Dana, Eaton Agree to Drop Roadranger Joint Venture

Truck component manufacturers Dana Holding Corp. and Eaton Corp. will drop their 13-year Roadranger joint marketing venture next year in a separation initiated by Dana, the two Ohio-based companies said last week.

Eaton will keep the Roadranger brand, which was created more than 60 years ago.

Dana spokeswoman Judith Monte said that her company’s experience with Roadranger has been “tremendously successful,” but that management decided to embark on a different strategy.

“We have a lot of new products in the pipeline, and we want to ensure a close, direct dialogue with our customers,” Monte added, saying that includes both original equipment sales to makers of new trucks and aftermarket sales of replacement parts.

“Going to market independently will afford Dana greater opportunity to communicate with customers directly and to better understand their needs,” said Mark Wallace, president of Dana’s on-highway business.

“This closer, direct relationship with customers will, in turn, provide the foundation for innovation and technology in Dana’s core axle, driveshaft, wheel-end and tire management systems,” he said in the companies’ joint statement Dec. 6.

Dana management is particularly keen on increasing sales of its Diamond series driveshafts, Central tire-inflation systems and low-maintenance hubs, Monte said.

Dana also sells brakes in a joint venture with Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, outside of Roadranger.

While managers with both companies agreed it was Dana’s idea to withdraw from the partnership, Eaton executives said other manufacturers might be recruited to market their products under the Roadranger brand.

“Eaton intends to continue operating the Roadranger marketing organization as we have in the past — focused exclusively on serving our customers,” said Tim Sinden, president of Eaton’s North American truck operations.

Eaton “will continue to collaborate with our [original equipment manufacturer] customers, Dana and other powertrain providers on virtually integrated powertrain systems for the North American commercial vehicle marketplace,” he said. Eaton’s truck division is best known for its transmissions, clutches and hybrid power systems.

Roadranger already has supporting players backing up Dana and Eaton. Eaton spokesman Jim Parks said BASF Corp. manufactures lubricants sold under the Roadranger brand.

Mandar Dighe, Eaton’s director of field sales and marketing, said his company is open to taking on new partners within Roadranger, but at the moment there is “nothing substantive” in terms of negotiations with specific companies.

Fuller Manufacturing Co. started its Roadranger transmission line in 1950, and Eaton acquired Fuller in 1958, keeping the Roadranger brand.

In its current context, Dana joined with Eaton to market commercial vehicle components, parts and systems under the Roadranger name in 1998, in what started as a 10-year agreement.

The two companies announced a five-year extension at the 2008 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., in March of that year — which also was the year Dana emerged from a two-year bankruptcy reorganization.

The Dec. 6 announcement means the extension will be cut short by a year.

Chris Craddock, procurement director at truck maintenance chain WheelTime Network, Greensboro, N.C., said he is optimistic about the potential for service improvement.

“Roadranger has been very well-known. I deal with both companies, but call on them separately,” said Craddock, who is responsible for keeping 187 U.S. and Canadian maintenance shops stocked. He said he buys transmissions and clutches from Eaton and drivelines and axles from Dana.

Craddock said his experience was that Roadranger representatives did a better job with Eaton’s products compared with Dana’s, meaning he needed extensive dealings with Dana and Eaton separately, and not just a single Roadranger representative. Craddock said Dana personnel told him almost a year ago they were considering the change and that he welcomed it.

“I feel it will be of benefit to the industry. We’ll get more sales people in the field with this, and that’s the opposite of what has been happening,” Craddock said. The current Roadranger sales staff has about 230 members in North America.

Roadranger’s presence has been felt most by larger fleets, especially those who use dealerships for repair work, said Marc Karon, owner of six Total Truck Parts stores in Florida.

“Roadranger is an OE specification. Their parts are usually targeted to large, national fleets with, maybe, 500 or more vehicles,” said Karon, who has been active in organizing Heavy-Duty Aftermarket Week and was the 2007 Distributor of the Year.

Karon said he does not stock Roadranger parts and neither do most other independent stores. He said that in the aftermarket, Roadranger is usually found at dealerships.

Dana’s Monte said the company will be deploying its own salesmen and women, but has not decided yet on how many.

Dana has headquarters in Maumee, Ohio, southwest of Toledo. Eaton has global headquarters in Cleveland, but its truck division is based in Galesburg, Mich., near Kalamazoo.