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| April 2008 |
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Cover Story: Globalization
By Erin Sund
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 If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them
With a struggling economy, astronomically high diesel fuel prices and slowed truck sales, it’s easy to lose sleep if you’re in the trucking industry. As independent distributors increasingly find themselves in the midst of a globally diverse, technologically advanced marketplace, some are fretting both the future of the industry and, more personally, their own business outlooks.
The heavy-duty aftermarket is aging. Distributors who have drawn youth into their businesses can count themselves lucky, and if this next generation successfully builds on the company’s prosperity by catapulting the company into the global marketplace, they are truly fortunate.
Such is Wayne Built Inc.’s happy fate. Wayne Bramlette, the founder of Wayne Built, has 37 years of experience building and repairing trucks, and supplying truck parts to the heavy-duty transportation industry. His son, Rob Bramlette, has been with the company for more than 20 years. Rob Bramlette’s familiarity with the industry, paired with his technological knowledge, enabled him to bring Wayne Built to the global market through FleetTruckParts.com, a website providing truck part pricing, availability and shipping costs to customers, 24 hours a day.
“We got started back in the early 1980s and then began exporting various types of truck parts, cores and whole trucks,” says Rob Bramlette, president of FleetTruckParts.com. “We currently do a lot of exporting to South and Central America, Africa and also to the Middle East.
“Word of mouth has been a historically good thing for our company,” Bramlette continues. “In 1998, I launched FleetTruckParts.com and we now have a tremendous online presence and we really have commanded our business through online marketing.” The company had been supplying many customers in the U.S. and when word circulated that they had quality used parts, exporters began calling. “Word got around and we established a reputation,” says Bramlette.
FleetTruckParts.com mostly deals directly with a buyer; the company loads the equipment while the buyer arranges the shipping. In the future, however, Bramlette plans to make worldwide shipping quotes available online to his customers. “Logistics coordination has gotten a lot more technologically advanced since I’ve launched FleetTruckParts.com and now there are various freight companies and third-party logistics firms that actually have freight quoting software that can quote worldwide freight.”
The fluctuating value of the U.S. dollar has marked ups and downs for the company, but Bramlette is seeing a rise in business now that foreign currency is gaining ground. “We’re starting to see a lot more exporting than we did in the late 90s and early 2000s. We went through a little slump, but we’re back in full force now,” says Bramlette.
FleetTruckParts.com is a profitable company responding to a niche market. Since its inception, the company has seen changes to the exporting business sparked by the overseas presence of OEMs. Foreign demand for older parts is giving way to an increased demand for newer product, notes Bramlette.
“When [OEs] went into overseas markets, they brought newer product with them and that drove up foreign demand for these newer products,” says Bramlette. “Customers always used to look for something that was 10 to 15 years old, but now they contact us for newer products because the OEs brought that newer equipment into these countries.”
Teamwork, Bramlette says, is what makes his company strong. FleetTruckParts.com regularly works with other exporters to maintain a product network. “We work with a lot of other exporters,” says Bramlette. “You may not have the entire product list that a customer’s looking for, but you can work with other exporters and parts distributors that may have the products. It’s really all about teamwork.”
Fortunately, teamwork and network building are core competencies in the heavy-duty aftermarket. Foresight coupled with technological know-how and a solid family history in the heavy-duty industry brought prosperity to the Bramlettes’ business ventures. By grabbing globalization by the horns and using technology to knock on foreign doors, FleetTruckParts.com is more than weathering the current domestic market downturn.
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| May 2007 |
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A Change of Place
By Allan T. Duffin
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EXPORTING MORE USED TOW TRUCKS COULD ALTER OUR INDUSTRY
Over the years, the United States has done a lot of business with Central and South America, trading everything from fruit to oil to machinery. Exporting vehicles there is another part of the profitable import/export market and some American manufacturers and towers believe that increasing out-of-country sales benefits American tower’ reputations
as well as their pocketbooks.
In 2005, the U.S. Department of
Commerce reported that American
manufacturers exported over $4.2 billion
worth of vehicles, including both
used and new tow trucks, to Latin
America. Caribbean. FleetTruckParts-
.com, headquartered in Calumet Park,
Ill., was one of them.
The company began fabricating
heavy-duty tow trucks under the
name WayneBuilt in 1970 and sells
medium and heavy-duty equipment
and parts, including factory surplus,
used trucks, salvage vehicles, and
major truck component cores. During
the 1980s, the company expanded its
sales markets to Mexico, Central
America, South America, Africa and
the Middle East.
"We originally got into the truck
export market to serve a growing need
for American-made trucks, equipment,
and parts in the world marketplace,"
said President Rob Bramlette. The successful
business was built through
old-fashioned word-of-mouth advertising
as buyers learned about the
company from fellow importers. |
Employees of Wayne Built, in Calumet, IL, prepare trucks for export to Costa Rica. Photo
courtesy of Rob Bramlette, President, FleetTruckParts.com, Calumet Park, IL. |
Over the last three decades,
FleetTruckParts.com has engaged in
direct exports and has also sourced
specific inventory from around the
U.S. for its customers. The company’s
overseas buyers come from one of two
camps, said Bramlette. "We sell to
importers who are end users of the
equipment. We also sell to importers
who serve as 'middle men' and supply
their marketplaces with American
trucks, equipment and parts."
Rob Bramlette pointed to another
benefit of an increased export market.
"The American tow truck manufacturers
make the best equipment in the
business," he said. |
Wayne Built entered the truck export market 30 years ago. These piggybacked tow trucks
will be driven to their destination. |
"So when you're
selling it in a global marketplace, it
helps to have that brand-name recognition
and quality manufacturing
behind the equipment. As export volume
rises, it provides crucial jobs for
the American worker. "Thanks to the established export
network for American trucks and
equipment, noted Bramlette, "a piece
of equipment that might otherwise
bring in little or no money, or sell at
a scrap price, will often retain a higher
resale value." Preparing tow trucks
for export creates jobs in the U.S.,
including truckers, dismantlers, and
salespeople, creating a "win-win situation,"
he added.
For Bramlette, business has been on
the upswing. "But," he cautioned, "as
foreign competition increases, it will
be up to U.S. towing manufacturers
to continue producing a competitive
product at competitive prices. Good
service and selection will keep the
export business alive through the
up-and-down cycles of the export
business."
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