LAS VEGAS – Meritor launched a more complete portfolio of aftermarket parts, with brands at different price points, plus a new distribution system and an all-new website designed to simplify and expedite every aspect of ordering, purchasing and receiving parts.

Brett Penzkofer, vice president, aftermarket, North America, told reporters at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week that the move was another of the company’s commitment to its customers and in line with Meritor’s 2018 strategic plan.

“We are obsessed with our customers and passionate about exceeding their expectations and doing what we can to help them grow their businesses,” he added. “To demonstrate what we’ve done to meet their needs, we have enhanced and added products in order to offer a more complete product portfolio, with distinct aftermarket brands that includes multiple price points designed to meet customer requirements regardless of the vehicle lifecycle stage.”

Good, better and best parts options

To help customers choose the parts that are right for them, Meritor brands are now segmented into good, better and best price and performance tiers.

• In the "good" tier is the Mach parts brand, a new value brand first announced last fall, designed for customers seeking high-value, quality all-makes parts that improve uptime at affordable prices.

• The "better" tier features Meritor, Euclid, and Meritor Reman brands, which all offer top-quality aftermarket parts at more affordable prices.

• The "best" tier is the Meritor Genuine brand, designed for newer vehicles still under warranty or for customers that want to maintain original performance and maximize uptime with OEM production parts. According to  Meritor is one of the few suppliers that manufactures or approves for sale lifecycle aftermarket parts that include support and availability.

“Today’s truck operators strive to maximize life and uptime from their current fleets of trucks and trailers, and they’re focusing on delivery, speed, availability of quality parts and overall operating costs,” Penzkofer said. “With our new brand structure, we’re offering high-quality parts across the board at better prices with the convenience of one-stop shopping to help our customers save time.”

Getting the parts there

Helping move that initiative forward is a new, West Coast distribution center, which Penzkofer said would allow Meritor to fully fulfil customer orders in 13 western states and shorten lead time while offering more than 5,000 parts inventory and same-day shipping. Plomin noted that Meritor has already shipped 280,000 pieces since opening the facility, with an accuracy rate of 98% in fulfilled orders and 99% accuracy in shipping.

Penzkofer also touted Meritor Parts Express e-commerce platform, noting recent increases in both visits and orders, as evidenced by 25% increased logins since April of last year and a 150% increase in new user registrations.

“This is another way we can improve the speed of information to our customers and ensure ease of use for them when ordering quality parts,” Penzkofer said. “Today we can offer a complete product life cycle portfolio for 240,000 active parts numbers covering trucks, trailers and buses, with products that match our customers’ performance and cost objectives.”

Correction: An early draft of this story incorrectly indicated that Meritor was "coming back" to the heavy-duty parts aftermarket business and misattributed some quotes. We apologize for the error.