Viking West:
We’re on a call with Shawn Fox, Parts & Service Manager at Wajax, to talk about how he first met Mike Schlender at Viking West, and how Viking West became a priority vendor for Wajax in providing high-performance heavy equipment accessories, service parts and support.
So, let’s begin. Tell us a little bit about you, your career background, what brought you to Wajax, your experience, and how you ended up meeting our President, Mike Schlender.
Shawn (Wajax):
Got you. Okay.
I started out as a parts guy in Kelowna when I was 16 years old and grew my career from there. When I moved to Vancouver Island in 2001, I managed an automotive parts store in Lake Cowichan till about 2010. From there, I knew my competition was moving in and they were going to buy the store. I just didn’t want to join the competition, so I left. I ended up joining a logging company, Kaatza Logging, who’s actually a big customer of ours, and it was really cool. I learned a whole bunch of new things like managing, and well, kind of a little bit of everything. I looked after all the parts. I looked after all the mechanics. The sky’s the limit, the things that I did. Every day was different. I was out in the bush. I’d get fire trucks ready and learn all about heavy duty equipment and stuff, and it got me away from the automotive stuff.
Then one day I walked into the Wajax branch in Nanaimo, in 2013, and they happened to be hiring. I thought, well, you know what, I can just get back into my roots of parts and being in a dealership. So, I did that and I’ve been here ever since, just being a parts guy. This October will be 30 years for me.
So, last August… I guess it was midsummer, my boss Trevor said he was leaving and heading to manage our Prince George branch.
He put in my name to run this place. He had a lot of confidence in me, so it was quite overwhelming. It was really, really good. So yeah, I’ve been managing this branch since August of last year.
Viking West:
Tell us how you met Mike Schlender, our President.
Shawn (Wajax):
I think I met Mike probably three or four years ago. I can’t remember the exact time. We were dealing with Viking West to purchase buckets, undercarriage parts and whatnot. We had a few minor issues with some little things; but, you know what? Mike just comes over. He comes over to the branch! I can’t remember who he brought with him, if it was Kai or Joe, but he came over and he just showed us all the stuff that you do and explained his background about being an engineer. So, the deal with Mike, I mean on a personality level, is he’s just a great, outstanding guy, and awesome person.
Anytime we’ve ever had an issue with the fit of say a cab guard, and it’s just not quite right, you guys want to know the measurements. You want to know the exact application. You want pictures. You fix it! I know you’re there to help and if there is an issue, you’re the first guys there to help sort it out and look after us, no matter what it takes. I’ve never had a supplier do what you guys do.
Viking West:
That’s great. By the way, congratulations, on your new role. That is super awesome.
Shawn (Wajax):
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it’s different. It’s good. I love it. It’s great.
Viking West:
So, thanks for that intro. That’s a great intro. Now maybe take us through — and this is kind of thinking about it a little bit differently — when you met Mike you were already dealing with some of the Viking West attachments and undercarriage stuff; but, from your perspective, was there a Wajax specific problem related to process, inventory, or management of inventory that you felt may have been solved as a result of working with Viking West?
Shawn (Wajax):
Well, the fact that Viking West has inventory. When dealing with your competitors, if you want to order something, whether it’s a bucket or a cab guard (FOPS) or whatever it is, it could be four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, or ten weeks. It’s all made to order. Whereas with Viking West, you have inventory. You constantly have stuff coming in. The more we order, the more you get in, and if you are out of stock because we’re so busy it’s already on its way to us. You’re a little ahead that way.
Viking West:
Yeah. It seems like because we are Hitachi specialists, and that is what Wajax deals with, we’re ahead of the game. We have a handle on that.
Shawn (Wajax):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.
Viking West:
Okay. Is there a specific Wajax customer profile that seemed best suited for Viking West attachments? Or is it more that it could be anybody?
Shawn (Wajax):
It’s construction. It’s all our construction customers. A lot of it is price point as well. Over the last few years Viking’s price point has always just been a little bit better than the competition. When you can offer a whole package — a bucket and thumb — to a customer for say $3,000 or $4,000 less than the competition, and the quality’s still there; it’s a no brainer. We move a lot of your bucket packages.
Viking West:
In your store, do you deal with owner/operators mostly? Or do you deal with larger companies that are looking at fleet purchases?
Shawn (Wajax):
Oh, it’s everything. It’s everything. Yep. We have a lot of really big customers that just keep buying equipment. They’re just getting bigger and bigger. We have lots of owner/operators too. Same thing.
Viking West:
In terms of the larger companies, are they specifically only based out of your location, or do they kind of have different locations across the country?
Shawn (Wajax):
Most of our guys are pretty much island based. There are a few customers here that are maybe based out of Edmonton or Vancouver; but, they work all over the place. There are a few customers like that. But most of our guys are all island grown.
Viking West:
Because I imagine there could be an advantage for a company that has multiple locations, either in BC or across the country (and I’m just taking a bit of a guess here), and some comfort in knowing that if they need an undercarriage on Vancouver Island, or in Alberta, or elsewhere, they’re going to get the same.
Shawn (Wajax):
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. The fact that you guys at Viking West make the undercarriage specifically for us at Wajax and the quality is unreal! We used to sell different brands of undercarriage; but, when we got our first load of Viking undercarriages, it was amazing. You’d look at these lower rollers and how thick the flanges were on them — they were just like OEM. Whereas the aftermarket ones were quite a bit thinner and when you weighed them, there was actually a weight difference.
The quality of the Viking West undercarriage is, bar none, the best I’ve ever sold! Yeah.
Viking West:
Awesome! Thanks for that explanation Shawn, it was great. If you were to be actively involved in choosing a company like Viking West that provides undercarriage parts, what would you be looking for during the process?
Shawn (Wajax):
Quality! Definitely quality. The quality that Viking West has. I’ve sold undercarriage here for going on 10 years now.
I’ve sold other brands, and I’m going to say Value Part was one of our main brands that we used to carry, and it was decent. Then there was a lot of inferior stuff; a lot of cheaper stuff out there that we just wouldn’t even bother selling because you’d sell a sprocket, or set of sprockets, to a guy and a month later he’d bring it back. It’s broken. It’s cracked. It’s worn out. Rollers are leaking.
When you’re selling undercarriage to a customer, you want to have the best price point; but, you also need to have the quality because doing that job to change an undercarriage takes a few days to do. It’s a lot of hours. So quality is a huge, huge thing. Now that we have a quality product that we can sell for the same price or less than the competition, we’re right in that price point where customers are getting great product value so it’s a win-win for everybody.
Viking West:
Now for undercarriage parts, is it typically installed by Wajax, or do customers sometimes install their own stuff?
Shawn (Wajax):
Yeah, it’s customers installing it, or us installing it. It just depends on the customer. Most of the big customers that we have, have all their own mechanics to do their own undercarriages and stuff, for sure.
Viking West:
What has been the response from those types of customers when it comes to the installation? Does the stuff fit?
Shawn (Wajax):
Oh, absolutely. Never had an issue. It’s always been top notch. It gets made in an OEM facility, so it’s OEM quality with a perfect fit. Never an issue there.
Viking West:
Right. So, in terms of any challenges that your customers might run into along the way (or even your peers at other Wajax locations), when it comes to considering the choice of aftermarket parts, are there any challenges or bits of advice that you would give them around the whole undercarriage part business? Is there any knowledge you would want to pass along?
Shawn (Wajax):
From my experience, I used to always get two or three quotes from different suppliers. It’s different now with Viking West because I don’t really go anywhere else. I know we have our own product and its good quality. But before that, I would get my quote from Value Part, get a quote from Trek, and get a quote from VTP. Then, I’d say okay here’s what we’ve got; the cheapest, the middle of the road, and the best. I’d quote two or three to the customer, leaving the cheapest one out because it’s inferior quality. But I’d kind of run a number for a customer and say, “If you want cheap stuff, I can get you this, but it’s garbage.” With Viking West I don’t have to do that. It’s an OEM quality. But, if you compare it to an OEM undercarriage, it’s a quarter of the price because OEM stuff is really expensive.
Viking West:
Yeah, for sure.
What do you like about working with our team at Viking West? You mentioned a little bit at the beginning about how Mike came to your location and all that stuff, but are there any other comments that you want to share?
Shawn (Wajax):
Just that you’re good people and if we need help, you’re there. You’re always there. You’re answering the phones. We can always talk to somebody. We’re not reaching some automated place. It’s personalized, and when we phone it’s, “Hey, Shawn, how you doing?” and “Hey, I’m good Borys. How are you?” We can have a talk, talk about the weekend or whatever, and then carry on with business. But yeah, it’s a great place and you have lots of great people there and you’re all friendly.
Viking West:
Thanks, that’s awesome!
I guess there’s just one other thing. We already talked about cost savings; but let’s talk about undercarriage parts as part of the National Brand. From your perspective, have there been any efficiencies that improved your bottom line? Any time savings, process savings, or cost savings, as a result of having Viking West provide those parts (as part of the Wajax National Brand) versus having to get several different quotes?
Shawn (Wajax):
For me in this branch, I go out on a limb. I order a lot of undercarriage. Last summer was really busy with undercarriages. I was ordering 30,000 pounds every couple of weeks. I was having truckloads of undercarriage coming in here. So, there’s a huge cost savings! One, it all comes prepaid because we’re ordering enough of it. When a customer calls, I’ve got it in stock. I have it here. It’ll take us a couple of hours to pick it and out it goes; whereas before, we didn’t have that much inventory and none of the other competitors around here have all that stuff in stock. So, we definitely have a huge edge having all that inventory here. It saves us money and time. The customer knows he can get it sooner and it just works.
Viking West:
Yeah. That is a huge thing for customer experience. Also, as you mentioned, it helps your own internal processes to be able to have inventory on site. You know exactly when inventory is getting low; but, you know that you can go and get more. Right?
Shawn (Wajax):
Absolutely. Yep. For sure.
Viking West:
That’s great, Shawn (Wajax). Thank you for your time today.
We hope you found this Case Study helpful. If you are located in Canada and looking for a quote or detailed product specs, we are happy to help. You can contact the Wajax branch closest to you or call 1-877-GO-WAJAX. If you are located outside of Canada, you can call us at 1-888-500-6607, or email sales(at)viking-west.com.
