The Heavy Duty Parts Report

Send us Fan Mail Episode 347: Our guest this week is Colby Varley, Vice President of Sales at Advanced Transportation Services, who shares his expertise on the importance of premium services in the refrigerated transportation sector. He helps us understand why investing in high-quality service leads to better reliability and efficiency, and how this approach helps avert the hidden costs associated...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 346: With HDAW 2025 coming up fast, we were thinking back to past HDAW trips. In 2023, while heading to HDAW, our host Jamie Irvine, was able to visit the headquarters of Sampa USA with a camera crew and interview some of their people as well as check out their warehouse. His interviews highlighted what makes Sampa USA stand out as well as their commitment to providing hig...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 345: It can be difficult to stop and make a plan when you are busy in the day-to-day tasks of running your business. However, without a good plan, your business might struggle to grow. Transforming your heavy-duty parts business is not just about adapting to market trends; it's about mastering the art of strategic planning. Discipline in planning, as emphasized by Sco...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 344: Having a strong ‘why’ for your heavy-duty parts company is critical for success. It also is what will guide you when faced with decisions and opportunities. In our That’s Not Heavy Duty segment, we discuss why working without purpose is not heavy-duty and how many employees would prefer working for a company that has purpose. Our guests today are Tina Hubbard and Clin...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 343: Proper planning can prevent poor performance in your heavy-duty parts business and can also reduce break downs on the side of the road. As winter comes, one of the ways to prepare is to make sure you have good batteries – on the shelf in your parts store, and in your vehicle. Our guest, Jeremy Cordray from EnerSys, helps us to understand the differences in battery tec...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 342: We are happy to have captured this discussion with the now-retired Wayne Cochrane, past National Sales Manager of Redline Emissions Products. With many older ones retiring and leaving the industry, making sure we can still benefit from their years of experience is very important. Have you ever wondered how to know if a DPF filter is genuinely clean? What should you be...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 341: How are tariffs affecting heavy-duty parts companies? In this in-depth discussion, we talk about the history of tariffs, the real reasons behind them and whether they will go up in the near future. After preparing for this episode, Jamie Irvine and Scott Boltz discovered that tariffs are not what they thought and there is a dark side to tariffs rarely, if ever, discus...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 340: The team at SSR Lighting was encouraged to look into options for interior trailer lighting after safety concerns from companies like Ford. After trial and error and thinking through obstacles like forklift strikes, extreme weather, and batteries that can’t sit for months unused, they now have a great product that can light up the inside of any trailer. In our That’s N...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 339: At the Heavy Duty Consulting Corporation, we have partnered with TRAITS to help you with your people and organization. Having the right people is so important when predicting the success of your heavy-duty business. TRAITS is a psychometric assessment tool that can help you evaluate your team based on their personality fit for their job. In this episode, Mike Moreau,...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 338:  We’ve been working hard at the Heavy Duty Consulting Corporation to create the only business development system of its kind that is exclusively dedicated to the heavy-duty parts industry. We are proud to announce that we have developed a training program specifically for Parts Managers. In line with that new course offering, in this episode we are going to talk to Da...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 337: Having the right people in your business is very important for success. The ‘right people’ must have a combination of experience and expertise, but more importantly, must have a great attitude and the personality traits needed to be successful in their role. Speaking of a great attitude, our interview with successful trucker and YouTuber with the handle Trucking with...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 336:  Financial headwinds are slowing the trucking industry down. Parts companies must improve their value proposition, and one of the quickest ways to accomplish this is to bring innovative products to the attention of customers and help them lower their total cost of operation. From the fleet’s perspective, finding ways to reduce costs and make their fleet more efficient...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 335: Technology is revolutionizing the heavy-duty parts industry, but how can it keep pace with the challenges of accurate parts identification? Join us as Joe Steward from Betts Truck Parts shares his experience of using modern tools, training, and exceptional customer service to bridge the knowledge gap left by retiring experts. The stakes are high when it comes to parts...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 334:  Technology is not only changing on commercial vehicles, but it is changing parts manufacturing and distribution as well. In our interview we will be airing a rerun of one of our most popular interviews in the last year from when our host visited the Clarios booth at AAPEX 2023 and talked about low voltage battery technology. In this episode, we also talk about how ch...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 333: What if a simple brake inspection could save lives on the road? In this episode we talk about the life-or-death importance of Brake Safety Week, running from August 25th to August 31st, 2024.  This safety week is organized by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). We emphasize the crucial role of brake upkeep, especially given that brake violations are the top...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 332:  What happens when a passion for racing go-karts evolves into a career in the machining industry? Our featured guest Alan Speyrer, owner of AES Machine, transformed a love for problem-solving and machining into a successful business. Discover how a simple conversation about Peterbilt hood hinges led to him engineering superior machine parts. We also discuss how import...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 331:  When you run a heavy-duty parts and service business you are often faced with decisions where you have to weigh two competing things and make tough decisions. The trucking industry faces this on a national level. With so many new environmental regulations coming in, can the heavy-duty industry really come up with new technologies and products that are good for the ec...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 330:  In this episode we talk training – why it is so necessary, ways to make it accessible to employees and customers, and why some companies refuse to train their people. Our host, Jamie Irvine, starts by discussing 3 myths that some believe about training – namely that it is too expensive, not worth the time, or that it is inaccessible to their company. Our featured gue...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 329: Being reactive costs the trucking industry millions of dollars every year. Once something breaks down, it is costing you so much more money than if you planned for it in advance. Most people understand this for fleets and owner-operators, but we see this all the time as we consult with heavy-duty parts manufacturers, distributors, and service companies as well. Ignori...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 328: In these volatile times it is more important than ever to pay attention to the important things in your business rather than only focusing on the urgent day to day tasks. Being proactive and having a solid plan can be the difference between your business struggling or even failing during hard times or emerging from those hard times and being stronger than ever. Our fe...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 327: Retaining skilled technicians in the heavy-duty repair industry is a challenge that many businesses face. High turnover rates can be costly and disruptive, impacting the overall efficiency and productivity of repair shops. Our host, Jamie Irvine, starts out this episode with a list of 7 things that owners and managers can do to improve their retention rates. Our featu...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 326: We start this episode discussing the essential phases of remanufacturing—including disassembly, thorough cleaning, failure analysis, reassembly, and testing—and reveal how you can apply these steps to identify and resolve issues in your heavy-duty parts business. Our featured guest is Joe Kripli, President of APRA, the Automotive Parts Remanufacturers Association. He...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 325:  Brake Safety Week is coming up at the end of August. Last year, over 500 commercial vehicles were removed from North American roads after just one day of surprise inspections for having brake components that were unsafe. To help us prepare ahead for this year we talked to brake expert Don Orrell, Founder and CEO of TorqStop Brakes. Don tells us what to watch for when...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 324:  In this episode, we talk about contaminants that need to be filtered out – out of your business and out of your commercial vehicle air and fuel system. In our That’s Not Heavy Duty segment, Jamie tells a story of an irate and unreasonable customer and talks about a solution he found for customers that are impossible to please. Our featured guest is Jay Stephenson, No...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 323:  In this episode we discuss the need to change with the times in order to avoid being left behind. Things are certainly changing fast with technology in the trucking and parts industry and there are certain things that just don’t work anymore. There are also ways of doing things that are better than before and that can save time and money. For example, with new and ex...