december2021 - 28

we've got a really strong U.S. manufacturing
and supply base. "
Molitor said Link has a 99.8% on-time
delivery rate.
The lack of semiconductors for smart
products has caused an exorbitant rise in
price, said Link's VP of business development,
Brian Kujala.
" We're running into that right now where we
have chips that you typically pay less than $1
for, you're paying over $20-and that's one out
of 96 chips on our board, " he said, adding this
could impact vehicle prices in Q2 of 2022.
" I think you're just going to run into some
near term, temporary, inflated pricing. That
should, over the course of 2022, level itself out
at some point, " Kujala concluded.
Common wear items, such as brake drums,
have also been harder to come by.
" Brake drums, both domestic and imported,
are three to four times beyond their normal
lead time supplier commitments, " said Todd
Shakespeare, director of parts marketing, Volvo
Trucks North America, which offers the Road
Choice aftermarket brand. " This looks like it
will improve in 2022 but will not reach normal
levels until later in the year. "
There are still labor issues at the ports, fleets,
and warehouses, Shakespeare noted.
" This, I believe, needs to be on the forefront
of the efforts to improve, " he said. " If we do not
have human resources, nothing else matters. "
The other thing is to rethink the supply
chain reliance on just-in-time. This time it was
a pandemic; next it could be a natural disaster.
" If we as business leaders accept that our
global economy is subject to a repeat of such
risks in the future, then continuity of operations
and service level becomes a focal point, "
Meeker said. " I would expect that businesses
will focus on redundancies in the future, whether
that means keeping multiple suppliers active
in different parts of the world, or starting to look
at making better use of manufacturing methods
such as additive manufacturing. "
" [Building relationships]
is definitely not something
that's going to show up on
the books or on an inventory
sheet, but it certainly
plays an influential role. "
Molly MacKay, VP of operations,
MacKay & Company
The way out?
So all this sounds like a supply chain Squid
Game, where threats lurk around every corner.
And like in that dystopian game of life or death,
forging relationships is a solid plan to survive
long enough to make it out of this maze.
The longer those relationships have been, the
better position the shop is in, regardless of size.
28 Fleet Maintenance | December 2021
Average truck age
<5 years
5-10 years
NTEA Truck Aging Insights
Due to the difficulty OEMs are having keeping up with demand, fleets will have to hold onto trucks
they would otherwise pass on to the secondary market. NTEA noted until 2020, when utilization was
affected by COVID, truck age was trending downward. These factors could create a ripple effect.
" Because there's a lack of new inventory, fleets are just going to have to keep their vehicles longer,
and those are now aging out of the warranty process, " said FinditParts CEO David Seewack. " And
when they do sell them, it's going to be an older vehicle that will then go to the second user. "
He noted this, combined with increased sales projections on heavy-duty parts, means
" you're going to see a lot more repairs of vehicles because of the aging nature of them. "
Fleet insight on truck aging
Increasing
Remaining
the same
Decreasing
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Source: NTEA 2017-2021 Fleet Purchasing Outlook Surveys
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
10-15 years
>15 years
0%
20%
40%
Source: NTEA 2017-2021 Fleet Purchasing Outlook Surveys
60%
Truck maintenance approaches
Fleet
management
company
In-house
maintenance
Outside service
provider
0%
20%
40%
60%
Source: NTEA 2017-2021 Fleet Purchasing Outlook Surveys
80%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021

december2021

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