Comprehensive Inspections and Accurate Diagnostics Leads to More Uptime
Learn about the need for comprehensive inspections, and accurate diagnostics, and how these can lead to more uptime for fleets.
Episode 190: We are at the HDA Truck Pride Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. Trucks have changed a lot in the last few years but one thing that hasn’t changed is the need for comprehensive inspections and accurate diagnostics.
Today, my guests are Guy Robertson, the VP of Service, and Christy Cozby, the VP of Operations.
Jerry Cozby, the President and Founder of Texas Trucks Direct. started the company in 1982, they are a heavy-duty part sales and service center located in Stephenville, Texas, this year they are celebrating their 40th Anniversary, and they are the TSE of the Year for HDA Truck Pride.
Guest Website: TXTrucksDirect.com
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Transcript of Episode:
Jamie Irvine:
You’re listening to The Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I’m your host, Jamie Irvine. And this is the show where you get expert advice about heavy-duty parts that keeps trucks and trailers on the road longer while lowering cost-per-mile.
So we’re at HDA Truck Pride’s Annual Meeting in beautiful Orlando, Florida. And we are talking a lot about the industry. We’ve been hearing people talk about how technology is changing. Trucks are changing. One thing that hasn’t changed though, is the need for comprehensive inspections and accurate diagnostics. And my guest today is Guy Robertson, VP of Service from Texas Trucks Direct. Now this company was started in 1982. They are a heavy-duty parts and service center and they are celebrating their 40th year and were awarded the TSE of the Year for HDA Truck Pride. Welcome to The Heavy-Duty Parts Report.
Guy Robertson:
Thank you. Good to be here.
Jamie Irvine:
So that’s pretty exciting TSE of the year. You know, we’re talking about trucks, we’re talking about how we need these comprehensive inspections, accurate diagnostics. How would you define comprehensive inspections?
Guy Robertson:
How I discuss it with my team is it’s, you know, people get caught up in how much I’m gonna spend. How much is this, how much, how much, how much, well, the real expense is in not taking care of things ahead of time. In the truck industry downtime is super expensive and it’s a multiplication of it if it doesn’t get handled ahead of time. I teach my guys that if we can do this ahead, then we get to plan when to do it, they get to plan when to do it. And it creates a value for them within that. Particularly in today’s world with the shortage of parts, we can forecast that somewhat and have everything there in line, ready to go get ’em in, get ’em out. Also it’s a big savings on us finding those things before the DOT does. So there they are on the side of the road and they’re like, wow, I wish I would’ve known that. So I think it’s a big service for us to provide, to give them that heads up.
Jamie Irvine:
That makes sense to me. And you know, when you think of the downtime cost, it’s so much more than parts. I mean, you get tow bills, you could have to transfer a load. I mean, there is so many things and the worst thing that can happen really, when you think about it is to have the truck go out there and break down like that and cause all of that disruption for your customer. So diagnostics comes into that because in order to really understand what’s happening with the vehicle and be able to give recommendations, you gotta have accurate diagnostics, but things are getting more complicated. So how are you handling that at your shop?
Guy Robertson:
That is a never-ending, ever evolving situation. We have really worked at embracing that technology. We have purchased pretty much every kind of diagnostic tool there is.
Jamie Irvine:
Well, I know that costs a lot of money.
Guy Robertson:
It does cost a lot of money, but without it, it kind of leaves your hands tied. It’s not just the technology, but the training for the guys as well, you know, to be able to use that technology and utilize it. I like to say trucks now are more like a computer system where the software is really a big, big part. And that software just like a computer needs to be updated, kept up. And there’s like a degree of maintenance within the software in the truck, which is something I never would’ve dreamed I was talking about, you know?
Jamie Irvine:
When we started the industry, everything was mechanical.
Guy Robertson:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s like, you know, beat on it, bend it, make it work. But now it’s a different world. It is crazy. But it is so crucial to have those things up to date and going correctly.
Jamie Irvine:
So when you put this together, comprehensive inspections, accurate diagnostics, of course, this is The Heavy-Duty Parts Report. So we gotta include high-quality replacement parts. When you put that together, you spoke earlier about the high cost of downtime, what’s that economic impact that you’ve seen with your fleets when you’re able to have more uptime?
Guy Robertson:
Yeah. So, well, it also comes back to the human factor of having a satisfied driver. So when you can plan your downtime to correspond with planned downtime, where somebody’s at home resting or enjoying their family versus sitting on the side of the highway, sleeping in a truck that won’t run, you know, that’s a huge thing for driver retention. So it’s all a synergy where it works out one way or it works out the other, you get to choose one way or the other, you either get to plan ahead or you get to deal with the consequences. So going that direction though, it makes it where there’s less pressure. You know, there’s less pressure on the technician to get it done because believe it or not, they feel that when they know the responsibility of getting someone back going, when it’s such a crucial time or they’ve got another load or they’re in the middle of a load, those pressures get relieved. And just it adds back in again. So everything multiplies. So with all that it keeps it straight or it smoothly works out.
Jamie Irvine:
Well, you don’t get to be TSE of the year without understanding some of these things. Guy, thank you so much. We’re gonna take a quick break. We’ll be right back. Don’t have a heavy-duty part number and need to look up a part? Go to parts.diesellaptops.com or download the app on Apple or Android to create your free account. Looking for high-quality fuel injection for heavy-duty applications? Having one supplier for fuel injection allows you to better serve customers by providing them with a complete line, which increases your sales and profitability. Learn more at ambacinternational.com/aftermarket. We’re back from our break. And before the break, we were talking with Guy from Texas Trucks Direct, he is their vice president of service, and now we have Christy our Vice President of Operations. And we’re gonna talk a little bit about the impact of being an HDA Truck Pride member and what kind of an impact that’s had on your business. So, Christy, thank you so much for taking some time to talk with us.
Christy Cozby:
Yeah. Thanks for having us.
Jamie Irvine:
First of all, what does it mean to your business since you’ve become a member of HDR project?
Christy Cozby:
You know, we were always that family owned business. And so when you see names like Meritor and these huge names and you’ll think never, never will I have an opportunity to have them in my house, to talk to them. And so with HDA Truck Pride, I mean, there’s nothing you can’t get. You know, you’ve got your Milwaukee tools now and God, you just wouldn’t have thought, I mean, even 10 years ago that these people would talk to us, you know, be in our stores. And so it’s really bought a wide variety and quality of parts to our business that we really needed.
Jamie Irvine:
That’s fantastic. How have you leveraged that to help your customers? It’s one thing for it to help your business. And I’m very happy to hear that. But at the end of the day, it’s about the fleets, the owner operators, they’re the backbone of society and the trucking industry. So how have you leveraged all of this to help them?
Christy Cozby:
We are a TSE for HDA. So we actually have a customer, two of ours that are TSE’s as well. So that gets them access to the HDA training and so on. And I think with all of the HDA logos we have over our store, they get our parts, they see that they’re quality. They see that we’re gonna stand behind what we do and they connect the two that HDA Texas Trucks Direct that just equals quality.
Jamie Irvine:
That’s awesome. When you think about the journey that you’ve been on this year, you’re the TSE of the year. I mean, that’s award winning now. You’re award winning in this organization. How awesome is that? It is about time, but as you reflect back, maybe just share with us, like, what’s one thing that, you know, that you were doing already that helped you to win this award.
Christy Cozby:
I thought about this one a lot, but I didn’t because it all comes down to our technicians and you can get a part. But if you’re not, you know, a technician, a good technician, that’s going to go through the steps through the motions. You can have the best part in the world, but without our employees and our techs and our service writers, that’s an easy answer. That’s employees hands down.
Jamie Irvine:
I agree with you so much. I mean, at the end of the day, I remember when I was new in this business and my mentor told me this is a people business, no matter what happens, it’s always gonna be a people. Business technology is changing the industry, it’s changing trucks, but we’re still gonna go back to people. And I absolutely agree with you. So you’ve been at the show now for a few days, and as people will be able to hear, there’s a lot of activity. What’s one thing that you just love about being at these annual meetings?
Christy Cozby:
You know, when we’re at work, we’re, so into the day-to-day operation, you kind of have your blinders on. And so when you get here and you get away from the noise of the day-to-day and you, you can shake people’s hands and see people you haven’t seen since last year.
Jamie Irvine:
Or because of COVID two years ago.
Christy Cozby:
Yeah. Anytime I say, I’ve gotta double that because I forget about, so if I said a year it’s, it’s been two. So with HDA, you know, they’re bringing in new suppliers. And so it’s like, oh yes, like IPD is here today. I think that’s our first visit after here. We’re really excited for that. And the networking portion of HDA is just as important as the parts aspect. It’s just amazing.
Jamie Irvine:
You’ve been listening to The Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I’m your host, Jamie Irvine. And we’ve been speaking with Christy and Guy from Texas Trucks Direct. They’re an award-winning shop in Texas, and I am very happy to have had the chance to talk to you. If you’d like to learn more about their business, go to TXtrucksdirect.com. Links will be in the show notes. Christy, thank you for being on The Heavy-Duty Parts Report. So glad to have you.
