Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/846064
22 commercial carrier journal | july 2017 Mack expects truck sales to flourish for rest of 2017 M ack remains focused and bullish about 2017 despite its concerns over what it calls "bureaucratic mismanage- ment" on behalf of the Trump administration. Mack executives, led by company president Dennis Slagle, pointed out to reporters solid performances in critical areas such as inventory reduction, service with improved uptime and mDrive's take rate. Business may get even better if President Trump does his part to improve key U.S. policies, according to Slagle, who's also an executive vice president at Volvo Group, Mack's parent company. "We're hoping to get back on the agenda that we think can be helpful to the market — things like infrastructure, deregulation and overall business-friendly policies," Slagle told reporters last month in Charleston, S.C., during Mack's "Born to Haul" press event. Slagle said Mack has been enjoying momentum in the first quarter during what he calls a more organized market keyed by inventory reduction. "We, like everyone else, were caught with too-high inven- tories," he said. "e peak in the industry was October 2015. I think everybody in the industry, including Mack, has been successful in reducing that inventory down to — let's call it — a healthy level. We can now look forward to the factories building toward the demand rather than the factories building less be- cause people are trying to reduce inventory. at part is evening out. I think all manufacturers are looking at some sort of ramp- up to adjust to true market conditions." Slagle, whose prior job was chief executive officer of Volvo Construction Equipment North America, said he was surprised to learn that vehicle uptime was not a priority when he joined Mack in 2008. "We have taken steps to become a market leader in the way we approach the management of uptime and helping customers through minimized downtime," he said. Jonathan Randall, Mack's senior vice president of North American sales, confirmed that increased truck and service performance monitoring through geofencing and Mack's proprietary telematics program, GuardDog Connect, has been reducing truck downtime. "We have north of 55,000 trucks connected right now," Randall said. "ey've done good work with our 91 certified Uptime Centers. e average repair is only several hours long. e average downtime for a truck had been about four days because of the way shops would run their business. We've taken that downtime and cut it in half to about two days downtime for that average repair." Randall said he was pleased with Mack's ongoing dominance in the construction segment and that the company would later re- veal its plans to gain a stronger foothold in the long-haul segment. "I think last year we had what we would consider to be a very strong first quarter 2016 and probably the best quarter we had in 10 years," Randall said. "We were actually able to top that this year with our first quarter. We had a U.S. market share of 10.4 percent in Q1 and a U.S.-Canadian share of 10.1, and that's probably the highest market share that we've seen in over a decade for Mack." Randall said that Mack's success was owed to several factors, including its strength in the vocational market, improved uptime and product enhancement, namely through its mDrive auto- mated manual transmissions that continue to claim additional market share. While Mack's new mDrive was spec'd last year in 20 percent of its trucks, Randall said that number this year "is already at 37 percent penetration and is continuing to grow." Mack dealers also have contributed to the company's current momentum, said John Walsh, Mack's vice president of global marketing and brand management. "ere's been more than half a billion dollars invested by the dealers into the network since 2010 — new facilities, upgraded facilities, more service bays, more technicians — all supportive of this commitment to uptime and keeping customer vehicles where they need to be, which is out on the road generating revenue," Walsh said. Mack itself continues to make investments. "If you go back to 2010, there's been more than $220 million invested between our Lehigh Valley operations and Macungie, where we make all of our trucks for North American export," Walsh said. "Investments in our engine plant in Hagerstown. Investments in PDCs on the parts side. It's a lot of investments that we're making to make sure this momentum we have now sustains itself moving forward." – Tom Quimby Mack will later reveal its plans to gain a stronger foothold in the long-haul segment with its Pinnacle tractor. While Mack's mDrive transmissions were spec'd last year in 20 percent of its trucks, that number this year is already at 37 percent penetration.