Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/91805
Cover Story By Denise L. Rondini, Executive Editor drondini@randallreilly.com Inland Truck Parts Focuses On Its 'A' Game Technology, information and training rule. T oday's aſt ermarket is a very diff erent one than the one Dave Scheer, president and CEO, In- land Truck Parts Co. competed in when he was named Truck Parts & Service Distributor of the Year in 2002. One thing that hasn't changed is Scheer' s desire to have Inland Truck Parts always strive to be its best. Making Information Available Information is a vital component in the company's success. Scheer is actively in- volved in trying to get Right To Repair leg- islation enacted, but his eff orts do not stop there. Recently he assigned a staff member the task of making sure component infor- mation was available at the fi ngertips of all Inland employees. "We are consolidating information into one knowledge database so that at the click of a button the user can get the informa- tion he needs about any component we sell, " he says. For example, if a customer calls about a diff erential, the system will prompt the counterman to ask the customer additional questions about ancillary items he might need such as gaskets, and to give techni- cal information such as required torque specifi cations. "We plan to have everything the inside or outside salesperson needs to do a com- plete job for the customer in our database, Scheer says. He adds, "One of the main things we sell is the knowledge we have. When a customer calls us we need to provide 12 " Dave Scheer knowledge and solutions for his product. We always have done this but now we need to leverage that electronically. " Laser Focus On Training Training is so important at Inland Truck Parts that Scheer invested in having a training facility built. It will have six remanufacturing stations and work stands for diff erentials, manual transmissions and Allison automatic transmissions. Th ere also will be two drive-in service bays and a driveline training areas. "Technicians are diffi cult to fi nd and we fi nd them with diff erent skill levels, so to enhance a person and improve his skill set you need to provide training." However training does not just focus on improving technical skills. "We have a myriad of other people who are supervi- sors and managers who need soſt skills training. How do you discipline? How do you communicate? How do you resolve confl ict? We have provided and will con- tinue soſt skills training," Scheer says. Leveraging Technology To help improve overall effi ciency and support the company's focus on providing complete information to its employees and customers, Inland is moving from a char- acter-based soſt ware system to a graphical system. "Th is will ensure that we have the right computer soſt ware to grow and the TRUCK PARTS & SERVICE | November 2012 capability and scale to meet the growing needs of our company, " Scheer says. Part of the impetus for the switch was that most manufacturers are no longer producing printed catalogs but rather are relying on electronic versions. "Th eir information is on a website that has links, diagrams, photos and videos. You can't eff ectively use those with a character-based system but with a graphi- cal user interface system you can," he says. While Scheer believes Inland could have continued to use its current system for another 10 years, he felt the business would keep getting further behind. "We felt we had to invest in this system so we are prepared to provide customers the information they need moving forward. He adds, "Th e soſt ware package that we " are buying is not a canned system. It is an open system so we can implement what we want. Our philosophy is that we want our computer system to be a tool to augment or facilitate the way we want to do busi- ness. We don't want to shape the way we do business around the capabilities of our computer system." Facilities Refl ect Capabilities Another area where Scheer has made an investment is in his company's facilities. "We are two-thirds of the way to be being done upgrading all our facilities. Th ey are nice, well-lit, professional looking facilities.