Navistar Truck Chief Aims to Anticipate 'Spec-ing'

The new president of Navistar International’s Truck Group would like to change the truck-buying culture by reducing — or even eliminating — the customization that is an accepted part of the purchasing and manufacturing markets.

J. Steven Keate told Transport Topics that he hoped to shift from a “factory-push” method of doing business to a “customer-pull” mode. He said this would be done by learning to meet customer’s needs, rather than simply “taking orders” for components to put in the vehicle.

“There are enormous costs imbedded in the [current] system with regard to original equipment manufacturers,” he said. “It is not working to supply components as efficiently as it should.”

Keate said he knows every customer has an ideal of the “perfect spec.” However, he said this generates conflicts in the manufacturing process because “we are selling to customers, [and] component makers are selling to customers.”

In the end, buyers are faced with numerous choices of features to put on their trucks, and companies are obliged to fulfill their requests.

“The process does not add value to the finished product,” noted Keate, who replaced Don DeFosset in late June (6-21, p. 39).

Keate said International started packaging components about three years ago under a plan called “Diamond Spec,” in which groups of parts were “bundled together” to ease ordering. However, he said he hopes to go beyond the current system.

“We need to become absolutely focused on our customers. If we can understand the customer’s business, we can provide a truck with the combination of features he needs.”

For the full story, see the August 9 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.