The Heavy Duty Parts Report
In each episode, Jamie Irvine and his guests have conversations that empower heavy-duty people. They discuss tips, tools, and technology that help heavy-duty parts manufacturers and distributors sell the right parts to fleets, repair shops, and truck operators.
The Heavy Duty Parts Report
Inside HDAW 2026: The Show That Sets the Tone for the Heavy-Duty Industry
Episode 361: In this immersive episode of The Heavy Duty Parts Report, Jamie Irvine takes listeners inside HDAW 2026 in Grapevine, Texas — the premier annual event that sets the tone for the heavy‑duty aftermarket industry.
Jamie tours the venue, speaks with the three associations that co‑own the show, and uncovers the scale of the event. Through conversations with show organizers, distributors, and suppliers, the episode highlights the importance of collaboration, relationship‑building, and face‑to‑face meetings that drive strategic decisions for the year ahead.
Additional interviews with industry leaders showcase how HDAW fosters learning, innovation, problem‑solving, and even major announcements. The episode reinforces HDAW as the industry’s “family reunion,” where community, networking, and business growth converge to shape the year.
Links
· MEMA.org
· CVSN.org
· PowertrainPlusTruckParts.com
Sponsors of this Episode
The Hub Corp: Introducing the new standard in wheel-end protection: The Hub Corp's revolutionary XTRACTOR™. The only line of heavy-duty hub caps with a built-in 3-Stage Magnetic Oil Filter that safeguards critical axle components under extreme loads for longer. And with the patent-pending HexThread™ cartridge, the XTRACTOR makes hub oil servicing and inspections faster, easier, and cleaner. The Hub Corp: Challenge The Standard. Visit TheHubCorp.com to learn more and join the waitlist.
Fullbay: Fullbay is built for the heavy-duty world, giving your operation the tools to keep your fleet or independent repair shop running. Features like streamlined scheduling, real-time inventory tracking, technician efficiency insights, and detailed reports are how Fullbay helps shops reduce downtime and keep your vehicles on the road where they belong. Check out Fullbay.com/power to maximize your shop’s productivity.
GenAlpha: Equip360 by GenAlpha helps manufacturers and distributors grow their parts sales and make life easier for their customers. With real-time insights into inventory, pricing, and order tracking, it keeps customers coming back. Plus, it saves time by automating routine tasks and making repeat purchases simple. Explore Equip360 at GenAlpha.com.
Disclaimer: This content and description may contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, The Heavy Duty Parts Report may receive a commission.
Follow the podcast to never miss an episode. If you'd like to work with Jamie Irvine directly, you can schedule a meeting with him today.
Jamie Irvine
Welcome to The Heavy Duty Parts Report. My name is Jamie Irvine. I'm in Grapevine, Texas at HDAW, Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week. This is an awesome show. If you haven't been to HDAW before, I highly encourage you to put it on your calendar for next year. In my opinion, this is the show that sets the tone in heavy-duty parts for the entire year. This episode is going to be an immersive experience for you where we're going to really showcase the entire show. I'm going to give you an opportunity to speak to the owners of the show and get a behind the scenes look. I'm going to show you the exhibition center. You're going to be able to see where all the suppliers come to showcase their great products. And we're going to get the chance to talk to distributors who attend with the purpose of coming here to, again, set the tone for the entire year. Now, in addition to HDAW each year, there is something called HDAD. It's the Heavy-Duty Aftermarket Dialogue. Now I attended that yesterday. It's a complete one day, full day, jam-packed with one presentation after another, giving deep analysis of what's happening in the industry. I took copious amounts of notes, and I'm going to share that with you in an upcoming episode. But in this episode, you're going to get to see behind the scenes at what happens at HDAW. And to start, I just wanted to show you a little bit of the convention center. This is a beautiful facility. We're very lucky to be here. Let's walk through the atrium now. As you can see, there's a lot to see. I absolutely love staying here for HDAW. Just a gorgeous place. And it is Texas after all, so if you mess with the bull, you're definitely going to get the horns. I just love this facility. It is so amazing. There's all these little cool things to see. For example, just a little saloon right in the middle of the atrium. One thing you have to be really careful of when you're at the show there's a place called the Silver Bar. Awesome to have a lot of fun at night, but if you're not careful, you'll feel it in the morning. And as you're walking around the atrium, there's cool little places to explore. Check it out down here. Not really sure where this goes, just a little walkway. They actually have a replica of the Alamo in this atrium. Like how cool is that? So your stay is going to be beautiful, you're going to enjoy the facility, but really at the end of the day it's about the people. So once you get booked into your hotel, you get yourself settled, you'll want to go down and register for the show and then you're going to want to check out everything this show has to offer. I've got some special people to introduce you to that are integral in making HDAW a success. So I can't wait to have this conversation. Shannon, we're at HDAW, finally. So much work went into being here. Can you, for our audience, just explain, first of all, who you are, and the organization that you represent.
Shannon O'Brien
Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Jamie. My name is Shannon O'Brien. I'm Senior Director of Commercial Vehicle Programming and Strategy at MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers. MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers solely represents suppliers to the mobility industry, representing both commercial vehicles and automotive, and I represent the commercial vehicle side. And we are one-third show owners of HDAW.
Jamie Irvine
Okay, perfect. Well, that is a lot to absorb. And I think that the perspective that MEMA brings representing, aftermarket suppliers, vehicle manufacturers, it truly does add a level to this show. The level of insight, for example, that was at the dialogue yesterday. I mentioned that earlier in the video. I mean, that was just an incredible day of presentation. So I know that you and your organization do a lot to make this a success, but like you said, only one third. So who else are we talking to? Kristen, you're another third. Could you tell our audience who you are and the organization that you represent?
Kristen Kellogg
Yes, good morning. I'm Kristen Kellogg. I'm Vice President of Government Relations and Operations for CVSN. CVSN, our Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network, represents the entire aftermarket industry, from the suppliers to the distributors. to the business service providers, the entire industry ecosystem.
Jamie Irvine
And it's great to have that holistic kind of perspective because every one of those players in the supply chain are critical to make this great industry functional. So, okay, that's fantastic. So we are two-thirds of the way through our introductions. Let's go and find out who the person who completes this group is. Okay, so completing our introductions. Ted, can you let our audience know who you are, the organization you represent?
Ted Hughes
Absolutely, Jamie. Thanks for being here. First of all, my name is Ted Hughes. I am the executive director of the Aftermarket Warehouse Distributors Association, a community of the Auto Care Association. The Auto Care Association, as you mentioned, one-third owner here at HDAW. And we represent, advocate for, and safeguard businesses from anybody that makes parts, sells parts, or install parts to fix cars, trucks, commercial vehicles. the entire motor vehicle industry.
Jamie Irvine
Awesome. Awesome. All right. So now how did this occur that there were three organizations? Let's talk to Shannon about that. She's going to explain how three organizations came to own the show and to bring it to the industry.
Shannon O'Brien
So HDAW is in, I believe, its 20th year this year. So we're very happy to celebrate that. Like we talked about, it's owned by three separate associations. We've always jointly owned the show. HDAW was brought together by consolidating 11 separate industry events.
Jamie Irvine
So you can imagine with 11 separate events, the amount of work that would have gone in to try to make all of that functional. And now we have this one great event. And I've said this for a number of years, HDAW is the show that sets the tone for your entire year. And so if you haven't been coming, I really think you should come. And we're going to take some time now to show you what goes into making this show such a success. Okay, so we are just where people come in to register for the show. Shannon, can you give our viewers a bit of an idea of the scope of the facility and the people that are attending?
Shannon O'Brien
Sure, yes. With the conference center at the beautiful Gaylord Texan, we utilize over 143,000 square feet of exhibitor space. We have 324 exhibitor suppliers this year, including 23 brand new exhibiting suppliers this year. We completely, once again, sold out the show floor.
Jamie Irvine
That's awesome. And I know I've been attending since 2020 and I just seem, it just feels to me like this has grown and grown and grown despite some really challenging times. You think of the COVID era and it really feels great to be back to that, what it was kind of pre-COVID and then to also see overall it feels like the show is growing.
Shannon O'Brien
Yes, absolutely. We continue to, like I said, to sell out the show floor. Another reason why we are really excited to expand and grow the show to new locations in a couple of years.
Jamie Irvine
That’s exciting. So Kristen, we were just talking to Shannon about the scope of the facility, but what about the people who are attending? Can you give us any indication of how many people are actually on the show?
Kristen Kellogg
Yeah, absolutely. This year we're topping at over 3,000 attendees. And from a distributor's perspective, we have 140 distributor companies. This really starts their year off great. You know, I used to join the show or attend the show as a distributor, and it was the the show of the year to really kick your year off with these suppliers. So as we continue to grow and make those connections, this is the show. So it's really great to grow year over year when it comes to distributors.
Jamie Irvine
Ted, we were just talking to Shannon and Kristen about the suppliers, about the attendees. Can you talk to me about, in addition to the exhibition where this gives the suppliers the opportunity to showcase what they've got to distributors, there's another component to the show that is extremely important to both suppliers and distributors. What is that and how does that work?
Ted Hughes
Yeah, as you've talked about, Jamie, about getting here, I mean, the mission is if you're in the heavy-duty commercial vehicle industry, you need to be here. And we've talked about the exhibitor space, and we've talked about the attendees, but the other huge component that's very valuable for anybody that comes is the one-on-one meetings. And this week we will be hosting over 2,200 individual one-on-one meetings between suppliers and distributors. And that having that kind of networking opportunity where in one space you will meet as a distributor, you will meet your biggest suppliers, and as a supplier, you'll meet your best customers. Because we do that all-in-one space. It's a huge, efficient time and money saver.
Jamie Irvine
It is, and I've participated both from the supplier perspective and the distributor perspective, working with clients, working with companies I've been a part of. And I can tell you that it's a brief conversation, but it's where the action is. It's where decisions are made that impact your entire year. It's where reviews are done and where the relationship solidifies so that supplier and distributor can really set the tone for the year. And that's why I continue to say that HDAW is the place that really sets the tone for your entire year. So you really need to attend.
Ted Hughes
And over the years, the quality of the meetings has grown so much. The preparation on both the suppliers and the distributor side has been exponentially greater than what it was before. And so Yeah, there's always going to be the opening of the meeting, how are the kids? How's everything going? But when it gets time to get down to the business, everybody has the preparation done and the statistics and the numbers in front of them to really get to the bottom and make the most out of that time together. And we do it 2,200 times this year or this week.
Jamie Irvine
So we're in the exhibition hall now, and I'd like to know kind of the overall structure. How does it work, what, like how many people, it's one thing to say the total number, but to get our heads around the actual scope of this?
Shannon O'Brien
Yes, so you're looking at a completely sold out show floor. Once again, we have all kinds of booths everywhere from the smaller 10 by 10s to our two largest booths are 2,000 square feet each. And we are open, the show floor is open over 2 days at HDAW. We provide plenty of time for our distributors to walk and speak to everybody that they need to speak to at the show and just make sure they have plenty of networking time on the show floor.
Ted Hughes
And structurally, you have in addition to the networking time that Shannon's talking about, you have the way it's set up is great. Like right now, as you look around, you don't see people walking around. It doesn't mean that the show floor is open right now and there's nobody here. Right now, it's one-on-one meetings. We do not cross one-on-one meetings with show space. And that has been very successful and all the attendees over the years have been overwhelmingly positive in the way that it's structured where one-on-one time is separate from exhibit floor time. And there's really dynamic marketing and promotion on both sides.
Kristen Kellogg
When you attend as a distributor and those events are spaced out, the show floor and the one-on-ones, it really allows you time to process the information that you had and do those follow-ups with those suppliers. If you have a one-on-one today and you really want to follow up with them, you have that show time tomorrow to reconnect with those folks. So it's always a thought and a consideration how the show is structured.
Shannon O'Brien
So brand new this year at HCAW, we have Of an HDW app, it allows you to see an interactive map of the shelf floor. You can select the suppliers that you want to meet with. You can tap on their booths and get more information about them, and it's all right on your fingertips. So, we are very excited about this.
Jamie Irvine
Okay, so... I wanted to better understand what it takes to put this show on from a perspective of your staff and all of the people that work diligently behind the scenes to make this show a success. Because for us, we get to show up, it's ready, everything is so well organized, we get to enjoy all of that. What actually does it take to make this event so successful?
Ted Hughes
It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, Jamie. We already established we have three owners behind the show. But beyond the owners, we have valuable partners that from WT Glasgow, that is the show management company, to even here at the Gaylord Texan, working with the food and beverages staff and the exhibit team here to make the event as seamless as possible, not to mention the three associations presenting, owning and presenting the show. There are dozens of people working behind the scenes all year round to make it the reality that it is every January.
Kristen Kellogg
Again, I think it's great to highlight all of the statistics, but I just want to bring to the forefront that these three associations... really work year round and collaborate very well and have input in every portion of the program to make sure that we are serving our members, whether that's a distributor or a supplier. And that continuous collaboration just, again, continues year over year. And it's just really great to highlight that we all work really well together. And that the love for this and the knowing the importance of this show really comes through when we get here because of that collaboration.
Jamie Irvine
We need to continue to expand and grow as an industry that is so important. And shows like this, really there's no other show like this, but this show is so integral to supporting the industry. What are the plans for growth in the future? If I understand correctly, if you've never been to Grapevine, Texas to HDAW at this location, 2027 is an important year. Why is that?
Shannon O'Brien
Well 2027 is actually going to be our last year here at the Gaylord Texan. We love the Gaylord Texan. It serves this event extremely well. But as you've heard a couple of times, we keep selling it out, which is a great challenge to have. So in 2028, we're actually going to be picking up, moving to Kansas City, I think the attendees here today and the new attendees we'll see will absolutely love it. We'll have a brand new big convention center to host this event. And we are extremely excited.
Jamie Irvine
Yeah, I'm really excited for that because I've had a couple of clients who are like, is there anything you could do to help me get into the show? And I was like, I'm sorry, I told you to try to book this well in advance. Because it does, how quickly does it sell out?
Shannon O'Brien
By November.
Jamie Irvine
By November? Yeah. So, okay, so that gives you a bit of insight into where the show is going. Just by way of conclusion, thank you so much to all three of you for, first of all, welcoming The Heavy Duty Parts Report to this show, but also for just everything your organizations do to support our industry. Shannon, if there's just one thing you want people to remember about HDAW, what's that one thing?
Shannon O'Brien
I think the theme is collaboration and community and keeping that spirit alive.
Jamie Irvine
As my mentor taught me nearly 30 years ago when I first entered the industry, he said, Jamie, the heavy-duty parts industry, the trucking industry, it's a people industry, always has been, always will be.
Kristen Kellogg
It's a family reunion of sorts every January. You come together and have that collaboration.
Jamie Irvine
Yeah, I know, it's true. I think you more commonly will see people hugging than you will see them shaking hands.
Ted Hughes
That's exactly right. And for me, Jamie, the one thing is that everything that you want is here. Whether it's training, whether it's networking, whether it's education, whether it's product information, new products, technology in the industry, it's all here this week. And this is the epicenter of the heavy-duty commercial vehicle industry for a full week.
Jamie Irvine
All right, well, we're all busy. We got to get back to the show. Make sure you come next year in 2027.
It's time to hear from our sponsors. We'll be right back.
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We're back from our break. Make sure you go and check out the links in our show notes to all of our sponsors. OK, let's get back to this episode.
I had the opportunity to sit down with both distributors and suppliers to discuss their viewpoint of this incredible show. And I think you're going to learn a lot about what occurs at the show, which reinforces what we heard from the show owners. Now, in this episode, you're going to hear from John Ferry, who's co-founder of Powertrain Plus Truck Parts, and Jake Nobles, who's a parts director now at East Texas Truck Center. On the supplier side, we talked to Matt Forner, from Grote and Brett Delp from ACC Heavy Duty. These individuals have attended this show for many years. They really know what they're talking about. And I think it'll be good for you if you haven't been to HDAW before to hear their perspective so you can understand what you can get out of attending this show. Listen in to my conversations with John, Jake, Matt and Brett.
And we are in HDAW 2026 in Grapevine, Texas again, the show that really kicks off the entire year. And I'm really excited to talk to some people who have, played an important role at the show, but more importantly, to give you the perspective of like, why would you come to HDAW? And in order for us to get that story, we need to talk to both distributors and suppliers.
John Ferry
Yeah, our company is Powertrain Plus Truck Parts and Service.
Jake Nobles
Yeah, it's my first year here as a distributor. So it's kind of fun to be on the other side and be the one catered to and not doing all the catering for sure. Yeah, I mean, it kind of kicks off the year, right? It's like you got the energy of the new year. You got the energy of seeing a lot of your industry friends, whether it's on the distribution side or the supplier side or whatever side you find. But it definitely kind of kicks the year off for sure.
Jamie Irvine
When you come to HDAW, especially in the role that you're in now and the perspective that you have now, what importance would you put on this show, kind of setting the tone for the year?
John Ferry
This is the greatest show on truck parts earth. I mean this show, you are surrounded by the best of the best. It's like going to the Hall of Fame and they're all alive. But the fact is that if you come out to HDAW with a desire to learn and you interact with people that have been doing this for a long time, you can learn greatly. Even myself, after 46 years, I can tell you that every show I come to, I learn something new.
Jake Nobles
This is the show where you can do, you can figure out anything you want to do in heavy-duty. You know, the energy's good. It's a good, it's again, we talked about it being kind of kick off of the year. But I mean, if you're looking for a job, if you're looking to start a company, get involved with a company, buy a company, sell a company, buy part, sell part, whatever you want to do with the industry can happen to this show. So it's, you know, it is the one show. If there was one show in a year I would come to, it would be this one, just because the capabilities that come out of it are, it's whatever you want to do. You can make the show whatever you want to make out of it.
Jamie Irvine
As a distributor, when you're attending the show, there's a couple key features of the show that you can take advantage of. And one is what they call a one-on-one meeting. And this is that's something that has kind of evolved over time, and I think it's become a really important part of the HDAW experience. But as a distributor, when you're having these one-on-one meetings with suppliers, what's your objective? What are you looking to get out of it? How does that go for you? Why is that even important?
John Ferry
Well, I really think that the one-on-one meetings are the best part of HDAW, because it's a chance for...
Jamie Irvine
Besides the time at the Silver Bar.
John Ferry
Oh, that's first. But being able to be face-to-face with a supplier that either you have a relationship with or you're thinking about having a relationship with, even though it's only 30 or thirty-five minutes, being able to learn about the product and actually have a face that you... can attribute to the voice, very, very powerful.
Jamie Irvine
Yeah, and I think I've been in one-on-one meetings on both sides of that table, like you have, and I think for me that time is, to your point, you're deepening the relationship, you're looking at some very key important metrics, and you're advancing the relationship to further your ability to accomplish your purpose, which is to take care of people in the trucking industry. So, it's a real honorable thing that you're involved in. And sometimes those conversations, like be honest, like let's be honest here, sometimes those conversations are not all peachy keen and everybody's happy to see everybody, but it also is an opportunity to have face-to-face time to address any issues that may be there. And a lot of times it's 30, 35 minutes, but you can actually set things up in a way that you're solving that problem and you're able to move beyond it. And then the rest of the year you can do business together and things are good. Has that been your experience?
John Ferry
You know, if I have a chance to have a conversation where there's a conflict, it gets resolved most of the time very, very easily. When you're bouncing emails and back and forth, the problem with emails is you can't understand the tone and maybe some of the content of what you're saying isn't there. But to be able to talk to someone face to face, if you have a conflict, and it doesn't have to be a conflict, maybe it's an opportunity, but the one-on-one meetings are dynamic.
Jake Nobles
I think that's a great question because I think most guys on the distribution side don't set an objective. And so having been on the supplier side, a lot of them can kind of be a dog and pony show. Here's who we were, who's here we are today. And it's like, you know, as myself as a distributor, it's more about today than tomorrow. Right? So it's more about finding out the program information. What can you supply me? How quickly can you get it to me? And kind of have that kind of figured out. And sometimes it's a wild card with some of the guys you get paired up with for the meetings. But I think if you go into it with an objective, you'll get more out of it. If you're just going to just kind of hear them out, you might get to learn some suppliers that you've never heard of or never really kind of known what they do or how well they do it. So, but if you go in with an objective, it's like anything else here, the more you put into it, the more you're going to get out of it.
Jamie Irvine
So the other big reason we come together is to give the suppliers the opportunity to showcase what they are selling. So when you and your partner are walking around the exhibit hall over the next couple days, what's the objective? What are you looking for? What do you want to see from suppliers?
John Ferry
We're thinking about our customers. And one of the things that we and many people want to do is provide solutions, unique solutions. And when we walk up to a booth, the first thing I'm thinking is, what would my customers say about this product? And is this product really a solution that maybe they don't know about? But the fact is, it's not a commodity, and it's something that may benefit them in the overall goal of keeping their trucks up and running. So that's what we're thinking about.
Jamie Irvine
Yeah, and like in the dialogue yesterday with one of the presentations they did, they had this panel of fleets represented by owners and executives and people involved in maintenance. And I thought it was interesting, their perspective. They said, look, we want to learn about new things that we, because you don't know what you don't know. So we want to learn about new things. We want to understand the return on investment, what I have to spend, and when I'm going to get that ROI. So I know whenever I was walking the floor from a distributor perspective, I was thinking through that lens, like if I could learn something and take that back to my customers. then I've succeeded. And I think that's why the exhibit and the one-on-ones are needed, because it's two kind of different conversations that you have, right?
John Ferry
Yeah, and the part, the point that you make about training and letting the fleets know and the shops know, that's so huge. And we decided when Power Train Plus was formed that we were going to do 2 training sessions a year.
Jake Nobles
So for us, we've gotten really not hyper niche, but we've gotten really good with trailer parts, right? So there's a couple things I'm looking for specifically that suppliers can offer to differentiate from our current business or from what guys in the marketplace are doing. So kind of again, kind of coming in with a specific objective, sometimes just wandering around and kind of seeing who's here? What's here? What's the new stuff? It's always fun to see what the new widget of the day is, right? But coming in and kind of figuring for me, looking at specific things on trailer parts, if guys will private label, you know, as we start to increase our footprint, can we leverage that for buying power to get somebody to private label and that way we're not competing against other brands in the marketplace? So keeping it kind of tight. It is the first one as a distributor. So not wanting to just come in and have a free-for-all, especially knowing a lot of people here. It's half the show is going to be catching up with buddies and not getting the time to kind of go and hammer down on those objectives. So kept it kind of light, you know, wanting to enjoy being here because the show is a ton of fun. But I want to make sure that some business does get done and justify the expense of it too.
Jamie Irvine
So let's be honest here. At these shows, there's another facet to us spending time together. There are receptions. There's going for dinner. There's having a drink at the Silver Bar. And if you ever come to the show, you'll know exactly what that is once you get down there about 8 pm. Do you think that time contributes to your overall mission and the objectives that you have at the show?
John Ferry
Yeah, I do. You know, we really are one big fraternity. Everybody here, whether they're on the supplier side or on the distributor side, they're all focused on improving their businesses and satisfying their customers. And I can tell you this, I have a whole book to write about some of the stories at the Silver Bar. And it's okay to have some fun, but it really does serve that purpose of developing relationships. in my case, for many, many years.
Jamie Irvine
So we're going to continue the conversation about the value of HDAW. And to do that, I think we have to also have the supplier's perspective. So with me, I have a representative of a supplier, Grote. Most of you are very familiar with that company. Could you just introduce yourself, your name, your title, your role at Grote?
Matt Forner
Yeah, Matt Forner, Grote Industries, director of aftermarket sales. So I've actually been with the company going on 33 years. So only company within the industry right out of school.
Jamie Irvine
That being said, if you've been with the company that long, like how many years have you been to HDAW?
Matt Forner
Oh, it's been at least 25 years that I've been coming.
Jamie Irvine
Could you just tell our audience, who are you working for? What role are you playing? And just give us a little background on the company.
Brett Delp
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm currently with ACC Heavy Duty and they're a division of Multi-Part Solutions. So Multi-Parts acquired ACC in end of 2023. So they're, they've been in the heavy-duty space since about 83. Right now, a lot of, call it cab components, so bumpers, grills, forward lighting, chrome accessories on, you know, on the wheel and things like that.
Jamie Irvine
How many times have you been to HDAW in one capacity or another?
Brett Delp
So I've been coming since 2018. So this is, I think I had one year off in my gap year, so 7th year this year. So yeah. I really look forward to coming every year.
Jamie Irvine
So, okay, so from a supplier's perspective, when you go into the one-on-one meetings, what does that look like? Give us a, if we were a fly on the wall, what would we see?
Matt Forner
Well, from our company, you'll see a lot of detail, a lot of data. We take a lot of time to make sure the meetings are beneficial to not only the customer, but to us as well. So we talk about things that we want to move forward. You know, how do we grow? You know, how do we change things that maybe aren't happening the way both companies think they should. So there's a lot of prep that goes into that. Our sales force all contributes to that because obviously they're the feet on the street, you know, servicing the customer on a regular basis along with the management team. So we spend a lot of time and we go through the one-on-ones. We practice and we get ready for it because it's, we don't want to waste our customers' time and we want to make it as impactful as possible.
Jamie Irvine
For your company, been around since ‘83, but with this new ownership and a new focus and an expanding portfolio, how has that changed the way that you approach the one-on-one meetings and really going into HDAW 26, how important were the one-on-one meetings to your strategy?
Brett Delp
You know, it allows us to really align our focus on what we're trying to do with working with the fleets on finding solutions. I think it's super important for us to see what our customers need from us as we are, kind of building the ACC heavy-duty brand. It's been around, but it's kind of repurposed now with two family-owned companies merging together the synergies. And, you know, with the private equity funding, we have a lot more ability and versatility to get scrappy in this market and solve problems. So, you know, I think it's key for us to have the one-on-ones get feedback, what do they need from us to take care of their customers and what we're working on to make sure that we're all on the same page going to the market.
Jamie Irvine
What do you think about the value of that face-to-face as opposed to like a Teams meeting?
Matt Forner
Being able to meet somebody face-to-face and actually see kind of that body language and shake their hand and look them straight in the eye, that's a difference maker. When you're there in front of the customer and you're both genuinely trying to move whatever program or point forward, it makes a difference. And you get things done a lot better, I think, with that one-on-one value.
Jamie Irvine
So, I mean, that's a lot to pack into 35 minutes.
Brett Delp
Yeah, it is. ultimately, a lot of them are, running over and people want to, have more time, but, it's impactful. It's a very busy couple days. You know, it's a long week, but hearing, sitting through some of the meetings, hearing what action items we had from last year's meetings and what we've done, you know, this far, and and going into this year and 26 and years beyond, really just allows us to listen to the customer and get that valuable feedback in person.
Jamie Irvine
So, okay, let's move on to when we're exhibiting. So from a supplier's perspective, you've come to this show, you've made an investment in it to be able to showcase your products. What goes into that from kind of behind the scenes to prepare so that when you're there on the show floor and customers are walking by, you can have meaningful conversations?
Matt Forner
And that's part of our planning process as well. So we have a really good marketing team back in Madison, Indiana. And our team actually up and we have a marketing team in Toronto and our Canadian company up there. So we both integrate together. And so we go through what this show is about, what we want to get accomplished, what products we want to highlight, what segments we want to highlight. And then we build the booth. As a matter of fact, this year's booth is a little bit special. We actually have one of our new show trucks that we just launched within the last few weeks, we actually have that show truck in the booth. And it's a full demo of all our products, from our lighting to our warning and hazard to our accessory program. So we can walk people around the booth and light up the world and show them exactly what we're talking about. So there's a lot of time that's put into not only the one-on-ones, but what we're what we're showing in the show to booth.
Brett Delp
You can show a catalog or show a presentation and show the parts in, you know, the one-on-one meetings, but I think out there on the show floor, you really get to showcase the product, the quality. And also the diversification. I think, as we brand the ACC Heavy Duty from American Chrome Company, I had some conversations like, oh, you guys do a lot more than chrome. And that's the whole point. We get to show our forward lighting, our bumpers, our grills, our not chrome parts. So, it really kind of gets, showcases our product development capabilities and, beyond, that existing portfolio and where we're going with the ACC Heavy Duty brand.
Jamie Irvine
What kind of thought goes into, again, selecting, like, how are we going to teach people what they need to know? Because they're going to come to our booth. We got them for maybe 5 minutes, right? How do you do that?
Matt Forner
It's talking about it with the people that are going to be in the booth beforehand, right? And say, hey, here's our game plan. When someone comes in, we want to talk to them about this because quite honestly, if you don't have things structured right, not only in the booth, but the one-on-ones, you could spend 15, 20 minutes just chit-chatting and waste all your time.
Jamie Irvine
Right. And then when you're spending time throughout the show, we've talked about the hallway meetings that happen. You run into someone, you know, the time spent just away from even the show, just having dinner with people. What's the value of that to your company as you come to this show? You know, you have these distinct times where you're strategic in the one-on-one ones, educational in the exhibit space, and then you have time with people to build relationships. How important is that to you?
Brett Delp
It's huge. You're connecting on a personal level. You know, I myself have a six month old at home, so a lot of life changes. So you get to connect with people on a personal level, and it's really like a, you know, reunion. You're kind of seeing the old friendships and creating new friendships and coming here and getting that face-to-face time with customers is just invaluable. And you get the dinners, you get the drinks. Yeah, it's long, exhausting days, but it's a very effective use of time. The first week, a couple of weeks of the year, you're really excited and you kind of leave here recharged and revamped for the year ahead.
Jamie Irvine
So a manufacturer of Grote’s size has a lot of responsibilities throughout the year to participate in a number of different shows. How do you rank HDAW when you think about your year and you think about the calendar of all the travel you're going to have to do, like where does HDAW rank as maybe importance for the year?
Matt Forner
Yeah, HDAW on our heavy-duty side, because we play in both the automotive and the heavy-duty markets, but on the heavy-duty side, HDAW is the number one show for us. This is our biggest event of the year, the granddaddy of them all where everybody is at that show. And that's kind of the neat thing over my career and since I've been coming here is it's moved a little bit from just only independents to the whole industry. Everybody's here. Everybody has good interaction back and forth. It's truly a place where people can come together, have good conversations, and move the dialogue forward.
Jamie Irvine
I also think that HDAW, positioned at the beginning of the year like it is, it has the ability, if you put in the time and the effort to make it this, but it has the ability to set the tone for the entire year.
Brett Delp
Yeah, it's not, it's certainly not time wasted. You know, some people get here on Sunday and there's meeting Sunday and then, you know, dialogue on Monday and you spend the rest of the week, you know, really just focusing on the human capital and we're all here working together to keep trucks moving and keep the economy going and ultimately you want to try to influence it as much as possible. We can help, fleets with their bottom line and total cost of ownership and, keeping trucks on the road and building solutions together. It's people that get that done. It's not, machines or the trucks themselves. So, it's a valuable week.
Jamie Irvine
It was great to hear from distributors and suppliers and get their perspective of why HDAW is such an important show if you're in the heavy-duty parts industry. One of the other things that occurs at HDAW is announcements. Earlier in the episode, you heard the announcement of the relocation of the show in 2028 from Texas to Kansas City. I had the opportunity to stop by the Alliant Power booth where they announce at the show that they had made a significant acquisition. Listening to my conversation with the folks at Alliant Power. So we're at HCAW ‘26 at the Alliant Power booth and here to talk about an exciting announcement that was recently made to help me with that, Jeff. Yeah, how's it going? It's good to see you. Long day on the show floor, but you guys made a big announcement. What was the announcement?
Jeff Decarlis
We did, yeah. We're taking that big leap into the engine space and kind of after this for a few years, trying to figure out, hey, our customers really want a fully integrated solution. Our wheelhouse is parts, OEM genuine components, and we've been, for the last couple of years, we've been building what we call the total package and more and more kits. And this test is just kind of the ultimate package, right? It's the engine, the long block, but all the OEM-related components in the box. And we're excited to announce here, after working on this for a good while, that we've acquired Capital Reman out of Denver, Colorado. It's a good step for us. We're building somewhere around 700, 800 engines a year. We're going to expand that, obviously, multiply that with some of our customers we're bringing on board. But the most important piece of this is we're just bringing a whole lot more value to the customer base and really the aftermarket. We feel like there's a little bit of, we're a really high-quality engine offering in the aftermarket, and sometimes in Alliant Power, we say, hey, we're kind of like the other OE. You know, we put OEM parts in the box for less, right? Yeah, and this is what we're going to try to do with engines. Try to get customers where you don't have to pick price. We want to do middle, we want to drive a whole lot of value and put in a great package with all of the Virginia parts. So we're really excited about the acquisition.
Jamie Irvine
That's really exciting. So that acquisition took place this month or last?
Jeff Decarlis
December 31st. It was, yeah. So this is the very first month out of the gate. And the team's excited. We all took a whole crew of ours out to Denver just a week or two ago and made the announcement. We're integrating the sales organizations together. And it's super exciting. I mean, they're excited. excited. Culturally and sort of missions, these guys are on an 11-year mission to build the greatest engine in the market. They want to get there. It kind of needed some horsepower to get there. We were able to fill that gap. And then we were able to bring the parts to the table. That just made it a perfect marriage.
Jamie Irvine
That's another reason you got to come to HDAW because you get to learn all these awesome things that are going on in the industry. Thanks, Jeff. Really appreciate it. Appreciate it. Talk to you soon. This brings this immersive episode covering my attendance at HDAW 2026 to a close. I hope that you enjoyed it. If you are listening right now in your car or in your headphones, you really won't get the full experience unless you see all the visuals that we captured. So I encourage you to head over to YouTube or heavydutypartsreport.com, click the video button, and you'll be able to see all of the video that I took while at the show. It'll really give you a feeling of what it's like to attend, and I hope to see you at HDAW 2027 in Grapevine, Texas. As always, I'd like to end this episode by encouraging you to be heavy duty.