RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – The Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association, in conjunction with Kotler Marketing Group, have partnered to provide commercial vehicle parts suppliers with resources that will enable them to defend their price and market share, particularly in this challenging economic climate when many find themselves competing against suppliers from lower cost countries.
To help parts suppliers negotiate more effectively in the OEM and Aftermarket, HDMA has scheduled three Defending Price regional workshops, located in the following cities:
Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association announced that Heavy Duty Dialogue will return to the Mirage in Las Vegas on Jan. 18, 2010.
Heavy Duty Dialogue is a business conference developed for executives in the global and domestic commercial vehicle supplier industry, and is traditionally held immediately before Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week.
Several key industry executives talked about the trends they are seeing in the truck market. Kelly Dier, president, Marmon HTC – Berkshire Hathway; Chip McClure, chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president of ArvinMeritor Inc; and Dennis Slagle, president and CEO of Mack Truck, were panelists in a discussion moderated by Stu MacKay, president, MacKay & Co., at Heavy Duty Dialogue ’09.
While McClure said that it is tough to be optimistic in these difficult times, he remains positive. “2009 marks the one hundredth anniversary of our company’s heritage. That’s a lot of ups and downs in a roller-coaster industry. So, as you can well imagine, our company has been through some very difficult times before…even surviving the Great Depression of 1929…but we always pulled through by planning, adjusting and moving forward.”
Although stronger Democratic majorities in Congress and a Democrat in the White House could mean trouble for heavy-duty vehicle suppliers in areas like labor and energy, the new regime might be receptive to suppliers in some areas, says Ann Wilson, vice president of government affairs for the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association. Wilson told attendees of the Heavy Duty Dialogue in Orlando, Fla., that she expects strong support for onboard safety technologies and environmental initiatives that might create greater commercial opportunities for suppliers.
“The election may help advance our issues, but the concern is mandates versus incentives,” Wilson told attendees. MEMA and its heavy-duty unit, the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association, favor tax breaks and other incentives for the installation of safety technologies.
Growth in the Gross Domestic Product likely will be “quite weak” for most of 2009, and even after an expected turn in the second half, growth will be below long-term trends. That is the assessment of William Strauss, senior economist and economic adviser for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Strauss addressed the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association’s Heavy Duty Dialogue on Monday, Feb. 16.
Strauss warned attendees that his news would not be good, saying that “the charts I’m going to put up are kind of scary.” The current recession will be long – potentially 18 to 24 months compared to the average of 11 months. The decline in GDP from beginning to end of the recession likely will be about 1.8 percent, slightly higher than the average 1.4 percent drop. But one of the biggest worries is the job loss, which could reach 3 to 4 percent rather than the 1.6 percent average.
Karmak, Inc., announced it will be demonstrating its new Windows-based software products at the Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week '09 in Orlando next week.
Attendees can visit Karmak at booth #103 to see the ProfitMaster product line, including solutions for managing heavy-duty service operations and service scheduling, viewing essential data in real-time dashboards, creating mobile truck repair or parts orders and receiving parts orders over the Internet.