I’ve spent a lot of time lately talking about dealers, primarily in relation to a special issue Portable Plants’ sister publication, Pit & Quarry, published this July.
In a supply chain that includes manufacturers and end users at the end points, dealers are often an underappreciated link between the two delivering the equipment, parts and service necessary to keep producers and contractors running at full speed.
As a publication, we tend to shine our editorial spotlight largely on manufacturers and end users. Manufacturers, after all, are the ones developing cutting-edge equipment that’s fundamental to the operations we cover, and end users are the ones utilizing equipment to effectively produce virgin aggregate and recycled materials.
Most manufacturers and end users would not, however, be as successful without dealers and their vital contributions. Still, some up and down the supply chain might beg to differ.
End users, for example, are somewhat divided on whom they’d prefer to work with – the manufacturer or the dealer – if given the choice to select a partner between the two. There are, of course, advantages (i.e., price) of working directly with a manufacturer.
But, as one end user recently shared: “It really doesn’t matter if the equipment is free if the dealer support isn’t there to back up the machine after the purchase.”
Think about all of the local markets scattered across the nation. Manufacturers generally don’t have the infrastructure in place to sell to and service local markets everywhere on their own.
Some manufacturers commit their own people to key markets and shuffle these resources around as necessary. Dealers, on the other hand, are fixed within markets and best positioned to regularly service their respective territories.
Don’t get me wrong: The supply chain in our industry isn’t arranged perfectly. The nature of manufacturer and dealer businesses means change is continuous. And this sometimes creates confusion in the marketplace.
But despite periodic confusion, most end users rely on their local dealers for success. In many ways, dealers are the face of manufacturer brands to end users. Most end users will entrust their business to manufacturers who provide a well-made, competitively priced product. But if parts and service are lacking – the deliverables the dealer provides – then that brand’s ability to build trust is severely set back.