This is a story about diversity and culture. Not black versus white, but North versus South.
It’s about Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s philosophy of continuous improvement versus the “go along to get along" culture.
When I entered the fan clutch business in 1983 with Horton Industries the industry was a disaster. I say that with a little authority. I had been in the filtration business as a regional manager with Fleetguard Filters and with Rotomaster Turbochargers as the National Sales Manager. The problem with the fan clutch business was that it didn’t have to earn a customer’s business because the demand for the fan clutch grew out of a government mandate.
OHSA had decided that the truck cab was an official work environment and had to meet OHSA noise standards. Trucks of the day didn’t meet those standards. It was just too loud in the cab for a 10 hour duty-cycle, so a comprise was reached.
Research had shown the biggest noise maker was the cooling fan. More R&D lead to the conclusion that if the cooling system was made a little bigger the fan would engage less than 10% of the time. That little bit of run time met OHSA noise standards and every truck builder made a fan clutch standard equipment.
Everybody got a piece of the action. Horton Industries, Rockford, Bendix, Kysor and Schwitzer all benefited from the government mandate. From 1983 up until the late 1990s was the Golden Age of “fleet pull-through selling,” especially in the fan drive business. A fleet manager could select almost every component that went into his truck during that time.
I will never forget calling Shannon Scott of Poole Truck Lines. I remember setting up the appointment. Shannon said, “You actually want to come visit me and talk face to face?”
