Manufactures Standard Spec truck vs.  Dealers Stock Spec truck vs. Custom truck...  component analysis
The new or used heavy truck you buy was built with a system of components someone designed to fit a purpose.  
  • For a manufacture, the purpose was and is to keep their production lines profitably moving.  
  • A dealership has their stock trucks built to their idea of what  customer they attract might buy (the equivalent of a spec house).  
  • The custom ordered heavy truck is one a dealers orders for a customer who would like his investment to give an exceptional return, a better specific or general fit to his or her unique needs.  

 

First, a heavy truck Original Equipment Manaufacture's focus is on the engineering of their , linkages, framing & bracketry, electrical/wiring system, front suspension, cooling system, their cab design and their sleeper...  these are the components unique to the tool the manufacture wants the truck buying marketplace to buy.

Next, is selling enough of the trucks to keep their manufacturing process profitable, what the truck buying the front line representation of their product to the truck buying marketplace.  

All American OEM heavy truck manufactures buy component parts, too.  Daimler Crysler , Paccar, Volvo and International, buy from suppliers such as Philips Industries, Dana Corp., Meritor,  TruckLight, Grotte, Eaton Corp., National Seat, Bostrum Seat and thousands of others.  All truck manufactures chose these components based on a balance of engineering cost & fit, fit to customer purpose, price, & long term partnership strategies leading to long term price   and availability predictabilities.   As a truck buyer, this means that you can't always get the component you want on every truck but, some,, almost everybody offers.  Alcoa for example sells the aluminum wheel without current competition. 

While they would like to, US heavy truck manufactures do not force truck buyers to buy a truck with a so called "Standard Spec".

A few years ago, it was tried and this is what happened to the biggest of the big.  The International Harvester Company was one of Americas oldest and largest manufacturing companies.  IHC was a company with a strong presence in sectors beyond transportation; including farm equipment and construction equipment.  For years IHC had owned a  50% market share in heavy truck- half the heavy trucks built and sold in America, they built somewhere close half of the US farm equipment sold and maybe 20% of the construction equipment  - They lost it, due in large part, to the forced standard spec.  

Harvesters' aggressive CEO decided truck buyers would buy the trucks they built, specified the way the manufacture decided they would be specified.   Archie McCardle, was one of the first company presidents not of the founding McCormick family.  He came from Xerox ( if I remember correctly ), thought trucks should sell like copiers and that union employees best prepare for a long strike because he was going to stock up by having them build thousands  and thousands of unsold trucks, until the end of the union contract.  Then, any new contract would be on Archie's terms.  He planned for a strike based on the assumption people would take what he offered -both his employees and his customer base.  

then starve the strikers out, then write a new union contract to Archie's  terms.

He did it, got the strike, but he didn't get the result.   The economy was souring, interest rates were going up and the truck buying marketplace had no appetite for Archie's spec, certainly not in numbers.  

ese trucks built on the Standard IHC was trying to promote and trucks did not sell and for years.  The price Harvester paid was that Archie had to sell off IHC's  Construction equipment (Dresser), farm equipment (Case) and turbine division (Cat), close the foundries and the 10,000 man main truck plant (Fort Wayne) to pay for what he had done.

All truck manufactures prefer their customers would buy build trucks to their fixed specification list.  But none want to pay the price Archie McCardel and the International Harvester Companies stockholders and employees paid for the pleasure.  

 

Also, to remain price competitive, each truck manufacturing company must typically, slightly "dumb their standard truck down" a bit, or standardize to the least expensive part, from their range of choices that "will work"  with an acceptable reliability level for the bulk of their buyers.

The standard engine for an over the road is a 330 hp mid range is nearly always changed (everybody notices the engine) to an engine that will fit the market place.  Upgrade-able items such as spring brakes, tail lights, suspension components, flap brackets are often ignored by the person specifying the truck because of increased investment. ...yet such an investment often gives tenfold returns.   Knowledgeable buyers will insist on thoughtfully specified ordered trucks but realize that a stock truck is typically spec'ed for first impression and price. 

The standard item or even  optional items chosen by truck manufactures may not be the best suited for you.   When thinking in terms of maintenance costs and their application,  experienced new truck buyers carefully analyze and specify each component on their new ordered  truck.  They know a dollar spent here and now can prevent the loss of five ten or even a hundred and more future dollars.

 

 

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