HDMA is made up of 188 North American suppliers of new equipment, vehicles and replacement parts to the global commercial vehicle industry. Members make parts for both on and off-highway vehicles.
HDMA is involved in several industry events each year where it is an owner or part owner with other associations. One of these events is the annual Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW), held each January, in Las Vegas. It is an action-packed week of networking, education, face-to-face meetings and all of the typical convention/conference type of activities.
Planning the Event
There are 13 different distributor, service specialists and supplier organizations involved in HDAW.
The eighth annual HDAW will take place this coming January 21 to 24.
The purpose of HDAW is to bring together about 550 distributors and service shop operators and their 250 supplier companies, consultants and the trade media for a week of all of the aforementioned activities. What differentiates HDAW from other events is how the conference program is planned each year.
Each spring, a large group of industry volunteers and association staff meet to begin the planning process for the next event. Topics to cover are selected from feedback received from distributor and supplier attendees through a post-conference survey after each HDAW and from the various boards of the participating associations.
The objective of the annual planning process is to put together a comprehensive program that will provide as much useful information as possible to make sure distributors and shop owners return each year. And they do return. The audience has ranged from 1,300 to nearly 2,000 for the past seven HDAWs.
Education is the main emphasis for HDAW, mainly on best practices, new innovations, new management methods and marketing approaches. The conference tends to zero in on a primary theme for each event.
Focusing on the Future
The theme - and thrust - for HDAW 2013 is Formula for Success: Focus on the Future. The planning group feels that by having a strategic view of the market, each distributor, shop operator and supplier attendee can plan for the constant changes in the market.
The industry's future is somewhat uncertain, but much of it is predictable by analyzing trends and technology. From a business perspective, we do have the ability to prepare for what lies ahead.
The general sessions of HDAW 2013 will key in on the economy and on how to build for tomorrow and successfully compete in an increasingly competitive market. Four separate sessions will deal with:
- Building and promoting an organization's own brand.
- New technologies and what a distributor and shop owner need to do to prepare (think natural gas and hybrid power).
- How to unbundle services and when to charge for the things we all used to give out of goodwill to the customer.
- How to look at a core business' competencies and how to find ways to outsource certain elements that create problems for the average small business.
Sales Training Opportunities
An optional session this year has been developed specifically for shop owners and managers. Being held on the opening day of HDAW, much of this new program has to do with modernizing shop operations to help an independent shop operator better compete directly with truck dealers.
There will also be a service program, named SOLD (Service Opportunities and Learning Day). It will dig into such topics as:
- What does the future shop look like and how do you prepare for it?
- What is the importance of a sound technician training program and how does the small business address the issue?
- What do the current market conditions mean for a shop owner or manager, and what is coming in the next few years?
- How do you contain errors and problems by utilizing optimal troubleshooting and advanced diagnostic methods?
- How to improve effective shop management through measuring and managing key performance indicators?
Summing Up HDAW
There are several hours scheduled during HDAW for an excellent product expo with the senior management of most of the exhibiting suppliers on hand. There are also about 12 hours set aside for a unique feature of HDAW - pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings between distributors and shops and top executives from industry suppliers. Many attendees view this as the highest value of the conference.
The balance of the week is devoted to traditional things like networking meals, receptions and breaks. The unique part of this is that there will be no speeches or presentations given during any of those times.
This column may sound like a big commercial for HDAW 2013, and perhaps it is somewhat. However, the majority of the sponsoring organizations are non-profit industry groups whose primary mission is strengthening the independent heavy duty aftermarket, and HDMA feels that it is important to get behind that objective.
We and our two partners - Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN) and Heavy Duty Distribution Association (HDDA) - are all part of those non-profit groups and exist solely for the betterment of the industry.
Visit HDMA's website at www.hdaw.org for more information.
