The access issue
Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY RICK WEBER
He said the supplier manages a balancing act involving what actual repair information is required versus the idea of sharing intellectual property.
“Intellectual property to a manufacturer is a very dicey area,” he said. “We want to support the vehicles and components we produce, but we need to make sure we don't put information out there that allows people to reverse-engineer products.
“We need to fully realize that ArvinMeritor or any other major company needs to provide technical support to repair facilities. We're a value-added supplier with all our technical expertise and engineering, and it's very possible that we could be supplying this information to a repair garage that is using other components purchased from non-value-added suppliers.
“In many cases, the manufacturers withhold information and try to keep it only to people they have a business relationship with. This is not necessarily unusual in our marketplace and is only a negative when used against a channel or competitive outcome.
“I think this issue will intensify. Service hours will continue to increase dramatically over the next five years, and fleets continue to outsource service. All sectors of the service repair market have the opportunity to grow. Both channels must be enabled to service their customer base. If you look at the trends that are expected in service labor, in 2007 there were 480 million hours, and this is expected to increase to 523 million by 2011. Vehicle operators are doing 79% of the business, and that's going to be shifted. They want to outsource the service. They don't want to have mechanics and have repair jobs.”
He broke it down into segments:
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The component suppliers' responsibility: “Obviously, we make the components that get assembled into a vehicle. We get caught up in the fact that we are out here trying to sell parts. What we're really trying to do is service the nation's fleet.”
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Minimizing downtime: “There's huge pressure at the fleet level to minimize down time. Fleets cannot afford to keep fixing trucks and have their vehicles sitting by the side of the road.”
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Reducing service costs: “You see the number of hours required and how complex vehicles are getting. There is a major effort to make components easier to repair.”
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The fleet: “I believe the fleet deserves the right to choose where they get their vehicles serviced. They cannot afford unnecessary downtime. Probably the most important thing to remember is that they are the customer and it's our obligation to keep them up and running and minimize any downtime they have.”
Paying the price
Michele Calbi, VP of procurement and shop operations for Swift Transportation, said that from a product/service development standpoint, the OEM is paying the price for the creation of original ideas.
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