Heavy Duty Trucking, March 2020

GROWING BY SERVING COMMERCIAL TRUCK NEEDS Finalist Jim Bland Vice President Transource Trucks Colfax North Carolina Mack Volvo Hino Isuzu I n 1982 Jim Bland purchased the Mack factory branch in Winston Salem North Carolina Under his leadership the former Triad Mack Sales and Service now called Transource Trucks has grown to eight locations Bland says the name change reflects the fact that the dealerships goal is to be the source for all our customers commercial truck needs The Transource team works diligently to establish and build long standing and beneficial relationships with every customer We are fortunate to call many of the strongest businesses in the state our good customers he says The dealership also focused on conquest accounts in specific areas including wholesale food distributors petroleum product distributors and transporters as well as municipalities The objective was to generate more consistent revenue streams during flat or depressed economic conditions and provide stability for the service repairs and parts sales We continue to broaden our base with these customers within the assigned markets Bland says Transource has maintained market share in its areas of responsibility that were significantly higher than our respective OEMs national and regional averages Achieving these market share numbers is a reflection of the total effort of our dealership including sales and aftermarket support he explains Bland is dedicated to training and an in house trainer provides certification level training for the dealerships technicians As a result 52 of the technicians are certified as master techs It also allows students to be onboarded directly out of technical schools and to get them productive sooner as well as raise the technical expertise of our workforce and ensure consistency of practices Bland has served on the Mack Southeast Regional Council National Mack Dealer Council and Volvo Regional Dealer Council He was part of a group that formed the North Carolina Institute for Technical Education and works in collaboration with Forsyth Technical Community Colleges Heavy Equipment and Technology Program Bland was a charter member of the Kernersville Foundation a non profit organization that provides financial assistance to other non profit organizations He served for 19 years as vice president and is now president of this community foundation and is a 32 year member of the Rotary Club of Kernersville that we wont have to rebuild our reputation If we put a truck in the market and it does not perform it ripples through the whole business Wilson believes his customers are prepared for technology changes because they have proven through time that they are prepared for whatever is thrown their way He adds Our customers are asking questions and have interest in autonomous vehicles and electric trucks but these technologies are still out on the ho TD Truck Dealer of the Year 2020 Fleets are very interested in safety features and are more willing to spec them on their trucks Safety has taken off Lance Wilson its customers as well as training its own technicians We have a lot of trainers in our company who will go to our customers and teach them all about their new trucks We dont just hand them the keys to that new truck and say here you go fend for yourself Technology preparedness The shop is not the only place where technology is coming at the trucking industry in a fast and furious manner Are fleets prepared for it Mitchell believes larger fleets are prepared for the emerging technologies Our customers already are connected and we are just in the beginning stages of the possibility of that technology Bland says his customers are taking a wait and see attitude when it comes to technology They realize that e mobility is a thing of the future but they are not sure yet how they need to take action The dealerships management team has met with its OEMs to try to determine how emobility electric vehicles will affect the dealership and how the dealership can be prepared for the coming changes We have not come to any conclusions yet Bland says It is a wave out there that we are going to have to face Pearson believes future technology could be coming too fast We are prognosticating a lot on advances in technology batteries hydrogen lots of different ways to move a truck but none of that seems to be proven yet There is a danger in letting those things get into the market too quickly that we wont be prepared to diagnose service and repair them Horton shares some of Pearsons concern Any time you introduce new technology there is a learning curve I hope that when they bring a new technology to market that the quality is there and HDT MARCH 2020 68 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM