LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Meritor’s aftermarket business is taking steps to become more customer-focused and easier to do business with.

Brett Penzkofer, vice-president, North America aftermarket, told trade press during a Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week briefing, that the company is pursuing various ways to become a better partner to its customers.

“There is a lot of opportunity for us to get more customer-focused and to understand the needs of our customers and respond to that,” Penzkofer said. “We are becoming extremely customer-focused and having a determined focus on, first and foremost, increasing the ease of doing business together.”

This means getting products customers need to them more quickly and responding appropriately when things go wrong. Meritor is also focused on expanding its product portfolio, particularly in the all-makes and reman’ product lines.

The company is also improving the packaging and delivery of its products.

“Providing consistent, strong delivery performance and fill rate performance,” Penzkofer explained. “The key word is consistent. We do a very good job most of the time but there have been times we haven’t always hit the mark with our customers with every, single fast-moving product line. This is a critical focus. We are extremely focused on providing that consistency.”

Meritor is re-examining the packaging of some products and looking to find a balance between offering sufficient packaging to protect the product while also eliminating the waste customers have to dispose of.