Former tank mechanic blasts away inefficiency at International Motors

It’s a little hard to succinctly describe what U.S. Army veteran Seth Miller does for International Motors. Technically, he’s an associate director of dealer process development and validation.

It was much easier to understand what he did during the 1990s for Uncle Sam. As a 63E, he was classified as an M1 Abrams tank system mechanic. Starting as a hull mechanic and later as a noncommissioned officer in charge of a squad of hull and turret mechanics in Germany, he helped ensure these 65-ton war machines were tactically ready.

Both roles at their heart are about uptime, though.

Miller said in his current role he works on a team dedicated to standardizing and continuously improving workflows and communication between International and its dealer network. Even that might be a little too esoteric, so just think of him as an efficiency tactician.

His team experiments and analyzes processes and then writes up the best standard operating procedures to follow. This could be for an internal employee or someone at the dealership.

When International rolls out a new dealer tool, like they recently did with their updated case management systems, Miller’s team works to find the most efficient way for the dealers to use it. They implement lean practices and get dealer feedback, ultimately writing the standard operating procedures that dealerships will use to get customer trucks in and out of the shop faster.

“We test it, we run it, we improve on it,” Miller explained. “We get better at everything that we can to improve the efficiency or improve the effectiveness of those processes.”

This includes performing time and motion studies to ensure no movement is wasted. This has become even more important as the OEM has dropped the Navistar name, rolled out new preventive maintenance packages with service contracts, and launched the MyInternational app to replace the International 360 communication platform and OnCommand Connection telematics platform. The company also has a new integrated powertrain, the S13, which dealers have to learn about.

Miller’s task in this is improving repair orchestration.

“What that means is with these new packages, we are now proactively monitoring customers' fleets’ telematics specifically for mileage and things like that, and we're contacting them when they're a few weeks out from needing a PM and scheduling that for them,” he said.

This also extends to recalls, open campaigns, and mitigating potential issues the customer has.

“If there are any other issues that they want to address, we're scheduling all of that ahead of time, so that they can roll in, all the parts are staged for them, and we make it a quick experience,” he explained.

International’s “uptime advocates” are expected to be a key element in making all these transitions appear seamless to the end users. These International employees will help manage and schedule customers’ preventive maintenance, among other roles. And Miller’s team is always looking for ways to make sure those uptime advocates operate at optimal efficiency.

“My team writes all of their standard operating procedures, [working] on something in the system that we want to improve, and then we'll go work with IT to make those improvements happen,” he explained.

From military to dealer service

Miller joined the Army out of high school in 1994 and soon found himself at Fort Knox in Kentucky, performing maintenance on M1 Abrams tanks. The M1 Abrams was the primary ground-based firepower the military used during Operation Desert Storm a few years earlier, but the ones the Millville, New Jersey native worked on were essentially training aids for new officers.

Read more: Leadership lessons from trucking’s military veterans

Miller had never worked on cars or trucks before, but his father did build parts for the aviation industry, and his grandfathers both worked with their hands as carpenters and machinists, respectively, so he was mechanically inclined. Hanging around his dad’s shop might have made him more prepared, as the M1 is powered by a 1,500-hp gas turbine engine.

Most of his work involved preventive maintenance. He said the Army had also developed oil sampling procedures now adopted by the trucking industry. Because of the sophisticated electronics involved with M1 Abrams tanks, there was a lot of diagnostics and troubleshooting to be done, too.

“Of course, it's armor—lots of big and heavy things that you have to maintain and move around and break your back working on,” he added.

Truck and tank fleets do have one major commonality: uptime.

“It's different in the civilian world, but it's the same,” he said. “You're not worried about combat readiness, but every day and every minute that the truck is down, the company that owns it is losing money.”

Miller noted that is about $1,500 a day. And the number of spare trucks to use when trucks go down is dwindling, making uptime even more crucial.

“It's as critical for that company as it would be for a military unit to lose an asset,” he said.

As part of the industry’s overall mission to improve uptime, Miller also advocated for companies to consider veterans for all open roles.

His path was pretty clear, as he got his DD 214, worked at a family truck shop to get his various certifications, and then became a diesel instructor at a South Jersey vocational school. Soon he caught Navistar’s attention and was hired to teach dealer techs.

But many veterans have what it takes to succeed in the industry like Miller has, in virtually any role.

“You don't have to be a tank mechanic or a wheel vehicle mechanic—the skills that a vet has coming into the industry are going to help in any role," he said. "Just the discipline, the leadership in particular, they're all very transferable skills.”