Podcast

Making It Possible: The Century-Long Journey of AMBAC

Learn how AMBAC has stood the test of time over a century while continuing to be a leader in the industry, and why their new slogan “Making it Possible” is a testament to the company’s unique approach.

Episode 275: Are you intrigued by businesses that have stood the test of time, constantly evolving and thriving through every change? Prepare to be inspired by our guests today, Justin Zapotocky, and Heather Woodbrey of AMBAC International, a company with a history spanning over a century.

Justin takes us on a fascinating journey, tracing the company’s humble beginnings producing Magneto’s for radios, to the pivotal role they played in the Apollo landings and their current focus on fuel injection.

Ever wondered about the strategy that keeps such a long-standing business afloat in a sea of ever-evolving trends and customer demands? Ambac’s shift in marketing strategy, leading to the creation of the slogan ‘Making it Possible’, is a testament to the company’s unique approach. This slogan isn’t just a tagline, it’s a philosophy that directs the company’s focus towards identifying and addressing the unique micro-problems faced by customers, and how they’re making strides in supporting the trucking industry.

But this isn’t just about the business side of things. AMBAC’s culture is equally unique and compelling. As an employee-owned company, they innovate not just through strategy and technology, but also through their workforce. Heather shares the advantages of their open book management system, which fosters a deeper level of employee engagement and ownership. So whether you’re a trucking industry professional, a business enthusiast, or just a curious listener, get ready to learn from a company that has been ‘making it possible’ for over a century.

Sponsors of this Episode

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SAMPA: Looking for suspension, steering, and 5th wheel parts? Buy now from SAMPA.com

Disclaimer: This content and description may contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, The Heavy Duty Parts Report may receive a commission.

Transcript of Episode

Jamie Irvine:

You are listening to The Heavy Duty Parts Report. I’m your host, Jamie Irvine, and this is the place where we have conversations that empower heavy-duty people.

Welcome to another episode of The Heavy Duty Parts Report. I’m your host, Jamie Irvine. I’m actually on site, on location here in South Carolina visiting AMBAC International. Now AMBAC’s been on the show before. We’ve talked to their CEO several times, but today we’re going to have a chance to talk to the people who actually make this great company work, the people who are here every day making things happen.

Now, AMBAC’s been in continuous operation for over a hundred years and we’re going to find out exactly what makes a company that has been in business for over a hundred years actually work. So come with me on our tour of AMBAC and our chance to talk to some of the people who work here every day.

Justin Zapotocky:

Hi, I’m Justin Zapotocky. I’m the Marketing Manager here at AMBAC International.

Jamie Irvine:

Nice to be here in person. We’ve talked many times via Zoom call, but we never got a chance to really chat in person. So great to see you.

Justin Zapotocky:

I’m glad to have you.

Jamie Irvine:

We’re here on site at your location in South Carolina and we’re talking about how AMBAC has been in business for over a hundred years. It’s a truly remarkable story. When we think about the trucking industry and we think about how it’s the backbone of society and we think about the importance of manufacturers like yourself, American manufacturers who are supporting that industry.

What I really want to know is I want to learn about, first of all, the origin story of this company. I want to learn about what you’re done in the past and what you’re doing now to support, continue to support the trucking industry, hopefully for another a hundred years. So let’s take it all the way back. When did AMBAC get started?

Justin Zapotocky:

Well, as you mentioned, we’re 110 years going, so you could put it, we’ve been serving customers for 110 years. We’ve been figuring out ways to solve their problems for a century. So we started with very humble beginnings. Early 20th century, we produced magnetos for radios. As time progressed, we started to look at other commodities. We ultimately ended up making parts for the aviation industry. In the mid-20th century we actually had some parts that facilitated the Apollo landings, which we’re extremely proud of.

As we got a little later in the century, we kind of progressed more sort fuel injection. That’s kind of our main commodity as we stand right now. We are also proud to announce that we’ve been supporting our military for over 20 years now, and we’re very, very proud of that defense relationship.

Jamie Irvine:

So literally out of this world on those Apollo missions.

Justin Zapotocky:

Absolutely.

Jamie Irvine:

Let’s break down the departments or the divisions in the company. So you speak of your military, so you’ve got a whole division dedicated to the military, and then you also have a manufacturing division that’s does spec manufacturing. What’s spec manufacturing?

Justin Zapotocky:

Well, essentially customers come to us with a problem. They have a part that they need to develop from the print status. So whether it be a hose fitting or something related to automotive or aviation, if they need a small round part, it it’s our job to develop the strategy to bring that to market. So we service, through our many investments in the company, we service all kinds of commodities.

A lot of our customers need parts that are aren’t typically made. We hold certain precision levels and tolerance levels that you just can’t get at the local machine shop. Some of the tolerances we hold here are light bands, not plus or minus millimeters here. So it’s a niche market and it’s in high demand and we’re proud to be offer solutions to our customers based on the unique capacity and precision that we have here at AMBAC.

Jamie Irvine:

Okay. And then you’ve got the aftermarket division. Now this is the division that takes the parts to the trucking industry. So tell us a little bit about that division.

Justin Zapotocky:

Yeah, well, so we provide unique amount of a product profile to the several different commodities. One is the aftermarket. So we have a couple divisions, one where we produce parts that are remanufactured. Besides the obvious impact for the environment, reshoring has been a new thing for us too, and allowing us to use this commodity to rebuild and repurpose parts is exciting.

There’s a huge demand for that given the market and given the cost and the price points on a lot of these things. And there’s a lot of local legislation that enforcing it or reevaluating the need for repurposed parts, and we’re proud to play a role in that. We also provide original OEM parts as well.

Jamie Irvine:

Now business in my opinion is it’s a serious thing, right? I mean, business is the underpinning of our society. It moves everything forward, but at the same time, your structure here and the fact that you approach business as a game is an interesting and sometimes a different perspective than the average company. So first of all, let’s talk about employee ownership and let’s talk about the Great Game.

Justin Zapotocky:

So as you mentioned, we’ve been doing this for a hundred years, but we don’t fit the typical mold of a traditional automotive type supplier. As of 2018, we become an employee owned. We start our affiliation. We’re practitioners of what’s called the Great Game of Business, and it’s a open book management systems that’s just a phenomenal way to get your employees empowered and engaged. We’re in love with it.

We have our balance sheet on the wall from the, the CEO to the janitor, knows what our cost of goods sold were, what we’re spending in marketing, and to have that kind of engagement. It’s really unique for our industry. The biggest takeaway is when people see it for the first time, there’s a sense of casualness to it where it’s fun. We make it fun because we put a work-life balance model into our business as well.

And as you know from the industry, this could be kind of a harsh, aggressive type industry. And to have a business construct where people are engaged and encouraged to participate and question people, question the management team for, we don’t understand why you had to spend that money on that. I had to justify this photo shoot to our team. And for those that aren’t familiar with it, it’s very foreign, very alien, almost to point. But when you see how it is embedded in our philosophy and the way we make business decisions, it’s very unique.

We’re very proud of what the open book management system has brought us. We’ve been a much more successful company at our bottom line, our recruitment is easy. The workforce has engaged. That’s half the battle in a lot of these places. So using the constructs of great game of business, it really facilitated a more open and more successful business model.

Jamie Irvine:

So first of all, AMBAC team, thanks for approving the cost of us being here. That’s fantastic. I promise that we’ll go light on the bar bill. Now, when I think about the normal company, it’s a top down management style. Maybe your company is like that. This is more of a bottom up. Does it make it harder to get things done? Does it make it so that there’s too many decision makers in the process? How does that actually work? Practically speaking, day to day, how is it better?

Justin Zapotocky:

It does present a unique set of challenges, but I think at the end of the day, what we’re ultimately trying to do is get the management team to manage. And when you have to present something to 47 co-owners or 55 co-owners as opposed to just associates that work for you, you have to present the data more effectively. You have to do your homework. You have to stand and deliver. I like to use that phrase a lot. We don’t take an authoritarian view where the the CEO says, we’re doing it, so we all need to adjust.

That doesn’t happen here. You have to convince the 53 other co-owners of the organization that this is the way to go. And at the end of the day, ultimately makes you a better manager because not only do you have to come up with a strategy and the objectives to present what your long-term vision is, you need to also tie a tactical application to it to facilitate it and move it through the organization.

And you just can’t rubber stamp something. You have to prove that you’ve done your work, that you’ve respected the co-owners ability to make a decision on that. And at the end of the day, it makes stronger managers out of all of us because it’s not our way or the highway. We have 53 highways here and they have to facilitate all of those. And it’s a great way to really, really augment your management skills using this business model.

Jamie Irvine:

And as a Canadian, love hockey, I actually met a hockey player on my way down here at the airport, which is kind of cool. So Jarome Ignila an awesome guy. You can Google him later if you don’t know who he was one of the top 100 players in the NHL of all time. In that sports analogy, we often hear them talking about everybody has to be rowing in the same direction to be a championship team. Is that what you’ve seen since 2018? Has this made AMBAC different now that you have all of your co-owners going in that same direction?

Justin Zapotocky:

I mean, you get your day-to-day challenges, but ultimately at the end of the day, we’ve figured out a way through financial literacy training to our employees to that the detail, the finite detail of where we want to go. We’ve empowered our employees to the point where they know that there’s objectives and strategies. In fact, what we’re going to do today in about 2 hours from now, I’m going to present the next six months strategic goals for our manufacturing department. I’m going to present that strategy to them, and they all have to approve that strategy.

My first pitch is not to a customer. My first pitch is to our internal workforce. They have to buy in, they have to see the vision, they have to see that the management team has committed itself. They’ve included their trials and tribulations into the equation. At the end of the day, we will ultimately succeed because as I mentioned before, we can’t rubber stamp and push our agenda through. It has to be a collaborative effort. And at that point, once you’ve got 53 people on the same team, it’s pretty hard to lose.

Jamie Irvine:

So your company has been on The Heavy Duty Parts Report before. As I mentioned, we’ve interviewed Robert, so if you want to go back and look at those, we’ll make sure that the links are in the show notes for those previous interviews. You and I have had the chance to work together in a different level.

So my consulting company, the Heavy Duty Consulting Corporation, has been really privileged to work with AMBAC now for some time. And we’ve worked on a project that that’s really exciting because it’s finally at a level now where it’s going to get put out into the marketplace. But before we talk about the changes to the marketing, I want to talk about AMBAC’s old slogan. So what was it and what was the thinking around it in the past?

Justin Zapotocky:

Well, the old slogan was fluid innovation, solid performance. And it sounds, it’s good, it’s, it kind of presents what we do it, it’s a play on words. It applies really to kind of fuel injection and flow and how we facilitate flow. And we are all pretty proud of it.

But as the markets started to mature a little bit and economic factors kind of closed in and we kind of had to circle our wagons on a more competitive market and all the other economic stresses that we’ve had over the last five years or so, we realized that it’s a little too Madison Avenue and it really didn’t hit home with who our core customer was.

Our customers are the guys that wake up early in the morning and get in the truck and drive their eight hour, their daily eight hour route, their long routes. Our guys are the guys that work at the parts dealership at the counter and responsible for keeping the parts stocked.

And that’s our core demographic. And what we realize that we’re the same people. We don’t come to work in Audis. We come to work in pickup trucks and people ride their motorcycles here and we’re tatted up and we’re a little off kilter. We’re a little rebellious, and we realize that silent majority in the country is our customer. And as we kind of figured it out that we’re in that group with them in manufacturing, use the five why analogy.

You keep asking questions, you can’t ask another why. And at the end of the why, we realized that, well, why do we, we make things that people need. We facilitate the doers, and we felt that we needed to capture that resonance or that emotional resonance somehow in our ad campaign. So yeah, we felt that that Madison Avenue type just really didn’t fit our style well.

Jamie Irvine:

And the thing is, one of the things that I work with clients on all the time is if you’re marketing, it might sound good, but it can be composed of what I call invisible marketing words, the same jargon that always is used, quality and price and parts availability is built into this marketing, and then everybody uses it. And so then the customer, it doesn’t hit at all. And then it’s also got to, to your point, it has to capture the spirit of who you are and what you’re trying to do and the customer that you’re trying to serve. So you shifted from the old slogan, which was, what was it again?

Justin Zapotocky:

Fluid innovation, solid performance.

Jamie Irvine:

And now it’s moving to what’s the new slogan?

Justin Zapotocky:

We felt a more effective way to really announce what we do is we Making it Possible. So imagine if you will, a bridge two peaks and there’s a big gap in the middle of the bridge. Our logos in the middle. We want to bridge the gap between what the customer needs and what they currently have. And they don’t come to us for, we liked your slogan, we like your vision. They come to us because we’re implying a sense that we can solve your problems.

Our customers have unique micro problems all day long. Ask any of ’em to a man. They’ll tell you, oh, I’m always out of parts. The lead times are terrible. The costs are horrible. No one will answer the phone. So they essentially built my marketing plan for me. I just need to fill out those gaps. So we thought the Making it Possible campaign was unique.

It was not specific and enough to provide whatever noun reverb you wanted to put in there, making it rain so we can help. We provide pumps that help fire departments, making it sizzle, we help the gearhead in his garage, making it real on time. We thought that allowed us kind of the freedom to substitute unique applications for each word, for each customer, and everybody will have that version of what making it possible means to them. And we thought it was a unique, autonomous way to do some very clever branding that really resonated with our core customer.

Jamie Irvine:

So branding is important. I think we all recognize that, but it only becomes a brand that people value if it actually lives up to the promises made. So let’s talk for a minute a little bit about how this is going to change the way that AMBAC goes to market, the way that it serves its customers.

Like a slogan is great, but it’s got to be backed up by action. So what are the specific actions you as a company are going to take going forward to support the trucking industry, to support the men and women in that operate heavy equipment in agriculture and mining and forestry and all of these things that society really needs, I mean without them doing that job, we don’t live the way we get to live right now.

Justin Zapotocky:

Well, we kind of used the precepts of the theme in the way we actually developed the strategy ourselves. So we looked at all of our business units and tried to, usually it was a wag the dog situation. We would look at a customer needs something we run or we would, Hey, we’re going to develop this particular commodity and then just go sell the heck out of it on the market.

We figured that was kind of the wrong way to go. So we took making it possible concept and applied it to our strategic objectives, how we want to sell, and we needed to do our competitive intelligence and our customer intelligence to look at, these are the pain points for people in this area. And we kind of laser focused on how do we get the parts counter guy in Georgia, how do we present solution to him that are real and tactical?

So we said developing an e-commerce system. We have real people that answer the phone. We provide a unique parts profile for them. We sell them open capacity. We don’t sell them things we don’t have time to build right now. We try to use time as a currency sometimes where we say, look, I can get this part for you in four weeks, but it’s going to take you 16 weeks from India. How do you want to do this? So we try to present as many options as we can to make all their needs possible. So that precept of making things happen, being a doer, is really kind of flipped our marketing strategy, but it’s also, it flipped our strategic initiatives inside the plan as well.

Jamie Irvine:

Yeah, and I’m glad you brought up that parts person in Georgia who you’re talking about, but what about the parts person in Alaska or the truck driver in the desert, or someone who’s climbing the Colorado Rockies right now? I mean, you serve the North American market and there are people working in trucking and farms and agriculture, mining, all of these different applications across these really, really diverse environments.

And to your point, they have different needs based on where they work and what they’re involved in. So to me, it’s about going that inch wide and a mile deep with your customer. And what is your hope as you take this approach now with your customers, how do you hope it will change your relationship with those customers?

Justin Zapotocky:

Well, what we want to do is try to flip the script a little bit. And a lot of it’s got to do with the very base level, at the very embryonic stage of developing a commercial relationship. You don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’re not going to succeed. Some of the sins of the past may have been, we are probably over aggressive, all the right intentions, of course.

But if you don’t do valued risk assessment or risk analysis of your distribution model, you’re going to sign yourself up for something that’s going to fail you and more importantly, your customers. So what we’re started to do is employ risk analysis practices where we look at can we present a parts profile for Alaska that we can maintain and sustain, or where are the gaps? Understand where our contingencies need to lie. If it’s something that we can’t make, is it something that we buy?

Are there opportunities that we can use collaborative efforts with our competition? In some cases, most cases we want to make sure that the guy that has a tractor in Alaska will get a part. They have to fly it in, but that part distribution center is going to have a part whether we need to buy it from another distributor or make it ourselves, we want to make sure that there’s a model employed, that a stockout is not an option because that, that’s the death knoll for our industry. You can’t run people out of parts.

So putting all the thinking upfront and developing a competent business model with risk contingencies built in that you can quickly activate and make sure that if there’s a fire or if there’s a part shortage, that we always have your back and that that’s at the end of the day, we want our customer to know that they, they’ve got a catchy slogan, but they take care of us. They’re going to make it possible for us. They’re going to get it done, and that that’s who we want to be.

Jamie Irvine:

And why are they doing all of that? They’re doing all of that because the fleet, the repair shop, the parts technician, the repair technician, you are part of making everything happen in our society. And we value that. We value what you do.

We appreciate what you do on a daily basis. And so as companies, we’re just trying to do everything we can to support you, because at the end of the day, it’s really kind of supporting ourselves as well, because they’re the backbone of society, our life, the way we get to live our lives, and even things like, you know, don’t live too long without food, medicine and water and fuel and energy and all of that.

So without you doing, making things happen, without you making it possible for all of us, where would we be? So a big thank you to everyone watching. We really appreciate what you do on a daily basis, and we’re going to continue at AMBAC to support you in every way possible. Justin, so great to talk to you. I think now we’re going to get to do a tour of the factory, so we’re going to be showing a lot of this, and maybe we’ll even get a chance to talk to some of your coworkers.

Justin Zapotocky:

Thanks.

Jamie Irvine:

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Heather Woodbrey:

My name’s Heather Woodbrey. I work in inside sales and customer service at AMBAC International.

Jamie Irvine:

Heather, you and I have worked together for some time now, but always via a Zoom call. So nice to be here in person. Yeah, finally get to meet you in person. So it’s been great that AMBAC has opened your doors and allowed the heavy duty parts report to come here in South Carolina to your plant. And we just finished talking to Justin. Justin did a great job of explaining the history of the company.

He talked about your new slogan, Making it Possible, and what that means for the customer and how you guys are going to actually use that to change the way that you approach everything. And that’s what we’re going to talk about is the everything part.

So for those that aren’t familiar with AMBAC International, it’s a company that manufacturers products, but you also have a remanufacturing component to it, and Justin did mention that. So let’s talk a little bit about AMBAC International’s manufacturing facility. First of all, when it comes to raw materials, how do you approach the whole raw materials thing and what has been the challenges around that over the last couple years?

Heather Woodbrey:

So Keith is our purchasing manager. The biggest problem that he has had the last few years is lead times. The lead times are extremely long, and sometimes when we’re quoting to manufacture new parts, they want ’em within three to six months, but you can’t even get the raw material for two years. So that’s a huge hurdle for us right now.

Jamie Irvine:

And that was one thing Justin really talked about earlier in the interview is he was really interested in making sure that customers have the parts they need. And so he was talking about how you as a company are approaching that. You got to make it happen. So when it comes to these lead times and how that affects price, and it comes to the acquisition of raw materials, once you actually get the raw materials here, what is the process for the actual putting all of that into production? Walk us through what happens there.

Heather Woodbrey:

So the raw material come into the warehouse are quality people, they review it, make sure it’s what it’s supposed to be, it’s the right specs. And then it goes to our guys in the C&C area who put the raw material into a machine. They program it and turn it into a part. Once it’s the part, it then goes to the area and into the plant, wherever it belongs, whether it be on the reman side, the manufacturing side, and then those guys and gals will use it to actually build and assemble pumps, injectors, whatever it is they’re working on at that time.

Jamie Irvine:

Yeah, yeah. So you mentioned about the quality inspection part. I know from my time as a remanufacturer, if the parts you’re making the material is that first foundational piece, and if you don’t have the right material, all kinds of bad things can happen after the fact, especially with fuel injection. The tolerances are so small. So that quality part and the inspection of it, what are they looking for specifically when raw material comes up, how can they visually inspect it? What do they have to do to say that’s quality.

Heather Woodbrey:

So they can visually inspect it to a certain degree. We have a quality team, Dan, he’s our gauge guy. So he goes in and he actually measures it. He does his gauging, make sure it’s the right thickness if it’s supposed to already come heat treated it, he makes sure that it has the right case steps, all that good stuff on it before they approve it to actually go into a machine to start making parts.

Jamie Irvine:

That makes sense. Now, you talk about the CNC machining. When I was working in that remanufacture, this is about 25 years ago, we were still using conventional lays, the CNC, is that the only machining that you do? Do you also have the more conventional and I guess, of the company that’s been around for over a hundred years, you probably got a few people around here who’ve got quite a lot of experience. So let’s talk a little bit about the machinists themselves. What is the composition of the people who work in that department?

Heather Woodbrey:

So we do have our CNC’s. That’s going to be our newer machines. We do have a lot of older conventional machines that are still fully functional and operate every day. And there are quite a few people here that still do a lot of hand work. So we have a guy that’s, I’m going to say at least 30 to 40 years he’s been with us, and he still hand laps the heads to the pumps, and that’s very critical because it’s hard to teach that skill.

Jamie Irvine:

Yeah. Well, as my mentor said to me one time, he says, how do you get 20 years’ experience? He said, just come see me in 20 years. There’s no shortcut. Yeah, that’s an interesting thing too, when you’re managing a manufacturing company because you’re balancing this knowledge. There’s the decades of knowledge on the conventional side, but then you need people who can basically create a computer program for the CNC. So you must have quite the time recruiting for that department.

Heather Woodbrey:

Yes, a lot of times people already have those people before they come out of the technical school. Our technical school here has a great CNC programming program, but like I said, a lot of times those employees are taken before they’re even done. So it is hard recruiting those type of people and you want to make sure that they know what they’re doing. We are blessed with the people that we have along with the older people that’s been here, or the more tenured people to be able to teach them as well on the older machines because that’s something they’re not used to also, so that they can cross train and work everything.

Jamie Irvine:

And one because once those people with 40 years’ experience leave, then that knowledge leaves with them. So yes, they’ve got to be able to get that. Okay. So now a part, you said the raw materials have gone through the machine shop, but now they go to assembly. So let’s talk specifically fuel injection and also pumps. When it comes to the assembly, are you making complete brand new as well as reman, or is this just different parts that go into the reman only? How does that work?

Heather Woodbrey:

It depends. So some parts are made completely brand new and the parts used to assemble those are completely brand new. Now, when it comes to the remanufacturing side, it’s all based on a core. That’s where it starts. That’s going to be your raw material for that. So depending on how good the core is, depends on it, what you’re going to need. And most of the time those parts are parts that we do manufacture in the house and then they just use them to remanufacture.

Jamie Irvine:

So I never did fuel injection, but we were doing pneumatics, and I remember a lot of times maybe the housing was still good, but the internal parts were completely worn out and you couldn’t reuse them at all. So then we would have to take those to the machine shop and actually create new replacements for the internal assemblies. Is that basically what we’re talking about? So now the part’s made, let’s talk about another step in quality right now we have to test it. So walk me through how that works in the plant.

Heather Woodbrey:

So we have tons of test stands, injector, pump machines, depending on what kind of part it is, depends on what kind of test stand it goes on. They go through the testing phase, we document all the calibrations, how it performed, and then after testing, it still goes back through quality again for even more inspection. And depending on what their thoughts are, they may retest it themselves just to make sure that it’s tip top shape before it leaves.

Jamie Irvine:

So at minimum there’s the two layers of testing, but then there could be actually a third or fourth as needed, right? Wow. Well, and that, let’s face it, when you got a failure on something like a brake chamber, it’s not that big of a deal, but when you have a failure on an injector and an engine, now you’re talking about taking a truck down for days, weeks, yeah, months.

It’s a catastrophic failure. So that level of testing is absolutely required. So I see that right from the beginning, whether it’s right from the day that raw material shows up all the way through and until the finished product, there’s all these quality steps in there to ensure that what you’re producing is going to work for your customers.

Heather Woodbrey:

And then keep in mind each piece part, so we call ’em, so whether it’s a screw, a nut, a bolt, those go through quality as well when they’re done being produced. So every little aspect of the finished part goes through quality.

Jamie Irvine:

Okay. So we’ve got a finished part. Now it’s time to get it to the customer. So walk me through everything from packaging to warehousing, shipping, what’s going on there?

Heather Woodbrey:

So once the guys on the line or the girls too are done with the assembling part, they take it to our warehouse, our packers in packet it, depending on what the part is, depends on the type of packaging. We are very, very, very careful with packaging because these are sometimes very expensive parts and they are critical to the engine, so we don’t want ’em getting messed up or pieces breaking in shipping, and then that’s the end of the life lifecycle, I guess.

Jamie Irvine:

And that’s it. It’s ready to go. Okay.

Heather Woodbrey:

They put it on engine.

Jamie Irvine:

Right, so you’re in customer service, so you get to hear the questions from the actual frontline to your distributors probably at some points, even talking to their customers if the problem is something that they’re trying to figure out. What’s the common questions that you get asked that you’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis?

Heather Woodbrey:

Trim codes right now is a big one. A lot of the newer injectors, especially remanufactured ones, a lot of the OE are plugging into these trim codes for various reasons.

Jamie Irvine:

So what are those codes for those that don’t know?

Heather Woodbrey:

It programs the injector to the ECM.

Jamie Irvine:

So it’s a calibration of in the physical injector to the electric to the engine, yeah. Okay. Through the ECM. Okay. So when they’re having problems with codes, is it just that they can’t get it to calibrate or is that there’s some sort of fault code being thrown or what happens usually?

Heather Woodbrey:

So the biggest thing we’re running into right now is up until about a year ago, I only knew about CAT injectors having trim codes here recently. They all have trim codes, which is kind of new for the aftermarket world in general because a lot of different people I talk to, it’s new for them. So a lot of remanufacturers aren’t programming these injectors via trim codes because they just don’t know they’re supposed to. Right.

Like I said, it’s something new that the OE are throwing out there, and there’s a little bit of myth to trim codes as well. So ultimately, as long as the injector is made within spec that the OE writes the print to, you don’t need a trim code. The ECM will automatically adjust it. But a lot of mechanics these days, and I’m assuming it’s just because they were taught this way, they will not even install it unless it has a trim code, even though you technically don’t need one.

Jamie Irvine:

Okay. So when it comes to the warranty side of the business, I know that anything that has tight tolerances, contamination is always the biggest enemy. If you had some advice to your customers, anybody listening who’s going to be working on injection, what’s your advice around dealing with contamination?

Heather Woodbrey:

Don’t just change one injector. Okay. Change all six to eight, change filters. Anything that has to do with the fuel system, you need to make sure that everything is changed and up to par at that time. Because if your filter or pump has contamination, it’s going to push it to the injectors and then you’re going to have a problem. And it’s not really the injector’s problem.

Jamie Irvine:

It’s an upstream issue. And if you’re a parts person, this, when I hear you say that, here’s what I hear. Because as a person who worked the counter sold parts, I hear the opportunity as one of my mentors also taught me, don’t just sell ’em what they ask for, sell ’em what they actually need. So someone comes in and says, I need an injector for port four, for cylinder four. It’s like, no, you don’t.

You need injectors for the entire engine. You also need filters, you need fuel. Whatever you need, you need cleaning equipment, whatever you need. Make sure you take that opportunity to tell the customer what they actually need, right? Yeah,

Heather Woodbrey:

Absolutely.

Jamie Irvine:

Yeah. Okay. So this is also an employee-owned company. So Justin did a very good job of promoting the benefits of it, but now it’s just you and I. Okay. You tell me the real deal. Okay. What’s it like working in an employee-owned company?

Heather Woodbrey:

It can become a little stressful sometimes because you take everything personal. This is your company, so instead of just coming in eight to five and leaving whatever issues the company’s having, you cannot help but to take those home because at the end of the day, it’s your problem. Some way you can help come up with a solution or help figure things out. It’s also very rewarding because when we win, everybody wins, or when AMBAC wins, all the employees win as well.

Jamie Irvine:

There’s an upside. And with that upside, really at the end of the day, just more responsibility. And with responsibility, you’ve got a little bit of stress, but there’s the upside of it that you’re actually working towards something that you are going to personally benefit from.

Heather Woodbrey:

Yes. And it’s rewarding. I mean, you do get a say in here. You do get to make a change. Not one decision is made just via our CEO. It’s talked about amongst everybody down to the guys that run the machines, the people that pack the parts. I mean, everybody gets a say. So to me that’s very important too. And you always know what’s going on. You’re never in the dark.

Jamie Irvine:

So can you imagine working for a company that isn’t employee owned ever again? Are you ruined for all other companies?

Heather Woodbrey:

I am. I’ll have to show it to you, but we have a little picture out here. It’s got this big fancy chair and it says, when you just work for a regular company and then it’s got this chair that’s like falling apart When you work for an employee-owned company, this is the chair you’re going to keep because we’re not spending money on that fancy chair. Yeah, that’s because you look at it as your money, right? Yeah. Elizabeth was laughing because I cut all the lights off behind everybody. We’re at home. This is our home.

Jamie Irvine:

Right. Well, thank you so much for taking some time to talk to me about this. I love the opportunity. It broke my heart when I started the show and then the pandemic came and I had a plan. I was going to come out and visit all the customers. We were going to do this that we’re doing right now, and it just had to wait three years. So we finally get to do it. So that’s great. So thank you so much.

Heather Woodbrey:

Yes, thank you. Thank you.

Jamie Irvine:

I have absolutely love my time here at AMBAC International in South Carolina. It is so great to finally get a chance to meet these people in person. This is a group of people. These are heavy-duty people. They are salt of the earth. They care about what they do, they really take it quite seriously. They role that they’re going to play in supporting the trucking industry and the heavy equipment industry. And so it was a great opportunity.

I hope that you enjoyed getting this view of this company, seeing the internal workings of it, and how an company is different and how that impacts the way that they produce the products that they sell. If you are interested in buying AMBAC fuel injection or fuel pumps, head over to our main sponsor, finditparts.com. You’ll be able to find all of their products there. And if you want to learn about them specifically, head to their website ambacinternational.com.

That’s where you can get great information, like cross-reference information and other information you need to identify the parts. And if you need any help at all, just give Heather a call. She’s in customer service. She’s going to answer that phone and you can talk to her directly.

Thank you so much for listening. As always, if you’re enjoying the program, make sure that you head over to heavydutypartsreport.com and give us a follow. We have a weekly email that goes out so you never miss out on any content. If you’re on YouTube, hit that subscribe button, and if you prefer listening to us on whatever podcast player you’re on, make sure you follow us for free. As always, be heavy-duty. Thanks so much. Keep doing what you do. We need you.