The Heavy Duty Aftermarket Forum presented by MacKay and Co. will provide an exciting opening at this year's Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week '08 on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at The Mirage, Las Vegas.

HDAW '08 - which is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 21 through Thursday, Jan. 24 - will be North America's largest gathering of senior heavy-duty distributor and supplier executives.
The two-hour HD Aftermarket Forum session will focus on the issues of the commercial vehicle aftermarket industry for participants. Hosted by industry expert Stu MacKay, president of MacKay and Co., the Forum promises to be a highly interactive session on market drivers, trends and forecasted conditions.
The format will encourage quality discussions with the audience with several opportunities for questions, answers and comments. This year's event will be held in the Danny Gans Theater at The Mirage, with seating for more than 1,100 attendees.
A 40-plus-year veteran of the industry, Stu MacKay will open with his thoughts and observations on current and future market conditions. MacKay will introduce Dr. Bob Dieli; president of RDLB Inc., a noted economist specializing in the commercial vehicle industry. Dieli will set the stage with an overview of economic conditions and then discuss the MacKay and Co. metric of Truckable Economic Activity. "TEA" is a measurement of the elements of the current and projected economy that impact the truck industry and the parts and service aftermarket.
Dave Fulghum, vice president, MacKay and Co., will pick up on Dieli's economic analysis and focus directly on the heavy-duty aftermarket. Fulghum's presentation will examine the trends and shifts in the heavy-duty aftermarket over the past several years and evaluate the significance of the most important of these changes.
MacKay will wrap up the presentations by focusing first on the opportunities that will be available in the heavy duty aftermarket - and the challenges that independent distribution is likely to face in the process of capitalizing on these opportunities.
HDAW is presented by a joint operating committee comprised of industry leaders from American Council of Frame and Alignment Specialists (ACOFAS), Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN), Heavy Duty America (HDA), Heavy Duty Distribution Association (HDDA), Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association (HDMA), Heavy Duty Remanufacturing Group (HDRG), International Truck Parts Association (ITPA), Overseas Automotive Council (OAC), Power Heavy Duty, Service Specialists Association (SSA), Truck Pride and VIPAR HD Parts.
For more information on conference registration or for exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities at HDAW 2008, contact Bill Glasgow Sr., conference manager, at (708) 226-1300 or e-mail info@hdaw.org.