CANTON, Ohio — When the road gets rough, sometimes it pays to keep on trucking. Timken, for one, has found this to be true. During a recessionary year in 2009, the Canton, Ohio-based company managed a modest sales increase in the North American heavy-duty truck aftermarket, despite the industry being down an estimated 20 percent.
“More and more, we’re finding customers want to buy Timken to ensure they get the most mileage for their money,” said Phil Varner, Timken heavy-duty aftermarket manager. “We have proven quality advantages and a very popular training program that have built a lot of trust in our brand.”
Timken said it focused on three specific things to help drive growth in the heavy duty truck aftermarket:
1. Leveraging its quality advantage
2. Extending the company’s reach throughout the aftermarket via reps, dealers and distributors; and
3. Pull-focused marketing to get Timken specified by fleets and operators.
The company is adding several management positions in 2010 to support increased demand from these initiatives. Tom Tecklenburg, director – Timken automotive and heavy-duty aftermarket, announced the addition of two new regional managers and a national accounts manager, both reporting to Varner.
Among the new posts, Mark Stangl, was appointed regional manager – heavy-duty aftermarket to focus on creating “pull” demand from key heavy-truck fleets working with sales representatives and independent rep agencies. Stangl joined Timken in June 1997 and has held various positions in engineering, sales and product management. His most recent role was specialist – fleet sales CTS. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology and received his MBA from Kent State University in 2001.
Richard Moss was appointed to the position of national accounts manager – heavy-duty aftermarket, with responsibility for national program buying groups, key distributors and interface with OE sales in developing and growing OE dealer sales. Moss joined Timken in October 1997 and has held various positions within aftermarket sales. His most recent role was marketing segment manager – heavy-duty. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
An additional regional manager position remains open.
“With everything we’re doing to meet the demand for Timken’s products in the heavy-duty aftermarket, from reps, to dealers, to training and more people on the street, we’re effectively quadrupling our channel resources, and confident it’s the right thing to do for our customers,” said Tecklenburg.
