We’ve done several things at Tiffin to drive growth.  New product development is key…we’ve expanded the markets we are able to serve.  We’ve sought out input from our customers on how we can better meet their needs.  We have also gathered competitive intelligence to better understand our strategic advantage.

Where we thought, along with a number of economists, that the construction market was bottoming in 2010, it now looks like it is bottoming in 2011.  New Housing starts in February hit an all time low.  Thankfully, they showed some improvement in March.  While further strengthening in the market is expected, it is anticipated to be slow in coming.

The current Poll on our website, asking about the outlook for 2011, shows the following results:

37% – more of the same

36% – slight improvement

14% – vast improvement

13% – worse than in 2010

We would like to get your insights and hear your thoughts on the markets.  Feel free to respond or take the Tiffin Parts Poll on our website to weigh in on what you expect 2011 will bring! 

From our perspective, we certainly have seen some improvement in 2010 over 2009…at least, in total.  Forestry is up 50%.  In fact, it’s the best year we have seen in this segment of the market since 2004!  Other markets we serve are up over 30% including Pettibone and Forklift Engine Parts.  We believe the housing and small to mid size commercial construction markets have bottomed in 2010.  This is based on government and industry reports, customer input as well as what we have seen with our own Rough Terrain telehandler parts sales.

What does the future hold?  No one knows, but there are some indications that we will continue to see gradual improvement in 2011. 

• Based on industry reports, we believe that Forestry will hold up and show further improvement in the next year.
• It’s hard to imagine Construction getting worse and most of the prognosticators and others we talk to in the industry seem to believe the numbers will improve; although, it may take years before we get back to what we were seeing 2005-2007.

That being said, we believe that there is an opportunity to outperform the market.  What is it that your customers are looking for?  What do they value?  For Tiffin, our customers have told us that availability of quality parts that are priced fairly is most important.  And that’s what we are committed to providing.

• We’ve expanded our product lines to provide our customers with a wider range of parts based on what our customers have been telling us they need.
• We are adding new product lines to serve a broader market with parts for brands of equipment we haven’t supported in the past like JLG and Genie Telehandlers and various brands of Skidders.  Look for announcements in the coming weeks!

Thanks to all of our customers for their support.

All the best during this holiday season!

The Forestry market has taken off in the past few months and it’s good to see.  The general sentiment I’m hearing is that this isn’t short lived and will be sustained.  Tiffin’s been committed to this market for well over a decade and we’re actively adding to our product line to meet our customers’ needs.  We are the leading aftermarket supplier for Prentice and Hydro-Ax replacement parts and are working to build on that line as well as all of the other brands we support like John Deere and Tigercat.

We’re also the leading aftermarket replacement parts supplier for SkyTrak and Lull telehandlers and are building our line to support JLG and Genie branded rough terrain fork lifts.  While utilization rates have remained depressed for this market, we are positioning Tiffin to be the leading supplier of aftermarket parts for all major brands of telehandlers by the end of 2010. 

While new forklift equipment sales continue to be off, sales of Industrial Engine replacement parts are up over 2009.  Equipment is being put back in service as market conditions slowly improve.  We’ll be making a major announcement later this month regarding an addition to our product line as the first in the market to offer parts for a popular engine that up to now has been prohibitive to rebuild. 

At Tiffin, we’re committed to helping our customers be successful.  Industry leading availability, high quality and personalized service set us apart.  Let us know what we can do for you!

We have the ability for an automated attendant to direct calls where they need to go, but we heard from our customers that they didn’t want to have to go through the system.  They want to talk to a person.  It’s that personal service that has set Tiffin apart.

We’re leveraging technology to simplify the business for our customers.  The system is more stable, we now have direct lines for all employees, we can stay connected even when we’re out of the office and best of all, it’s lower cost.  We have all calls feeding directly to the inside team and if call volume is high, callers have the ability to hold for the next available team member.

Ease of doing business is a differentiator…give us a call…we want to talk to you!

She made a good point and it has stuck with me over the years.  If you have an objective, how do you know you are meeting it consistently or making progress toward the goal unless you measure how you are doing on a regular basis?  It’s great to measure performance and results, but what are you striving for?

Clearly defining key goals is just the first step.  Monitoring how you are doing in meeting those goals is a must to achieve them.  Another individual I had the opportunity to spend some time with put it another way…”Inspect what you expect”; if you do, you’re much more likely to meet your objectives.  

At Tiffin, we have a number of customer focused objectives that we monitor including inventory accuracy, availability, on-time delivery, packaging quality and responsiveness.  We’ve set high expectations for ourselves, realizing that our customers count on our performance.   

 Let us know how we’re doing!

There is also a feeling that typically Texas goes into a recession last and comes out last.  The oilfield industry is picking up.  The optimism is unlike what I have seen elsewhere as I have traveled throughout the country.  Perhaps Texas will lead the country in coming out of the economic doldrums. 

Forestry was soft earlier in the year due to all of the bad weather that moved through the Southeastern US.  The weather cleared and March was strong and April is starting even stronger.  Sales of Industrial Engine Parts used primarily in forklift applications have been strong this year as well.  The Material Handling Dealers and Independent Repair Facilities in Texas are busy.  The telehandler utilization rates are low here as they are elsewhere, but there does seem to be some early movement.  The optimism is that things will really begin to pick up over the next couple of months, where what I heard in other parts of the country was people talking about this year remaining flat with some slight improvement in 2011.

Let’s hope that the signs of economic improvement in Texas spread to the rest of the country like the wild flowers are spreading from Houston to Dallas!

All the best!

He had a saying that has stuck with me over the years:  “If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got.”

People have to grow and develop to stay healthy!  Recently, I read an article regarding a finding that people that have meaningful discussions on a regular basis have better mental health than people that only have superficial interaction with others.  Challenging your mind provides the mental exercise you need.

Organizations have to grow, develop and change to be healthy too!  The world and the markets we serve are in a constant state of change, we have to change to meet our customers’ needs.  If we don’t, we won’t even get what we always got!    

That’s why at Tiffin Parts, we are changing…we’re challenging ourselves so that we can continue to meet your needs and to continually do it better than ever before. 

-Adding parts on an ongoing basis to provide you with more of what you need

-Changing our internal processes to be more efficient

-Installing a new phone system to serve you better

-Redesigning our pricing and freight policies to save you money

-Adding field sales representation so that they can meet with you at your business to share what we are doing and to help us better understand how we can help you be successful

What more can we do to help you grow your business…to keep it healthy?

What is your most important buying criteria?

-Availability – 37%

-Quality – 30%

-Price – 22%

What is the telehandler utilization rate in your area?

-50% said 20% or less

-70% said 40% or less

How much will your market improve in 2010?

-30% said it will get worse

-50% said that it will get worse or stay the same

What is the biggest factor affecting the markets you serve?

-General state of the Economy – 47%

-Weather – 33%

-Employment – 20%

This tells us that we are pretty much split down the middle.  Half of us believe that things will improve in 2010 and half of us don’t.  Frankly, telehandler usage estimates were higher than expected.  We had estimated that in 2009 they were 10% to 15%.  When considering factors affecting the markets we serve, the Economy, Weather and Employment are all interrelated.

Every month or so we will be asking a new question so check it out!  If you have a question you would like us to ask, let us know…

Note: The Tiffin Poll shows in the left side margin on all of our web pages.

They expressed what we have been hearing for the past year.  One manager commented that customers are cannibalizing equipment for parts rather than buying a part they need.  Another said that for their own equipment they are only “fixing to fail”, meaning that they only work on equipment when it breaks…they are not doing preventive maintenance.  On one visit I made, a customer called and leased a piece of equipment.  I commented that it was the kind of call you like to hear.  Yes, but the salesperson told me that they used to lease that piece of equipment for $450 per day and now they are only charging $250. 

At the Engine Parts Warehouse Distributors I called on, I didn’t see a lot of inventory.  WDs are ordering for customers as needed rather than stocking for when needed.

So what does this tell us?  Perhaps we have hit bottom.  We are seeing some activity and it has appeared to be picking up in the past few weeks.  There is pent up demand.  As customers look to put equipment back into service, they will need to replace parts taken from one piece of equipment for another. 

At  Tiffin Parts, we are doing a number of things to help our customers control costs to be more competitive and profitable:

-We stock the parts so you don’t have to…we have what you need when you need it

-We drop ship and will blind ship directly to your customers if requested

-Redesigning our pricing and freight policies to save you money

We want to hear from you…

-What are you seeing in the markets you serve?

-What more can we do to help you to be successful?

Let us know!

My most profound takeaway from the experience was that to truly grow and develop, people have to step outside their comfort zone.  In fact, that’s where the name Outward Bound comes from.   It’s the nautical term for a ship’s departure from the certainties of the harbor.

Yes, I really did climb this tower, but I couldn’t have done it one my own.  One of the most important concepts is belaying.  It’s a climbing technique to ensure that a falling climber, doesn’t fall too far.  Essentially, it’s a safety harness attached to a rope that is supported by others on your team.  It really was an experience, maybe extreme…at least physically, analogous to stepping outside one’s comfort zone.

Anxiety improves performance…leaving your comfort zone allows you to optimize your performance and to further expand it.  Each time you do it, your comfort zone grows.  Continual growth and development is needed not only for a person, but for an organization, for a society to stay healthy.  Go too far and anxiety (change) will be too great causing performance to deteriorate.

At Tiffin Parts we’re stepping outside our comfort zone every day.  As a team, we’re here to support each other and you…we’re your belay.  We’re growing and developing our business to stay ahead of the competition to serve our customers better and to help you be successful!

-Continually adding parts to provide you with more of what you need

-Changing our internal processes to be more efficient

-Installing a new phone system to serve you better

-Redesigning our pricing and freight policies to save you money

What more can we do to help you?  We need your guidance…push us…we’ll be better for it!