in order to be really successful in the trucking industry, I think it's very important for companies to bring solutions that complement the products that you sell and make your customers more successful. I know Acura is working on something that is going to do that. Could you tell me a little bit about it?

Jayne Orr: 22:39

Sure. So we have a new program called Acura Global Products and basically we would be bringing in containers from offshore and sometimes people would say, hey, when are our parts going to get here? And we'd say, I don't know.

Jamie Irvine: 22:54

Well, now with a nice, a nice range of, you know, 30 to 180 days.

Jayne Orr: 22:58

It's on the water. It's coming, I promise.

Jamie Irvine: 23:01

So no, we we assume isn't a subject or an objective number, is it? Yeah?

Jayne Orr: 23:06

so we have launched a program with a um, a provider that allows us gps tracking so we can see where that container is on the water. Um that allows us GPS tracking so we can see where that container is on the water. That allows us to know when is it landing. We can clear customs ahead of time. We can reroute when there's a situation like there was in the Red Sea.

Jayne Orr: 23:26

We can say, hey, let's send that container a different direction so that it doesn't get held up. And so, between technology, with AI and with, you know, gps, we're able to, you know, offer that. The other thing, too, with with um, working with offshore, you know, there's a, a lot of um pieces to that, that that our customers don't want to handle, whether it's, whether it's the tariffs or um. You know, just just that whole.

Jamie Irvine: 23:57

International shipping is a complex business Like you have to be a specialist in that alone, and these are your customers. Are specialists at moving freight on land, Right.

Jayne Orr: 24:05

And we've been doing it for years, and so we want to take that hassle out for our customers. Let us handle that offshore portion for you and then you know we have those relationships with the offshore suppliers and they don't have to worry and they come with the same backing of all our products. We're going to stand behind those products, Right.

Jamie Irvine: 24:29

So give me an example or tell me a story about a recent customer that you know of that you know Acura was able to step in and provide a solution Like what was the situation and how did it all turn out?

Jayne Orr: 24:40

I mean, right now, the trailer industry is a little bit slow, and so we had a customer come to us and they said, hey, I received an order, but I'm going to need some products shipped in from offshore. I'm going to need it quickly and, you know, can you meet these timelines? And we were able to jump through the hoops and, you know, using, you know, accurate global tracking, we were able to get the products in in time and they were able to deliver the trailers. So so, with a shorter lead time, you don't have the long backlogs that they had before. We're able to react quickly.

Jamie Irvine: 25:11

Right, and that is significant because, especially when times are a little tougher, like they've been over the last few months, like for your customer, that sale was an important sale and that had a positive impact on their business. So you leveraging that on their behalf brings so much more value than just the high quality product that was also delivered.

Jayne Orr: 25:29

Correct, yep. Yeah, that's fantastic.

Jamie Irvine: 25:31

If there's just one thing you want people to remember about Acuraid, what's that one thing?

Jayne Orr: 25:37

Well, one thing is and I hear this all the time is when I've talked to customers like we just don't have any trouble with your products, and that is something that all of us at Acuraid, you know, love to hear. Right, we have a reliable product. They just don't have to worry about it. They know they're getting good quality and you know. So that's something that we're all super proud of.

Jamie Irvine: 25:58

We don't have any problems with you is probably one of the highest praises, you can get in the trucking industry.

Jayne Orr: 26:03

I love hearing it Absolutely.

Jamie Irvine: 26:06

You've been listening to the Heavy Duty Parts Report. My name is Jamie Irvin and I've been with Jane Orr, the Senior VP of Sales of the Americas at Accuride. If you want to learn more about Accuride, visit AccurideCorpcom. Links are in the show notes. And, Jane, thank you so much for taking time.

Jayne Orr: 26:21

Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you so much, appreciate it.

Jamie Irvine: 26:25

Well, that brings us to the conclusion of this episode. In this episode, we focused on heavy duty parts solutions that are solving specific problems for fleets and owner operators alike. Make sure you head over to heavydutypartsreportcom, Click the follow button, sign up to our weekly email. You get one email a week so you never miss out on our content. If you like listening to the podcast on your podcast player of choice, make sure that you follow us If it gives you the option. A five-star rating and a review really helps us to spread the word. And if you like watching the video version, don't forget to subscribe and click the bell notification on our YouTube channel so that you get all of the new videos that are coming out. Thank you again so much for listening to this episode and, as always, I want to encourage you to be heavy duty.