Everyone knows that product high quality claims typically exceed precise efficiency, however Fleetguard is counting on its Cummins heritage and engineering-first strategy to face out within the filtration aftermarket. Kenneth Hanover, director of North American gross sales and buyer assist at Fleetguard, sat down with Malcolm Harris on the November 19 episode of What the Truck?!? to debate what Fleetguard is doing to assist truck drivers in right-to-repair advocacy and why Fleetguard’s unconventional guarantee strategy resonates with owner-operators.
Fleetguard traces its historical past again to the Fifties when Cummins Engine established the filtration model to produce filters for its engines. The direct connection to engine manufacturing would turn out to be central to Fleetguard’s identification and aggressive benefit.
The corporate remained below the Cummins umbrella till just lately, when it turned a standalone entity below the Atmus title. Regardless of the company restructuring, Fleetguard maintains its world manufacturing and expertise facilities and generates over $1.6 billion yearly, with a good portion coming from aftermarket gross sales below the Fleetguard model.
In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fleetguard’s distinctive functionality of growing and manufacturing its personal filter media led to an sudden pivot. The corporate partnered with 3M to supply face masks not just for 3M workers however for Cummins staff globally.
“We develop and manufacture our personal media, which may be very distinctive for a filter producer,” Hanover stated. This versatility, he says, demonstrated Fleetguard’s potential worth past conventional purposes and influenced the choice to increase into new industries as an impartial firm.
In keeping with Hanover, Fleetguard’s engineering DNA is the elemental distinction that units the corporate other than rivals. Fleetguard commits to assembly or exceeding OE specs throughout its product line with out compromise on efficiency or expertise.
“We’ve got a really deep understanding of the science behind the expertise, and this got here from our engine heritage,” Hanover stated. “We’ve labored with engine producers globally, not simply with Cummins. We work with them within the growth stage of issues like gas methods ten to fifteen years out earlier than the product truly will get to the buyer,” he stated.
This long-range collaboration provides Fleetguard perception into the nuances of gas methods and the engineering challenges producers face years earlier than merchandise attain the market. That information informs the event of filtration expertise designed to handle particular issues.
Fleetguard maintains the identical high quality requirements whether or not producing OE-branded filters or aftermarket merchandise below its personal title.
“For those who’re ordering a filter from us, if it’s the OE or if it’s a Fleetguard model, the one distinction is the emblem on the surface of the can,” Hanover stated. This consistency eliminates the standard hole that usually exists between authentic gear and aftermarket options.
Fleetguard’s guarantee strategy can be unmatched within the aftermarket. Not like rivals who prorate guarantee protection primarily based on mileage or age, Fleetguard presents full protection no matter when a failure happens.
“For those who’re the third proprietor of a truck with 800,000 miles on it and the filter was the reason for the engine’s failure, we don’t prorate it,” Hanover stated. “We restore it and substitute it.”
That is in stark distinction with the business commonplace, the place an organization may calculate that an engine with 800,000 miles on a million-mile motor has solely 20 p.c of its life remaining and restrict guarantee protection accordingly.
Whereas Fleetguard doesn’t see excessive volumes of guarantee claims, Hanover says the corporate stands firmly behind its merchandise when points do come up. This no-prorate coverage carries explicit significance for owner-operators and smaller fleets that usually buy used gear and face larger monetary dangers from element failures.
Over the past decade or extra, many industries that depend on heavy gear have been embroiled in right-to-repair controversies. Many OEMs pressure proprietary constraints that restrict restore choices and pressure operators to make use of particular branded components.
“I perceive the rationale why an OEM would do this,” Hanover stated, explaining that producers sometimes impose restrictions to guard mental property and decrease guarantee prices through the protection interval. OEMs additionally need to guarantee clients have a constant model expertise, since issues brought on by inferior aftermarket components can harm the truck producer’s status even when the failure stems from a third-party element.
“Whether or not you’re the primary proprietor of that truck or the third proprietor, you may nonetheless get a nasty notion of a model primarily based on the failure of a nasty filter that retains plugging up,” Hanover stated.
Historically, in keeping with Hanover, it’s not essentially the fault of the engine or the badge producer of the truck model. Usually, points come up from a filter that’s not doing the best factor or low high quality gas.
“From our aspect, we do so much to assist our clients work round these points,” Hanover stated.
Fleetguard addresses these restrictions by way of two parallel methods. First, the corporate maintains a devoted engineering and technical staff centered solely on aftermarket purposes. This staff works to grasp the specs and {qualifications} of recent filters as they arrive to market, then determines whether or not Fleetguard can produce equal merchandise with out violating IP protections.
“Our firm is ready up with an engineering and technical staff which can be strictly centered on aftermarket,” Hanover stated. “As these filters come out on new gear, if we’re not the unique supplier, we’re already working nicely upfront to determine the {qualifications} of that filter.”
When IP protections stop Fleetguard from manufacturing its personal model, the corporate takes a second strategy: buying the filter instantly from the unique producer and rebranding it below the Fleetguard title. This ensures clients can receive all mandatory filters from a single supply quite than visiting a number of areas throughout a service cease.
Complete product availability addresses a serious ache level for truckers. Filters are consumable objects that require common substitute, and forcing operators to go to a number of storefronts for air, gas and lube filters creates pointless friction and downtime.
“There’s nothing extra irritating than pulling right into a truck cease for a wanted service and listening to ‘we don’t have the best filter,’” Hanover stated. “We don’t need that have for our clients, so we exit and buy a product. We offer our clients an answer till we’ve got a made-in-house product.”
By sustaining both in-house manufactured merchandise or sourced options for the total vary of filters a buyer may want, Fleetguard goals to eradicate these service delays.
