NexaMotion Group on ‘Making Smarter Connections’

The aftermarket has lived through major technological shifts before. The internet connected us. Mobile technology put that information in everyone’s hands and reshaped communication between suppliers, distributors and customers.

Artificial intelligence feels different.

AI can work through volumes of information no person could reasonably process, finding patterns across customers, products, vehicles and markets in seconds. New capabilities emerge more quickly than businesses can figure out how to use them. The technology reaches across departments, workflows and decisions, creating opportunities that can be difficult to fully understand before the next one arrives.

At times, it’s hard to tell if AI development is a rush of excitement or the pull of a riptide. Yet, in this moment of frenetic change, NexaMotion Group’s Neil Sethi sees the technology as an agent that can bring people together.

“I’m as data hungry as anyone maybe on the planet … but technology actually should push you toward more interaction with people,” NMG’s CEO said. “We live in a changing world and it could be scary. Now, more than ever, it’s important to acknowledge and be thankful for your team members and partners.”

That idea is echoed across the organization’s values in commitment, humility, optimism, integrity and respect, and its mission statement: “Simplifying complex vehicle repair to keep the world moving.” They provide a foundation as its transmission expertise, general repair business, supply chain, customer relationships and technology become increasingly connected.

And it’s seen in the executive team that Sethi has assembled around the table to dig into how the company is investing in AI, modernizing Transend, connecting customer behavior to inventory decisions and using data to identify emerging repair needs. Bringing those capabilities together starts with creating a consistent experience across businesses with their own histories, markets served and specialties.

Connecting NexaMotion

Scott Weinstein, president of NexaMotion Group, wants customers to recognize a common experience throughout the organization. Transtar and NexaMotion’s general repair businesses carry established identities and customer relationships. Weinstein sees communication, service, reliable distribution, urgency and accountability as the qualities connecting them.

“Whether you’re dealing with Transtar, whether you’re dealing with Arch and all of our other brands, it should have the same consistent feel,” Weinstein said. “Communication is the key. It’s important for us to be able to very accurately tell a customer why they should do business with us. Internally, communication is important so that our teams hear the same message across the organization.”

That experience becomes increasingly important as NexaMotion expands the range of business it can support for a customer. A transmission specialist may know Transtar through decades of sourcing highly specific components and technical information. General repair creates a broader purchasing relationship built around everyday availability, delivery speed and service.

Tim Cox, executive vice president of supply chain, reiterated the distinction: General repair customers place a premium on availability and speed. Transmission shops place a heavy emphasis on accuracy and technical support.

The company’s Platinum Program extends that customer strategy on the general repair side. Weinstein described the program as a commitment to customers that place more of their business with NexaMotion. Those customers can receive additional attention through sales and delivery operations.

“When they commit to us, we want to commit to them,” Weinstein said. “For example, I fly a lot. So with a certain airline, I go to the front of the line. But I spend a lot of money with them. Same is true in our business. Where we distinguish ourselves is going to be on communication, service and making business easier by simplifying the complex vehicle repair. We want to be the best partner. If they partner with us, we want to partner with them and reward them.”

The groundwork in general repair for that program has been laid. Billy Gwinn, executive vice president, NexaMotion Group operations and general repair sales, joined the company with much of its expansion into general repair already underway. The work ahead was building an operating structure capable of supporting that growth.

Five business units brought different systems and different ways of operating. Gwinn’s first months included work to bring operating procedures together, standardize expectations for outside sales representatives and branch managers, and move the businesses toward a common ERP platform.

“If I’m a manager in Arch, I should be able to walk into a branch at 4M in Texas and be able to run it,” Gwinn said. “And that’s the scalability we’re talking about.”

Getting the businesses onto the same ERP system gives NexaMotion a common source of operational information for purchasing and analytics. Gwinn said the company is nearly finished with that work, with one business unit remaining to convert. The next layer is execution.

His early visits to branches reinforced that point. Gwinn said the employees interacting directly with customers stood out quickly.

“The people we have are phenomenal,” he said. “The boots on the ground, the ones that interacted with the customers—they wanted to win every day. That says a lot about our culture. They want to take care of customers. They want to make sure that they’re getting the right parts to the customers in a timely manner via delivery.”

That requires visibility into what customers need across a growing assortment of products and applications. NexaMotion is increasingly finding those signals within the digital activity generated before, during and after a sale.

Pictured: The NMG team (left to right): Neil Sethi, Scott Weinstein, Kevin Rozsa, Billy Gwinn, Tim Cox, Naresh Kopparapu.

PLEASE NOTE: Look for Part 2 of this Cover story, Turning Information Into Better Decisions, in an upcoming edition of AftermarketNews.