PDF, 13Mb - Dayco

extremely costly for the distribution
organisation. The fixed, initial and
operating costs are in fact rather high
for the service activities devoted to
repair shops and therefore require a
rather significant basic turnover or the
possibility of cooperating with other
operators at the same level, to create
groups».
THE DISTRIBUTION CHAIN
To increase its offering, complementing
its commercial offer with a dense offer
of services, a company must be able to
rely on an organised base and a solid infrastructure.
And today, Dayco certainly
fulfils all the requirements to fuel this
type of strategy, and to do it on an
ongoing basis. «In fact, it does not
make sense to propose a one-off course
to the customer if there is no follow-up.
It is different if the training on the
product is part of a coherent
programme, between a course on
electronics and a course on marketing
or on “BER”». This is what Dayco is
capable of guaranteeing to the
distributor, helping him to offer, in turn,
to the end-customer, this added value
in the form of a proper “service
package”.
ROLE DISTRIBUTION
The product must reach its destination
more and more rapidly, and this task is
becoming increasingly difficult
considering that the number of
circulating vehicles today is at least six
times higher than ten years ago.
Consequently, the roles must be
distributed carefully, as each activity is
pressed and urged at maximum level.
What could be requested to the
distributors in the past, i.e. a complete
range of products, is now covered by
companies like Dayco. «In our case –
declares Grigoletto – we started some
years ago with flexible parts, then we
completed the belt range, and finally the
kits. Today’s objective is the updating
and completion of the tensioner range».
By doing so, Dayco manages to relieve
both the distributor and the end-user
from some expenses, guaranteeing a
dialogue with several interlocutors for
the same system. «If a belt breaks and
technical support is needed, for
example, even if the belt was bought
from a spare part dealer, the customer
can trace back the distribution chain
and contact directly Dayco, which has a
thorough knowledge of the system. This
distribution of the tasks makes life
easier».
UPDATING IN REAL TIME
In line with this principle, one of the
main objectives of the year is to try and
transfer to the operators all the technical
information that Dayco prepares and
updates every week. This will be done
in an increasingly homogeneous and
extensive way, until the whole market is
covered.
The channels are many: it is clear that
the training evening courses are not
enough, as they can only involve a very
limited number of operators and must
be repeated periodically to provide
updates. Grigoletto adds: «In this sense,
the IT tool is ideal, as it allows updating
in real time and is readily available in the
whole territory: I am thinking of tools
such as blogs, forums for mechanics,
and the availability of technical
information sheets that can be
downloaded individually from the site
and, in the future, the offer of courses
that can be followed directly on line. The
use of the Web can also help change
some false perceptions, for example
regarding belt tensioner production.
Dayco is actually the leading producer
of HD automatic tensioners in Europe.
However, in some customer segments,
this type of offer keeps on being
erroneously associated with producers
of bearings. «At the moment, our
challenge is therefore to gain credit as
producers of belt tensioners, to strongly
connect Dayco’s name to this product,
in order to change the wrong perception
of the market.