Arvin Meritor
15 CVSN INSIDER August 2009 With brands like Meritor, Euclid, Fras-Le, and Mascot, ArvinMeritor's Commercial Vehicle Aftermarket group offers a complete range of heavy-duty replacement parts for braking sys-tems, drive axles, trailer axles, and suspension products. Our aftermarket parts are precision-engineered to OE specifications and carry the industry's best aftermarket warranty. And our product support and value-added service are second to none. But showing how all of this creates better value for independent distributors is one of the on-going challenges we face, especially at a time when everyone distributors, installers, and end users is looking for a great price. Two specific examples would include our recent introduction of the PlatinumShield brake shoe which required significant cost of research/ development/capital yet showed our continued commitment of excellence to the distributors. And on the horizon is a similar program on hydraulic brakes to address rust and corrosion issues with a viable, affordable solution. Certainly, no shortage exists for low-cost parts. There's always going to be a market for them. The real question we strongly urge you and your customers to answer: are you getting your money's worth ... in long, sustainable value? Wide-ranging choices The easiest customer to deal with is the guy who wants the lowest price. You either have it and you make a sale, or you don't and he walks. That probably doesn't happen too often. So what do you offer the rest of your customers? We're a performance-oriented company. As an original equipment manufacturer, we can produce, sell, and support a range of products that match the exacting performance specifica-tions of an OE component. You don't run the risk of cheaper materials, untrained labor, and lower grades of metals that can lead to component failures. However, our goal is to provide lines of new and remanufactured components so you can offer whatever combination of performance and price your customer needs: genuine OE, all-makes, reman, or a lower price-point part with lower expected life but will match your operation's needs. Strong national brands We firmly believe that private labeling is more of a cycle than a trend. It ebbs and flows. The past few years have placed high priority on private-label products, possibly driven by the dramatic increase in imported product from China and India. But the lack of incremental margins on private label programs, and a significant decrease in imported parts, means a favorable shift toward more branded lines. ArvinMeritor is well posi-tioned with four core national brands: Meritor, Euclid, Fras-Le, and Mascot. Training and product support One way some manufacturers keep costs low is by dropping any responsibility for the compo-nent once it leaves the factory. As an indepen-dent distributor, you get little if any after-sale support or counsel on the purpose of the part or its expected service life and performance. That's not the way we do business. Our Cus-tomer Care Center in Florence, Ky., handles more than a million calls a year and our 120-person sales and marketing team provides the field support you need. Arvin Meritor Todd Kindem Sr. Director - Sales & Customer Care CVSN SPONSOr PrOFILE [ CONTINUE ARTICLE ON PAGE 20]