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Home Under The Hood A Different Approach to Parts and Service for the Trucking Industry

A Different Approach to Parts and Service for the Trucking Industry

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The transportation industry forms the backbone of Canada's economy, yet it often operates quietly in the background of our daily lives. Parts for Trucks, a 100-year-old company with deep Canadian roots, has expanded coast-to-coast to become a critical partner for those keeping our nation's supply chain moving. With 32 locations spanning from Grand Falls, Newfoundland to Surrey, British Columbia, this Canadian-owned heavy-duty parts and service provider is uniquely positioned to address the industry's most pressing challenges.

The company's president, Luke McKenzie, explains their mission clearly: "Parts for Trucks is here to do two things. The first is trying to help the Canadian transportation industry be more efficient and more productive and stronger." This focus resonates throughout their operations, from parts counter interactions to complex service diagnostics. They recognize that when transportation companies succeed, all Canadians benefit through more efficient delivery of essential goods and services across our vast nation.

What sets Parts for Trucks apart in the competitive heavy-duty marketplace is their comprehensive approach to customer support. Unlike parts-only operations, they maintain service facilities that provide crucial insights into real-world equipment issues. This hands-on experience informs their parts recommendations, ensuring customers receive not just what they ask for, but what they genuinely need. Branch manager Matt Pounder emphasizes the importance of active listening at the parts counter, taking time to understand each customer's specific situation before recommending solutions that balance quality with budget constraints.

The service side of the business demonstrates an equally thoughtful approach. Service manager Sam LeBlanc describes how their technicians conduct thorough root cause analysis rather than simply replacing failed parts. This methodology prevents recurring failures and the expensive downtime they cause. In one remarkable example, when a customer faced a 3-6 month backorder for a critical lighting module, the service team engineered a custom bypass solution rather than leaving the truck inoperable. This proactive problem-solving mentality translates into significant cost savings for fleets and owner-operators alike.

Behind these customer-facing operations lies a substantial investment in personnel development. Parts for Trucks employs over 650 heavy-duty professionals, many of whom have advanced through the company's ranks thanks to dedicated training programs. They're also addressing the industry-wide technician shortage through in-house development initiatives. As McKenzie notes, "Having that sort of intimate knowledge of what the technician needs to do a good job, what a service shop needs to keep trucks on the road and get them back on the road faster, allows us to do a better job as a parts distributor as well."

Looking toward the future, Parts for Trucks continues to expand its nationwide presence while investing in digital tools that make doing business easier. They advocate for the independent service channel through industry associations, fighting for right-to-repair principles that benefit the entire transportation ecosystem. Most importantly, they remain committed to their Canadian identity and understand the unique challenges faced by trucking operations across our diverse geography and climate conditions.

For those in the heavy-duty transportation industry, the message is clear: Parts for Trucks isn't simply selling components—they're invested in your success. Through comprehensive product knowledge, diagnostic expertise, and a genuine commitment to keeping equipment running efficiently, they've positioned themselves as true partners to the vital industry that keeps Canada moving forward.

Episode Summary

Episode 3: In this episode, host Jamie Irvine and his guests provide a comprehensive overview of the company’s capabilities and its commitment to the Canadian trucking industry. Featuring interviews with Luke McKenzie, Matt Pounder, and Sam LeBlanc, their discussions emphasize the company’s mission to make business easier for our customers and the ways that Parts For Trucks is changing the parts and service industry in Canada.

Available on PartsForTrucks.com/podcast, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms.

Key Topics Covered

Resources Mentioned

Guest Bios

Disclaimer: The Parts For Trucks podcast is produced by Parts for Trucks, Inc for informational and entertainment purposes only. The content, opinions, and views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or positions of Parts For Trucks, Inc. Read more...

Transcript

Luke MacKenzie: 0:00

However, they want to buy from us. We want it to be really easy and frictionless, and we think by focusing on those areas we can continue to solidify ourselves as the best partner for our customers when they're looking for heavy-duty parts and service in Canada.

Jamie Irvine: 0:15

You're listening to the Parts for Trucks podcast. My name is Jamie Irvine, National Sales Director at Parts for Trucks and your host. In future episodes of the Parts for Trucks podcast, you are going to walk away with tools, strategies and knowledge to help make your job easier, cut costs and elevate your already stellar performance in the heavy-duty trucking industry. In this episode, we wanted to give you an overview of what Parts for Trucks can do for you.

Introduction: 0:52

Welcome to the Parts for Trucks podcast, where we explore the latest trends, technologies and strategies in the heavy-duty trucking industry. Each episode you'll hear from industry experts to help keep your trucks on the road and your business thriving. Now let's get into gear. Here's your host, jamie Urban.

Jamie Irvine: 1:10

First, let me give you a quick overview of our company as it stands today. At the time of recording, which is in early 2025, we are coast to coast with 32 locations, but we are growing. So if you're watching this a little, later these numbers may have expanded. We have two distribution centers right now one in the east, one in the west, 16 part stores, we have 12 parts and service locations, three trailer shops and over 650 dedicated heavy duty professionals working every day to support the Canadian trucking industry. Now, that's all fine and good, but how does this translate into something for you, the customers of Parts for Trucks? Well, let's get into it.

Jamie Irvine: 1:56

In this episode, I'm going to share with you three interviews one with the president of our company, Luke McKenzie. We're also going to talk to one of our branch managers that really has a Luke McKenzie. We're also going to talk to one of our branch managers that really has a parts focus. And we're also going to talk to one of our service managers who can talk to us about how things work in our service shops. I'm really looking forward to sharing all three of these conversations with you today in this episode, so that you can get a better idea of what Parts for Trucks can do for you. I'd like to introduce you to Luke McKenzie, president of Parts for Trucks. Luke, welcome to the Parts for Trucks podcast. Hi, Jamie, Thank you. So, Luke, let me ask you a question, and this might not be the question most people will expect, but I think it's an important one to really set the stage for our conversation today. Why does Parts for Trucks exist? I'd say I like that question.

Luke MacKenzie: 2:50

We try and talk about it every time we have the team together, because selling heavy-duty truck parts and service is not the most glamorous job in the world, not the most glamorous industry to be in, but we love it, Our team loves it and we like to talk about why it's really important. So Parts for Trucks is here to do two things. The first one is trying to help the Canadian transportation industry be more efficient and more productive and stronger, and we think that's really important because you know, as Canadians, you know a strong transportation industry helps everybody. You know our customers are out there, they're. You know they're plowing the streets, they're dealing with the refuse, they're building infrastructure, they're transporting critical minerals and fuels, they're hauling groceries to the grocery store. And if we can make that industry more productive, more efficient, reduce costs for the whole supply chain and we play a little small part of that we feel like we're helping Canadians and the Canadian economy be stronger.

Luke MacKenzie: 3:58

The second reason that we exist, I think, is to be a strong and growing Canadian company and we're really proud that we're building a big national player in this industry in Canada that's headquartered right here in Canada. We're not a public company out of Atlanta, Georgia, or out of Dallas, Texas, or something like that. Our head office is here in're and we're trying to build a company that creates, you know, great opportunities for our team members, right? We love talking about stories about team members who have started out working in a warehouse for us and, are you know, over the years have progressed and now, are you know, in some of the most senior positions in the company. It's exciting to be to be able to provide that for our team well, that's a great answer.

Jamie Irvine: 4:45

Um, speaking of our coast to coast network that we've now built, let's talk a little bit about how parts for trucks coast to coast really helps our customers. So think about it from grand falls, newfoundland, to surrey, british columbia, coast to coast. Now we we have this network of parts and service centers. How do we go about helping our customers? Let's break it down by a few categories. So, first of all, talk to me about access to products.

Luke MacKenzie: 5:15

We're a distributor and is the majority of our business.

Luke MacKenzie: 5:18

The way I look at it is. Our job is to go out and partner with the best manufacturers or providers of the parts that our customers are looking for, figure out what the best solutions are out there in the marketplace for our customers and work with those you know, good vendor partners, to bring the right products and have them in the right spots In all of our different locations across Canada. You know we've all gone through a ton of supply chain issues over the last couple of years. There's been lots of change in where products are coming from and more offshore products or different solutions for problems. We see ourselves as the curator for our customers to say we've done all the work. We understand what problems you have as a fleet or as a customer and we've got something to serve your needs. And being a growing national company allows us to have all that access. No matter what vendor or what part of the world the product might be coming from, we've got the ability to access that, get it for our customers and have it when they need it.

Jamie Irvine: 6:23

Yeah, and that's so important because it ties back to why the company exists. If we are able to provide our customers with the right products the first time, the product that's going to keep them on the road longer, help them lower their total cost of operation, avoid unscheduled downtime that has a trickle down effect into really helping us to accomplish our mission to support the industry. Now you got to have parts, but then you also have to be able to fix the equipment. Talk to me a little bit about how our company provides services to our customers nationwide.

Luke MacKenzie: 6:56

It's been a real key strategy of ours to be committed to not only selling the parts and doing the distribution side, but also running service and repair shops.

Luke MacKenzie: 7:08

It does two things for us as a company, I think, that are important to our customers. One is they're always looking for help with service. You go anywhere in the industry and there are not enough technicians out there, and it's tough to find reliable service partners. If you're tied into a particular brand of truck manufacturer dealership group, there's not a lot of coast-to-coast support, and so we think that that's a real advantage to our customers is being able to talk to one service provider and be able to get a certain consistency of service, no matter where they are across Canada. And then being involved in service gives us a lot of insight into what our customers are looking for. So whether we're putting the part on or they're putting the part on, having that sort of intimate knowledge of what the technician needs to do a good job, what a service shop needs to keep trucks on the road and get them back on the road faster, allows us to do a better job as a parts distributor as well.

Jamie Irvine: 8:04

Yeah, that's a great point because I think that in my past times when I've worked with a parts-only company, we were always missing that piece. We didn't have the ability just to pick up the phone and talk to someone and say, hey, listen, what's the upstream diagnostic issues that come with this product, or what are you seeing with failure analysis at the shop level? That really guides us in our decisions around products and it also, I think it helps us, from a strategic position, make more informed decisions that help us to position the company to take care of our customers at the highest level possible. Now, all of this can't happen without access to good information. Talk to me about how, as a company, we're able to bring information to our customers. That's really valuable.

Luke MacKenzie: 8:49

I think everybody recognizes that in our organization there's a ton of really critical experience and knowledge and information trapped in the experienced, long-term employees that we've got working in our shops or working on our counters or in every different part of the organization and it's a real constraint on our business and our ability to sell to our customers and our customers' ability to buy from us is oftentimes, in this industry, you got to talk to somebody who really knows what they're talking about.

Luke MacKenzie: 9:33

Google is not much help to the heavy-duty industry today, like it would be in a lot of other different industries, and get it on whether it's internal tools for our sales, for new salespeople, new counter people in our own organization, or whether it's external tools all that product knowledge and product data and information basically digitized so that we can apply all those great tools out there like e-commerce or AI or whatever it is that our customers are looking for us to help provide to them so that they can do a better job making the right part selection, so they're not making mistakes, doing it twice. We want them to do it right the first time.

Jamie Irvine: 10:27

Even this podcast is an extension of that effort to make information available. You know, as time goes on, we are building this library of content that people will be able to consume. We'll have subject matter experts. We'll have both internally, from within our company, as well as with our vendors and other subject matter experts. This is a great opportunity for us to aggregate all of this data and to make it available to our customers in multiple formats so that whatever they need they can get access. So, whether it's our e-commerce platform with a lot of detailed product information, it's the podcast, it's the how-to articles, the internal training, the external training, there's a major effort here by Parts for Trucks to really empower our customers, and this ties back to our why. We've talked about products, we've talked about services and information. Is there anything else that comes to mind that Parts for Trucks is able to do, now that we've expanded to this coast-to-coast footprint?

Luke MacKenzie: 11:22

Sure, I think it kind of builds on both parts.

Luke MacKenzie: 11:25

The other piece is developing talent for the industry, for ourselves and just the industry in general.

Luke MacKenzie: 11:30

Right Again, I mentioned it before, one of the big constraints that our customers have is just having the talent available, whether it's to sell the part, source the part or, most importantly probably, install the part, the technician shortage that we're all familiar with.

Luke MacKenzie: 11:52

We're of a size now where we can dedicate some key resources and some key corporate investment time in trying to solve that problem, not just for us but even for our customers in some cases. So that takes the form for us of internal technician training and mentorship programs yeah, of internal technician training and mentorship programs. Yeah, rather than just relying on the provincial trade schools and this more traditional process of apprenticeship and licensing of technicians, we're trying to really dedicate some internal resources, full-time trainers We've got a couple across Canada now that are really focused on helping develop our technician group, get through the licensing process, be able to do more and become more productive, more proficient, more efficient, basically build capacity to do more service. And I think over the next couple of years we'll have the opportunity to expand that into our customers and help our customers with that same problem, luke.

Jamie Irvine: 12:44

Let's talk for a minute about the importance of really maintaining our Canadian voice. And so now Parts for Trucks is in a unique position to be able to advocate on behalf of the Canadian trucking industry and the interests that are important to Canadians. One example would be the ongoing fight for right to repair. So we are part of the independent service channel, and without the independent service channel, there really would be a major constraint on the industry and I think that would hurt us. So talk to me a little bit about how Parts for Trucks is now uniquely positioned to advocate on behalf of the Canadian trucking industry.

Luke MacKenzie: 13:26

Absolutely. I think, as an aftermarket distributor and service provider, it's clear that the right to repair, the right choice about where they want to source their parts, or you know who they want to deal with to provide parts and maintenance for their vehicles. You know it would be a significant cost and availability issue if the aftermarket didn't exist. And so you know, through our membership in our Buy Power Buying Group and the Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network, which is a great advocate for right to repair both in the US and Canada, you know I think we're trying to do our part to help support that movement Right, because I think it dovetails nicely into our, you know, our desire really to be helping Canada's transportation industry be more productive.

Jamie Irvine: 14:27

So we've been talking to Luke McKenzie, president of Parts for Trucks, and, as we were talking about the various ways Parts for Trucks supports its customers, I wanted to share with you a conversation that I had with one of our branch managers, matt Pounder. Now, matt has a deep background on the operational side of the business. He's a parts person through and through. He really understands how things work at the parts level, and so I wanted to share that conversation with you. Now I'd like to introduce you to Matt Pounder, branch manager for Parts for Trucks in the Central Region. Now he has worked for both our Montreal and Ottawa locations.

Jamie Irvine: 15:05

Matt, welcome to the Parts for Trucks podcast. So glad to have you here. I'm happy to be here. Thanks, jamie. So today we get to talk about a subject that is close to my heart, which is parts. I've been in the parts business since 1998. My mentor always told me that you don't just sell them what they ask for. You sell them what they need. This is something our parts departments, coast to coast, are striving to do and, matt, I'm looking forward to talking to you about how we help our customers. Let's kick off the conversation first by talking about how we, as a group on the parts counter really work to help our customers get the specific parts they need. Walk me through how it works when someone comes to Parts for Trucks.

Matt Pounder: 15:54

Yeah, great question. Step one I think part of the biggest thing with identifying what a customer needs is really just listening and understanding fully understanding what the customer is looking for. So oftentimes they're not calling in or coming to the counter with a whole lot of knowledge or about the parts that they're looking for. So they won't have part numbers, they won't have necessarily everything that you need to identify a part. So really asking good follow-up questions and understanding what they need is the key really.

Jamie Irvine: 16:35

Yeah, I would totally agree with that, that act of listening. I think sometimes it's easy to make assumptions, right, but when you're on the counter and the counter is a dynamic place You've got people coming into the store, you've got the phone ringing, so sometimes there can be this proclivity to kind of rush and to judgment. But I think that that slowing down just a little bit, asking that one or two extra questions Is this for a truck, is this for a trailer? Why is this part needing to be changed? You know what are you guys working on, you know with this vehicle, like what's the vocation, just getting a bit of understanding can go a long way. Okay, so after you've taken that step of active listening, walk me through kind of the way that most parts people will approach, trying to identify not just the part number but the right type of product, right, maybe it's quality, maybe it's performance characteristics.

Matt Pounder: 17:44

How do our parts people do that? An original part, an OE part, or someone who's a little bit more price conscious, something in interchange for that, an aftermarket product, good quality but at a more affordable cost? So we run through those options with the customer, give them the pros and cons to each, I suppose, and they'll base their decision off that.

Jamie Irvine: 18:09

Yeah, and I think that's an ongoing effort in education right, and especially when you're dealing with owner-operators or you're dealing with smaller fleets, they may not have as many resources available to them, as much data available to them as maybe a larger fleet would. So I think the parts person plays a really important role there fleet would. So I think the parts person plays like a really important role there and that's really where a relationship is forged, isn't it Between the customer and people on our counter, because as the customer grows in knowledge themselves because this parts person's helping them, then they make better decisions and this has a positive impact on their business and I think that's where the trust and the bond comes from between customers and parts people on the counter. What do you think about that?

Matt Pounder: 18:55

Yeah, definitely. And you talking about the difference between the larger fleets and the owner operators, like you say, there's relationships to be forged on both fronts. So the larger fleets are going to call in or send an email with 30 part numbers give me X amount of each ready to go easy peasy. There's still a relationship. They still want that team effort between the two of you, so to speak. And then same could be said, or maybe a little bit more work on that owner-operator side who might need a little bit more of your help, a little bit more direction. That is another relationship that's extremely important to grow and build off of, just as much as the large fleets Relationship is very important.

Jamie Irvine: 19:42

So let's talk about how our parts people develop and hone these skills and get this knowledge. So let's first of all talk about kind of a traditional pathway through our company where someone might start as, like, a delivery driver or working in the warehouse and then end up on the counter. How does that pathway work and why is that such a good way to learn the parts business?

Matt Pounder: 20:04

Yeah, definitely so. Starting in the warehouse, as as people typically do, that's a good way to get your hands on the parts, kind of see what's coming in, what you carry, delivery driver, kind of on the same level. You're going to go out, you're going to see the customer base. Still have your hands on those parts. Great way to learn. Moving into the counter that's where you're really going to get the brunt of your knowledge. If you don't already have some. That's where you're really going to get the brunt of your knowledge. If you don't already have some, that's where you're going to find it. That kind of trial by fire mentality, where you're living it. You're kind of put in a position where you need to find what the customer is looking for, whether that be on your own, through catalogs or whatnot, or with the help of the team around you.

Jamie Irvine: 20:49

Yeah, and the more experienced people on the counter. They're such an invaluable resource to our younger, newer parts people, because they've been there, they've seen that and they cannot just teach them, maybe, what the part number is, because a lot of that information they've memorized, but they can actually teach our parts people how to find it on their own, and I think that's an important piece to it. Now, the company has invested in a lot of resources, so let's talk first about the interactions we have with our vendors on training and then we'll talk a little bit about the learning management system that we've put in place. So when you were learning the business, how valuable did you find the work that you did? When, let's say, a vendor came to one of your stores and put on a lunch and learn or a training program, how important was that to enhance your knowledge?

Matt Pounder: 21:38

So yeah, they come in with so much knowledge of their part. It really kind of accelerates your ability to learn and then your ability to help a customer and upsell or sell that product accordingly.

Jamie Irvine: 21:52

Yeah to what they need, right, and so that's where the vendor relationships that our company has developed over many, many years really comes to play. It's one of the assets that we can bring to our customers. Another thing is the internal training that we're doing, right, matt. So we've invested in an entire training department, we have a learning management system, and this kind of collaboration between our vendors and the internal training that we do is really helping our parts people to really understand the business and serve our customers at a higher level. Let's talk about a time recently where we went above and beyond to help a customer, and this isn't something that's really a one-off, this is kind of the norm, but I'd like you to tell that one story of something that happened recently that really illustrates how we serve our customers at the highest level and we try to make it easy for them to do business with us. Share that with us.

Matt Pounder: 22:45

One that's top of mind. That kind of happened quite recently. We had a big snowfall here in Ottawa, in the Montreal area as well. So Jesse, the OSR here in Ottawa, one of his customers was waiting for some wiper arms that they needed in anticipation.

Jamie Irvine: 23:03

Kind of important when the snow is coming.

Matt Pounder: 23:06

Exactly yeah. So they had some downed trucks that absolutely needed these wiper arms and waiting for them all week. So Friday afternoon comes around, jesse's leaving the branch. He communicated with the warehouse staff, with the parts staff when these wiper arms come in, just call me. Whatever time it is, just so happens they show up that night on a Friday Right. So before leaving Saturday morning he called, uh, called his customer and said listen, I need to go grab him. I'm going to bring him to you. Is there anything else that you need right now? And they said we're completely out of def. I need def. You know what I mean. So he he called into the branch, made sure you know again they work together. Everything was ready to go and he was able to bring those wiper arms and the depth to a customer that absolutely needed it.

Jamie Irvine: 23:54

Yeah, and so this is exactly what I think is so great about the way that we operate right. We don't just sell you what you ask for. We give you what you need. We're willing to take that extra step to make it easy to do business with us and get you what you need when you need it, and I just think it's a good example. It's just a great story, so thank you for sharing that, matt. So, matt, thank you so much for taking a few minutes away from your busy day to talk to us about how things work on the parts counter. Really appreciate you coming on the podcast. I have a feeling you might be back on future episodes.

Matt Pounder: 24:31

Looking forward to it. It was a lot of fun, and thanks for having me on, jamie, I appreciate it.

Jamie Irvine: 24:35

Well, as we discussed with Matt Pounder, branch manager at Parts for Trucks, you don't fix equipment without parts, but then you can't have the parts installed without the service side of the business, and so now we're going to talk to one of our service managers who can give us a perspective on what they do at the service level to take care of our customers. I hope you enjoy our conversation with Sam LeBlanc. I'd like to introduce you to Sam LeBlanc. He is a service manager for Parts for Trucks in our eastern region out of our Moncton location. Sam, welcome to the Parts for Trucks podcast.

Sam LeBlanc: 25:13

Thanks, great to be here.

Jamie Irvine: 25:14

So you are working in the service department. What I'd like to do is I'd like to start our conversation off by asking you this how do you and your team help your customers to identify the root cause of failures that they're experiencing with their equipment?

Sam LeBlanc: 25:33

Well, first off, when we get an issue that comes in, usually have a good chat with the customer to make sure that we're actually going to be diagnosing what the concern is. You'll have some units that come in that sometimes have more than one issue and maybe they don't want to fix certain issues but they're concerned about other issues. So once we got that determined, that we know what we're looking, we then start diagnostics and end up finding whether it's a mechanical fault like a part wiring. But once you find, once we get to the bottom of it and find out what the problem is, that's where we've got to kind of step back and investigate a little bit, if you want to see if it's just a part failure or if there's something that caused that part to fail. Because if something did cause a part to fail and we just put a new part on there, it's going to be good for a while.

Sam LeBlanc: 26:26

But customer is going to be back with the same issue, not far down road, and then he's down for a second. But the customer is going to be back with the same issue, not far down the road, then he's down for a second time, paying for the same issue a second time. What we usually do is you step back and you figure out what was the root cause. Is it just a part or did something cause this part to fail? And if something did cause the part to fail, that's where we've got to go the extra mile and investigate a little bit more to find out if the problem was caused by a ride height or any other issues that would affect the part that failed. And that way there, when you get it fixed and a customer gets it back, it's a proper fix fix the issue and the cause of the issues. So prevents comebacks and makes the customer extremely happy that we didn't just replace a part so it can fail again in a couple of weeks.

Jamie Irvine: 27:16

As equipment has become more complex and there's more electronics, there's more just overall, the equipment is not like it was maybe when you and I started, when things were a little more mechanical. I know that the introduction of systems like after treatment I mean we've had it for 15 plus years and yet still I know that people sometimes are blaming the DPF and it's an upstream issue with the turbo or something like that. I've seen like with friction material and brakes. I used to do a lot with brakes and we'd have customers who would burn the brakes up in six months and it's like they're just buying the wrong product for the application. So, again, not looking at the whole picture when making decisions around parts and service as equipment has become more complex, how have you adapted your approach to diagnostics to really ensure that you are getting to the root cause?

Sam LeBlanc: 28:24

We have quite a few experienced tech that's done quite a bit of training on some of that stuff, and it's not, like you say, just the fact of, oh, there's a bad sensor that could be suited because the turbo is not working properly or is a leaking injector, or so. To go the extra mile, say, and not just focus on what the actual faulty part is, but what caused that part to fail and that comes along with training it's where the diagnostic starts, it's having a good understanding of how the system works and not just focus on the broken part but what caused it.

Jamie Irvine: 28:56

Yeah, and you made a good point too, like the customer's reaction to doing a proper root cause analysis. On the one hand you might give them some bad news and they have more repairs than they were planning, but on the other side of that coin really is the fact that when that vehicle leaves the shop one of our shops our customers don't have to worry about a breakdown in a few hours or a few days where they have unscheduled downtime, maybe a tow bill or a mobile repair bill, more parts that they have to put into the vehicle. That little bit of extra time and effort spent on identifying that root cause and helping them fix the problem permanently saves them so much when things go wrong, when you just kind of do that shotgun repair approach right.

Sam LeBlanc: 29:41

Yeah, oh, 100%. And that's what we like to do to separate ourselves from just say parts changers. That's go the extra mile for the customer and actually fix the root cause of why the issue happened. Not just fix the problem, but fix the cause of the problem.

Jamie Irvine: 29:58

So, for our regular customers that are bringing their equipment to our shops on a regular basis, talk to me a little bit about how you approach preventative maintenance with those customers to help them to avoid that costly downtime that we spoke about previously.

Sam LeBlanc: 30:13

Yeah, preventative maintenance is always a good topic to discuss with customers because some customers see it as an extra expense that they got to fork up when there's not an issue with the truck or the trailer. But to sit down and talk to them to get them to realize that preventative maintenance is not going to prevent breakdowns to happen, it's not to prevent any parts from breaking. But if it's done properly, when you come in for a service and we look the vehicle over, we might be able to notice something that is about to break or something that's going to cause a problem and you can schedule it properly. Instead of having, say, break down inside of the road where you got to do a mobile call, you can schedule it in once the customer's done his work shift. Drop it off after he's done, we fix it. He doesn't have any downtime and he's going trucking the next day.

Sam LeBlanc: 31:03

When you can get them to understand that part of it, they're usually quite thankful. And when you give them a bill or you give them a check and say you're going to need a U-joint or you're going to need an airbag, finish your day, bring it back tomorrow and we'll get it fixed for you. They're usually pretty happy when they can bring the unit in. It doesn't affect their day because they were able to make plans ahead of time. And then they get back to unit the next day or a couple hours later and they're back on trucking. So it's a good approach when you can get them to understand what it can bring to you.

Jamie Irvine: 31:38

Yeah Well, I mean, like I said, you start adding up unscheduled downtime. Right Inside of that you might have hotel bills, those mobile repairs, tow bills. You might have lost revenue with your customer as the fleet or the owner operator who operates the truck. This is a work vehicle after all. This is not a vehicle that's just a spare kicking around. You know they're relying on this for their income. So, yeah, I think it's so important. It sounds to me like a lot of proactive work is going into making our service shops capable of performing both root cause analysis and preventative maintenance. You talked about training. You talked about proactively talking with the customers and identifying issues ahead of time. So that proactive approach seems to be part of the formula for success, would you not agree?

Sam LeBlanc: 32:23

Oh, 100%. Like I say, doing all that stuff for the customer makes it easier for the customer. At the end they come in, they drop their unit off for an inspection of what sort and they know that they're confident that once we're done they're going to be leaving hassle-free, don't have to worry about the thing breaking down, not done properly. So it's at the end of the day it makes it way easier for the customer. Once we've got it scheduled out, they come in for their appointment. We check it out. They come in when we're done. When we're done we'll let them know. They come pick it up and it's an effortless situation. Basically, just so prevents their downtime. They're out on truck more and at the end of the day they're making more money because if they get breakdowns and stuff like, say, all the costs, that extra cost that comes with it, the downtime, it adds up fast. Yeah, it sure does.

Jamie Irvine: 33:22

You know that's part of our mission to make it easier for our customers to do business, not just with us, but for them to have an easier time operating their business and being successful. People love to hear stories of this kind of thing. I think that carries a lot of weight. Could you share with us one story recently of how you had a customer that had an issue, that came to the shop and one of our people went the extra mile to take care of them?

Sam LeBlanc: 33:49

I have a few, but there's one that comes to mind that happened a couple of months back. A customer came in. It was a simple light issue. He had park lights on his vehicle but his brakes weren't working. No brake lights and blinkers working on and off. So we brought it in, started looking at the unit. It had a bad module, light module on the unit. Easy fix, unplug a couple of connectors, unbolt it, put a new one in.

Sam LeBlanc: 34:18

Problem was that module was backordered three to six months oh no so my tech that was working on it was kind of looking at the wiring diagram and approached me and said I'm pretty sure that if we do a little bit of wiring to this thing that we can bypass the module until we get the new one in to get them back on the road instead of parking the unit for three to six months, right?

Sam LeBlanc: 34:44

So I had a chat with the customer, explained to him what we're going to do, what we're going to try to do, and he said yeah, this is, if you can, if you can make it happen, go for it. So me and my tech we sat down, we kind of put a wiring diagram together so we know what we were doing. And we went to town and wired the thing so put a junction box in there. So it was done properly, it was sealed and we were successful in bypassing it. Everything worked properly. So customer was down, lost his unit for two days, picked it up the next day, ran it for four months, then how long it took for the module to come in. So essentially the truck would have been down for four months if we wouldn't have gone the extra mile and try to do something for this unit because couldn't drive it without brakes or blinkers on the unit.

Jamie Irvine: 35:34

Yeah, yeah, for the sake of just a simple module, right? So I think that's a great example of where, again, what I'm hearing is this proactive approach to maintenance and repairs that we bring to our customers when they bring their equipment to our shops. This is one of the ways that we make it easier for people to do business with us and to operate their business. Sam, thank you so much for taking the time. I know you're a busy man, so I'll let you get back to the shop, but I really appreciate you coming on the podcast and talking to us about how our service departments are operated nationwide, coast to coast.

Sam LeBlanc: 36:09

Now, All right, not a problem, jamie, I was glad to be on here.

Jamie Irvine: 36:13

So now you've heard from both the parts department and the service department, let's go back and talk to Luke a little bit more about where the company's going in the future. Parts for Trucks is a very old company. It's been around for over 100 years. There's a wonderful legacy there. I think it's a real honor for all of us to continue this legacy and move it forward. Talk to me a little bit about what our customers can expect from Parts for Trucks in the future.

Luke MacKenzie: 36:41

Yeah, well, like I say, we're really proud of the legacy that we've built over the past 100 years and we're really proud of being a Canadian-owned and operated business and we're really proud that we've grown the network from coast to coast over the last couple of years. I guess next for us is really investing in a couple of different areas. We're trying to better support our fleet customers by having the right locations across Canada in all the right markets. We've got 32 points of sale from coast to coast today. There's still quite a few spots we'd like to be in to help better serve our customers in various geographic areas.

Luke MacKenzie: 37:22

The other thing is really investing in growing talent.

Luke MacKenzie: 37:26

We have over 600 great talented counter folks, technicians, warehouse administrative folks from coast to coast, and one of the big constraints on our ability to look after our customers is growing that pool of talent.

Luke MacKenzie: 37:42

So we're really investing a lot in training internally and add to our capacity to be able to look after our customers. And then I think the final piece is investing in tools to reduce our customers' friction when it comes to selecting the right parts and service for their business, and we want to be the easiest to buy from when it comes to the heavy duty industry across Canada, and that means investing in the right equipment, whether that's the right delivery vehicles to the right e-commerce platform, to the right phone and communication systems. And we want our customers to be able to buy from us and talk to us and visit us in any way that they want to, whether it's text, email, online, in person. However they want to buy from us, we want it to be really easy and frictionless and we think by focusing on those areas, we can continue to, you know, solidify ourselves as the best partner for our customers when they're looking for heavy-duty parts and service in Canada.

Jamie Irvine: 38:42

You know, as you talk about that, it makes me think of our conversation with our CEO, corey Miller, in episode two. He talked about how that is a mission for us to make it easy for our customers to do business with us. When I now hear what you're talking about, what the future looks like right Investment in people, locations, tools, but really, at the end of the day, all of that work one important piece to the puzzle is also to have our customers communicate with us. So we really want to hear from you. If there's something specific that we can do to make it easier for you to do business with us, please don't hesitate to let us know. Luke, we've had this great opportunity to chat and discuss the company and what people can expect from Parts for Trucks. If there's just one thing you want to leave people with, what's that one thing?

Luke MacKenzie: 39:30

The transportation industry in Canada is such an important part of everyone's lives and, even if it's not a real sexy industry to be in, it's important and we're really proud of being an important part of an important industry and we're really excited about what the future will bring when it comes to our ability to do a great job, looking after our customers and keeping them on the road and keeping Canada and Canadians strong.

Jamie Irvine: 39:58

Yeah, the trucking industry is the backbone of our society. Without it, people's lives and our way of life hang in the balance, and so it's a great honor for us to support the industry, and it was really great to have you on the podcast today. Thanks so much, luke. I have a feeling we'll probably see you once or twice more on the show.

Luke MacKenzie: 40:15

Yeah, great. Thank you, jamie. Great to be here.

Jamie Irvine: 40:17

You've been listening to the parts or trucks podcast. I'm your host, Jamie Irvin. In this third episode, we got to learn about what Parts for Trucks can do for you. In our next episode, we're going to talk about the only thing that is keeping 80,000 pounds of steel from crashing into you and your family on the streets and highways here in Canada. If you want to learn what that is, head over to partsfortruckscom slash podcast and make sure you subscribe to either our YouTube channel or the podcast player of your choice so that you don't miss out on our next episode. Thank you for tuning into this episode of the Parts for Trucks podcast and, as always, I want to thank you for being heavy duty.