August 19, 2024 • 22 mins
Episode 332: What happens when a passion for racing go-karts evolves into a career in the machining industry? Our featured guest Alan Speyrer, owner of AES Machine, transformed a love for problem-solving and machining into a successful business. Discover how a simple conversation about Peterbilt hood hinges led to him engineering superior machine parts.
We also discuss how important it is to really listen to your customers and then care enough to help them come up with solutions. In our That’s Not Heavy Duty segment, our host Jamie Irvine tells a story of flight delays and cancellations which underscores the need for having good customer service.
Show Notes: Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com for complete show notes of this episode and to subscribe to all our content.
Sponsors of this Episode
Heavy Duty Consulting Corporation: Find out how many “fault codes” your heavy-duty parts business has. Meet with us today. Visit HeavyDutyConsulting.com
Hengst Filtration: There's a new premium filter option for fleets. If you're responsible for a fleet, you won't believe how much using Hengst filters will save you. But you've got to go to HeavyDutyPartsReport.com/Hengst to find out how much.
Diesel Laptops: Diesel Laptops is so much more than just a provider of diagnostic tools. They’re your shop efficiency solution company. Learn more about everything Diesel Laptops can do for you today by visiting DieselLaptops.com today.
HDA Truck Pride: They’re the heart of the independent parts and service channel. They have 750 parts stores and 450 service centers conveniently located across the US and Canada. Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com/HDATruckPride today to find a location near you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jamie Irvine (00:00):
You're listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report.
I'm your host, jamie Irvin, andthis is the place where we have
conversations that empowerheavy-duty people.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Heavy-Duty Parts Report.
I'm your host, jamie Irvin.
In this episode, we are goingto talk about how listening to
customers talk about theirproblems is a great way to
(00:23):
identify innovative products andsolutions that will solve their
problems and challenge thestatus quo.
We're going to see an exampleof how one machinist solved a
common problem with Peterbilt's,and we're going to talk about
how we need to avoid looking atthings through the lens of what
is convenient and easy for usand our employees, and look at
(00:44):
things through the lens of whatis convenient and easy for us
and our employees, and look atthings through the lens of what
is easy and convenient for ourcustomers, doing the hard things
well for them, and how thatreally impacts your business.
We've got a lot to talk aboutin this episode.
Let's get started At theHeavy-Duty Consulting
Corporation.
When we work with our clients,one of the first things that we
do is we often do a pre-scanevaluation.
(01:07):
This is where we ask a lot ofquestions and we just listen to
the customer as they talk.
We often will have a veryextended conversation as we
listen to what they've done,where they've been, what they're
trying to accomplish, theproblems they've had in the
different aspects of theirbusiness.
By listening to the customertalk about their problems, this
(01:30):
gives us the basis of bringingforth strategies that will help
them improve their business.
Now, if you've been followingwhat we've been doing at the
Heavy-Duty ConsultingCorporation, you'll know that
not only do we do a pre-scan atthe beginning of our consulting
engagement, but we now do apost-scan at the end, where we
demonstrate the amount ofquote-unquote fault codes we've
(01:51):
cleared for the business bylistening to their problems,
helping them develop a strategyand then guiding them as they
execute on the implementation ofthat strategy.
Now, if you sell products or ifyou provide services, you can
do this too.
So if you're a repair shop oryou're a parts distributor,
especially if you're a partsmanufacturer, that voice of
(02:13):
customer is so critical toreally finding and pioneering
innovative solutions thatchallenge the status quo.
All too often we accept whathas just been provided to us and
we don't really challenge thatand therefore we miss out on
these great opportunities.
And I see this over and overagain and that's why I wanted to
(02:35):
have my featured guest on thisepisode, because I think my
featured guest has just anexcellent example of how
listening to people's problemshas led him to developing
innovative solutions and,principally, I think we can all
benefit from seeing this example.
So we're going to take a quickbreak to hear from our sponsors
and when we're back from oursponsors we are going to listen
(02:59):
in to my interview with thismachinist who came up with an
innovative solution to a problemon Peterbilt's.
We'll be right back.
Are you deferring maintenancebecause of filter cost or
availability?
Or, worse yet, are you tradingdown to no-name filters to try
to save a few bucks?
Either way, you're rolling thedice.
The good news there's a newpremium filter option for fleets
(03:21):
Hanks Filtration.
If you're responsible for afleet, you won't believe how
much using Hanks filters willsave you.
But you've got to go toheavydutypartsreportcom slash
Hanks to find out more.
That's heavydutypartsreportcomslash H-E-N-G-S-T Head there now
At Diesel Laptops, they go waybeyond diagnostic tools.
(03:44):
They are your complete shopefficiency partner, from diesel
technician training to completerepair information, parts lookup
tools and robust technicalsupport.
They are there to support youevery step of the way.
Learn more and download yourfree starter pack today by
visiting Diesellaptopscom.
That's Diesellaptopscom.
(04:07):
Hda Truck Pride is the heart ofthe Independent Parts and
Service Channel.
They have 750 parts stores and450 service centres,
conveniently located across theUS and Canada.
Visit HeavyDutyPartsReportcom.
Slash HDA Truck Pride today tofind a location near you.
Again.
That's heavydutypartsreportcom.
Slash hdatruckbride and let theheart of the independent
(04:29):
service channel take care ofyour commercial equipment.
We're back from the break.
Before the break, we weretalking about the importance of
listening to your customer andidentifying what problems they
are encountering and how we canuse that information to develop
innovative products andsolutions.
My guest this week is one suchindividual who makes a living
(04:52):
doing this.
My guest today is Alan Spire,owner of AES Machine.
Now, alan is a machinist inWest Texas with over 20 years of
machining and manufacturingexperience.
He manufactures parts forvarious industries, including
the trucking industry.
Alan, welcome to the Heavy-DutyParts Report.
So glad to have you here.
Thanks, glad to be here.
(05:13):
So I'd like you to tell me thestory of how you started AES
Machine.
What was the motivator behindthat?
What were you hoping toaccomplish when you started this
company?
Alan Speyrer (05:24):
So started racing go-karts around my 15, 16 years
of age and some of the veterango-kart racers were machinists.
So you know, I just fell inthat whole machining thing and,
you know, watched them machineparts and had them machine parts
(05:44):
for me and just really fell inlove with machining.
And then I got to thinking youknow a lot of the big Penske and
Yates and all those big NASCARIndyCar companies.
Well, they also manufactureparts for their particular
racing industry and that fuelstheir team, you know, and pays
(06:06):
for racing.
I thought, well, that would begreat, you know.
So I got into machining doingthat, went to a community
college for machining and juststarted machining and racing and
that just kind of snowballed.
Still make some parts forgo-kart racing for a company in
Arizona, but I haven't raced ina decade.
Jamie Irvine (06:31):
So that takes me back.
I remember when I started offin remanufacturing for heavy
duty parts and I went to collegeas well, learned how to use a
mill machine and a lathe Ididn't go into CNC.
Did you take training for CNC?
Yes, okay.
So back when I was taking thattraining it was all conventional
machines.
But it's so funny how yourpassions when you're young will
(06:53):
often fuel the direction of yourcareer to a degree.
I mean I was making parts formotorcycles and for Mustangs and
, like you, know anything Icould do to save a few bucks,
because when you're that age youdon't have a lot of money, so
you race competitively.
That was kind of how you gotinto it.
Talk to me a little bit aboutthe role of mentorship with some
of those older racers, like howimportant was that to guide you
(07:15):
in your career?
Alan Speyrer (07:17):
Yeah it was, it was great.
I mean, I don't think I wouldhave been interested in
machining had I not been aroundthose guys.
And you know, you go to theirshop and, hey, can you bore out
this cylinder here?
We need to rebuild this engine.
And OK, yeah, they can do it.
And they got all the tools andyou watch the process and and
you're just like wow, theyreally did that, you know, and
(07:38):
it didn't take long and thatreally works.
So I'd like to do that.
You know, just get exposed tothose things and lights a fire
and you know, you're justpassionate about that, you know
Absolutely.
Jamie Irvine (07:49):
I remember when I machined a set of Ford controls
and a set of horns to go to goon the windscreen of my
motorcycle, like when Iinstalled it, I took a step back
.
I remember the excitement oflike I did that, Like that was
in my head and I figured out away to make it and now look at
it, it's, you know, done.
I can imagine you had the samething when you were out on the
racetrack and your engine wasperforming and you were winning
(08:12):
and you were like, yeah, that'sbecause I did that.
Alan Speyrer (08:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Just, you know, just look atthings a different way and think
about it.
And you know, I'll just drawsomething on a piece of paper
and we're now on the computerand and think about it, and then
you machine it and well, maybeit didn't always work the way
you wanted it to initially, soyou got to tweak this and tweak
that.
But just because you can drawsomething on a piece of paper
(08:37):
doesn't mean it's going tofunction the way you want it to
function.
Yeah, 100 percent.
Jamie Irvine (08:41):
So did you come from a family with a lot of
people that had mechanicalbackground, or are you kind of
like the first in your family toget involved in this?
Alan Speyrer (08:55):
Yeah, mother's a nurse, father's a pharmacist, so
not really Grandfather.
He worked for Johnson, evinrudeand OMC Outboards.
All three of those outboardsare made on the same assembly
line and so he was the headmechanic.
When back in like the late 70s,early 80s, when you had the
bass boat tournaments you see onTV, he was the guy that was
(09:18):
there that was working on RolandMartin and Bill Dance's bass
boats for the tournament.
Jamie Irvine (09:24):
So now let's fast forward to where you are today.
You've been running AES Machinenow for over 20 years, so walk
me through your process fordiscovering opportunities to
manufacture innovative parts.
How does that usually comeabout it?
Alan Speyrer (09:38):
usually comes about when you just meet
somebody or you connect withsomebody through social media
and they just get to talkingabout this and you just I don't.
You just got to listen and saywhere are they going with this?
What?
What exactly do they do theywant out of this conversation?
Are they?
Are they asking for a solutionto a certain thing, or what is
(10:02):
it you know?
And, and sometimes at leastit's something thing or what is
it you know.
Jamie Irvine (10:09):
And sometimes at least sometimes, sometimes it's
just a couple of guys talking,you know, listening for the
problem, Right?
So once you, once you start tohear, hey, I'm hearing this
problem and I think maybe Icould, you know, do a solution,
let's talk about what happened.
Tell me the story of how youdiscovered there was a problem
with Peterbilt hood hinges andtell us how you came about to
(10:29):
discover that problem, what youdid about it.
Alan Speyrer (10:31):
I owe that credit to my brother-in-law, who owns a
trucking company about an houraway.
All his trucks were Peterbilttrucks and he had bought a brand
new hood hinge bolt kit and putit on the truck and well, you
can still move the hood up anddown.
It still rattles, it stillvibrates.
(10:53):
It's a brand new kit.
So he's like, hey, could youmake these and could you make
them better?
He's like look at this.
So I was over there, went overto his house, measured
everything micrometers, calipers, made a drawing and thought, ok
yeah, we can take this threepiece kit, make it into a two
(11:14):
piece kit, add a grease fitting,make it greasable.
You know it took a little trialand error but it works.
Jamie Irvine (11:23):
It works really good a little trial and error,
but it works.
It works really good.
So once you, once you figuredout the solution, like what was
the benefit that now customerswho buy this kit get over the
original equipment oraftermarket that's been, you
know, traditionally beenavailable?
Alan Speyrer (11:36):
So the original part is either made in China or
Taiwan, not to knock thosecountries.
I think manufacturers can getthe part they want from those
countries.
Or they can just get the partthey want from those countries,
or they can just get averageparts.
If you want a really goodquality part, it costs some
(11:58):
money and it can be madeanywhere.
But the parts you get from thefactory is not that good.
Machining tolerances are plusor minus a 32nd of an inch.
So no matter how hard youtighten down on the factory kit,
the bolt and the bushing, itdoesn't fit good.
There's too much slop there.
It's going to rattle.
The bushings are polyurethane.
They're real cheap and theywon't last.
(12:21):
They wear out prematurely.
So CNC, a better qualitybushing and a better quality
bolt, adding a grease fitting inthere, allow just enough room
for grease around these twocomponents.
So you get a good quality partand it works and it'll last many
times longer.
Jamie Irvine (12:42):
What happens to the assembly and the hood if
there's too much movement, toomuch vibration and, and you know
, you're using that lowerquality part.
As they say, you rarely getmore than you pay for, so like
what, what would happen if youhad that you know cheaper part
on and everything wears out.
Alan Speyrer (12:58):
Over time, those polyurethane bushings.
They just wear out against thatsteel sleeve that's put over
the factory bolt and then itstarts wearing into the hood
hinge brackets which arealuminum.
Now you got to replace all ofit.
The whole assembly, yeah, yeah,yeah that makes sense and I made
(13:18):
some oversized bushings foranother trucker who had used a
factory component and didn't getit done in time and had some
wear.
So we had to make someoversized bushings because he
didn't want to replace thefactory hinges, factory brackets
.
You know it works and he'shappy with it, so it should last
(13:41):
him a long time like that.
Jamie Irvine (13:43):
So your brother-in-law gave you the idea
.
You figured out and kind oftested the solution with him.
You got it figured out and nowyou've started to sell it.
I does that give you as someonewho's providing a real quality
solution.
I don't know.
Alan Speyrer (14:10):
It's just a great feeling.
It's kind of like back whenyou're a teenager and you start
to get into this and back toracing and stuff and you're like
, okay, we're going to make this, we're going to modify this,
we're going to change, we'regoing to machine this and we're
gonna make this, we're gonnamodify this, we're gonna change,
we're gonna machine this and wehope it functions this way.
And when it does, then you'relike all right, this, this is
really good.
You know, this is really Idon't know.
(14:31):
It's thrilling and and to thinkthat I can improve a product
and it's gonna support thetrucking industry and those
customers going down the roadday in and day out.
You know that's just.
You know it's just, it's just agood feeling.
You know, like you know, Iimagine maybe Henry Ford felt
the same way when he inventedyou know his first car.
(14:52):
Or you know his first dozencars and got to see them right
up and down the street.
You know, it's just, it's justan exciting thing.
So I just love machining parts.
Jamie Irvine (15:02):
You know, make it a difference, one part at a time
.
I do yeah.
Alan Speyrer (15:07):
It's good.
Jamie Irvine (15:08):
You've been listening to the heavy duty
parts report.
I'm your host, jamie Irvin, andwe've been speaking with Alan
Spire, owner of AES machine.
If you want to learn more aboutAES machine and if you want to
look at these Peterbilt parts,go over to AES machine LLCcom.
Alan, thank you so much forbeing on the Heavy Duty Parts
Report.
I really appreciate your time.
Thank you, adam and.
Alan Speyrer (15:25):
Jamie.
Jamie Irvine (15:26):
Well, I hope you enjoyed my interview with Alan
Speyer from AES Machine.
Make sure you go over and checkout his website and, by all
means, if you sell to people whohave Peterbilts, or if you own
a Peterbilt, check out hiswebsite, buy that product that
he has developed.
I think that it is an excellentsolution to a real problem.
Okay, so now it's time forthat's Not Heavy Duty.
(15:47):
In this edition of that's NotHeavy Duty, what I wanted to
talk about is I wanted to talkabout my most recent experience
traveling to South Carolina todo field work for one of our
clients.
As you may have heard, therehas been some big time problems
with flights over the last fewweeks because of a computer
update that went bad and reallymessed up the system, and as I
(16:11):
flew down to South Carolina, Iheard horror stories of people
who had been on four differentflights over two different days
just trying to get from Texas toLA.
I heard one woman who had comefrom Peru and she was being sent
all the way back to SouthAmerica because her ticket had
disappeared in their system, andso I considered it kind of
(16:32):
fortunate that I only had tospend 18 hours flying from
Edmonton to South Carolina on myway down.
At least I made it to mydestination on the same day.
Now, when I was flying back,there were more problems.
One of my flights from Atlantato Edmonton was canceled and I
was rebooked on a flight toCalgary, which is only about a
three-hour drive away fromEdmonton.
(16:53):
But they wanted me to wait inCalgary for over nine hours.
So I called the airline andthen I went down to the actual
airport to talk to the agents,and then I had to call again and
stay on hold for a couple hoursand I got it all sorted out,
and so I was able to be moved toanother flight so that I was
(17:14):
able to fly into Calgary, have ashort layover, get on the next
flight to Edmonton and meet myfamily there.
Who were coming in fromVancouver we're all supposed to
meet at the same who were comingin from Vancouver?
We were all supposed to meet atthe same time, roughly the same
time.
What happened?
I couldn't get that thirdflight.
I couldn't get a boarding pass.
They kept telling me it's not aproblem, but they couldn't
provide me with a boarding pass.
And when I finally did get toCalgary, there was only about 45
(17:38):
minutes before the flight leftand I was told by the one
airline the Canadian side of theairline, westjet that they
couldn't help me.
I had to talk to Delta.
I went to talk to Delta andthey told me they couldn't help
me because it was within thewindow of 45 minutes before the
flight left.
Now, at this point, I had noknowledge that they had kept my
(17:59):
original flight.
Nine hours later, the way thatthey communicated with me, it
sounded like I had been moved tothat flight and then I had been
removed from that flight.
So I ended up taking an Uberand my family met me halfway.
It cost me over $300 to Uber.
We met up and then we drovehome.
A few hours later, I'm home andI'm getting a message on my
(18:23):
phone that my flights have beencanceled and delayed, that the
nine hour layover was going tobe 10, then it was 11, then it
was going to be a 12 hourlayover.
(18:43):
This story is because it made methink of times where, from a
consultant's perspective, I'vebeen working with clients of
ours, and some of the peopleworking at some of our clients
tend to have this attitude oflike.
Well, this customer centricpolicy that is being proposed to
be put forward is going togenerate a lot of work on our
end, and so we don't want to doit, and so that's really a
(19:10):
problem.
We want to make sure that weare doing everything we can to
make it easy for our customers,and one of the problems with the
flight that I had it wasn't somuch that it got messed up.
I understand that there's thismajor update issue, and these
things do happen.
If you travel as much as I do,you just learn to deal with it.
But what upset me was theattitude of the employees.
They really weren't interestedin helping me.
(19:30):
They kind of had a bit of adismissive attitude and like
well, sorry man, what do youwant us to do?
Kind of attitude.
And certainly if we're heavyduty people and we understand
the role we play in society asthe backbone of society, we
would never want to have thatattitude.
So, yes, sometimes to get thecustomer what they need, it
(19:52):
requires extra effort on ourpart.
Sometimes it requires us to dothe hard thing on their behalf,
but that is the heavy duty way.
So having a dismissive attitudeor being more concerned about
how much effort it's going torequire on our part to provide a
great customer experience.
That's not the heavy duty way.
Understanding our why,understanding why what we do is
(20:14):
so important, and doingeverything we can to make sure
our customers in trucking havewhat they need to be successful
that's the heavy duty way andthat's what we all need to do,
and obviously none of us areperfect.
We all at times, may slip intothat attitude because we're
tired, we're overworked, we'refrustrated.
I get that those things happen.
(20:35):
But it's a good reminder forall of us and we really do need
to do our part and really giveit our all as much as possible.
And if we can, you know, andafter you're hearing this, if
you can think of things that youcould personally improve on, or
if your department could makesome improvements, or if you're
a leader of a company, yourcompany could make improvements,
you know.
I think it's worth it to takethat effort and do what we can.
(20:58):
Okay, so thank you so much forlistening to today's episode.
I just wanted to remind youthat next week is break safety
week.
It starts on August 25th, goesto August 31st, 2024.
And we're going to have aspecial episode next week
dedicated to break safety week.
We already had one a few weeksago to help people prepare.
(21:18):
So make sure that you go over toheavydutypartsreportcom, sign
up to our weekly email so younever miss out on any of our
content.
If you like you know listeningto the podcast on a podcast
player, hit the follow buttonfor free.
If it gives you the option togive us a five-star rating and
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(21:39):
actually text us.
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Finally, if you like watchingthe video version, hit that
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On YouTube, hit the bellnotification so you never miss
out.
Thank you again for supportingthe Heavy-Duty Parts Report and
listening to today's episode and, as always, I want to encourage
you to be heavy duty.
You're listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report.
I'm your host, jamie Irvin, andthis is the place where we have
conversations that empowerheavy-duty people.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Heavy-Duty Parts Report.
I'm your host, jamie Irvin.
In this episode, we are goingto talk about how listening to
customers talk about theirproblems is a great way to
(00:23):
identify innovative products andsolutions that will solve their
problems and challenge thestatus quo.
We're going to see an exampleof how one machinist solved a
common problem with Peterbilt's,and we're going to talk about
how we need to avoid looking atthings through the lens of what
is convenient and easy for usand our employees, and look at
(00:44):
things through the lens of whatis convenient and easy for us
and our employees, and look atthings through the lens of what
is easy and convenient for ourcustomers, doing the hard things
well for them, and how thatreally impacts your business.
We've got a lot to talk aboutin this episode.
Let's get started At theHeavy-Duty Consulting
Corporation.
When we work with our clients,one of the first things that we
do is we often do a pre-scanevaluation.
(01:07):
This is where we ask a lot ofquestions and we just listen to
the customer as they talk.
We often will have a veryextended conversation as we
listen to what they've done,where they've been, what they're
trying to accomplish, theproblems they've had in the
different aspects of theirbusiness.
By listening to the customertalk about their problems, this
(01:30):
gives us the basis of bringingforth strategies that will help
them improve their business.
Now, if you've been followingwhat we've been doing at the
Heavy-Duty ConsultingCorporation, you'll know that
not only do we do a pre-scan atthe beginning of our consulting
engagement, but we now do apost-scan at the end, where we
demonstrate the amount ofquote-unquote fault codes we've
(01:51):
cleared for the business bylistening to their problems,
helping them develop a strategyand then guiding them as they
execute on the implementation ofthat strategy.
Now, if you sell products or ifyou provide services, you can
do this too.
So if you're a repair shop oryou're a parts distributor,
especially if you're a partsmanufacturer, that voice of
(02:13):
customer is so critical toreally finding and pioneering
innovative solutions thatchallenge the status quo.
All too often we accept whathas just been provided to us and
we don't really challenge thatand therefore we miss out on
these great opportunities.
And I see this over and overagain and that's why I wanted to
(02:35):
have my featured guest on thisepisode, because I think my
featured guest has just anexcellent example of how
listening to people's problemshas led him to developing
innovative solutions and,principally, I think we can all
benefit from seeing this example.
So we're going to take a quickbreak to hear from our sponsors
and when we're back from oursponsors we are going to listen
(02:59):
in to my interview with thismachinist who came up with an
innovative solution to a problemon Peterbilt's.
We'll be right back.
Are you deferring maintenancebecause of filter cost or
availability?
Or, worse yet, are you tradingdown to no-name filters to try
to save a few bucks?
Either way, you're rolling thedice.
The good news there's a newpremium filter option for fleets
(03:21):
Hanks Filtration.
If you're responsible for afleet, you won't believe how
much using Hanks filters willsave you.
But you've got to go toheavydutypartsreportcom slash
Hanks to find out more.
That's heavydutypartsreportcomslash H-E-N-G-S-T Head there now
At Diesel Laptops, they go waybeyond diagnostic tools.
(03:44):
They are your complete shopefficiency partner, from diesel
technician training to completerepair information, parts lookup
tools and robust technicalsupport.
They are there to support youevery step of the way.
Learn more and download yourfree starter pack today by
visiting Diesellaptopscom.
That's Diesellaptopscom.
(04:07):
Hda Truck Pride is the heart ofthe Independent Parts and
Service Channel.
They have 750 parts stores and450 service centres,
conveniently located across theUS and Canada.
Visit HeavyDutyPartsReportcom.
Slash HDA Truck Pride today tofind a location near you.
Again.
That's heavydutypartsreportcom.
Slash hdatruckbride and let theheart of the independent
(04:29):
service channel take care ofyour commercial equipment.
We're back from the break.
Before the break, we weretalking about the importance of
listening to your customer andidentifying what problems they
are encountering and how we canuse that information to develop
innovative products andsolutions.
My guest this week is one suchindividual who makes a living
(04:52):
doing this.
My guest today is Alan Spire,owner of AES Machine.
Now, alan is a machinist inWest Texas with over 20 years of
machining and manufacturingexperience.
He manufactures parts forvarious industries, including
the trucking industry.
Alan, welcome to the Heavy-DutyParts Report.
So glad to have you here.
Thanks, glad to be here.
(05:13):
So I'd like you to tell me thestory of how you started AES
Machine.
What was the motivator behindthat?
What were you hoping toaccomplish when you started this
company?
Alan Speyrer (05:24):
So started racing go-karts around my 15, 16 years
of age and some of the veterango-kart racers were machinists.
So you know, I just fell inthat whole machining thing and,
you know, watched them machineparts and had them machine parts
(05:44):
for me and just really fell inlove with machining.
And then I got to thinking youknow a lot of the big Penske and
Yates and all those big NASCARIndyCar companies.
Well, they also manufactureparts for their particular
racing industry and that fuelstheir team, you know, and pays
(06:06):
for racing.
I thought, well, that would begreat, you know.
So I got into machining doingthat, went to a community
college for machining and juststarted machining and racing and
that just kind of snowballed.
Still make some parts forgo-kart racing for a company in
Arizona, but I haven't raced ina decade.
Jamie Irvine (06:31):
So that takes me back.
I remember when I started offin remanufacturing for heavy
duty parts and I went to collegeas well, learned how to use a
mill machine and a lathe Ididn't go into CNC.
Did you take training for CNC?
Yes, okay.
So back when I was taking thattraining it was all conventional
machines.
But it's so funny how yourpassions when you're young will
(06:53):
often fuel the direction of yourcareer to a degree.
I mean I was making parts formotorcycles and for Mustangs and
, like you, know anything Icould do to save a few bucks,
because when you're that age youdon't have a lot of money, so
you race competitively.
That was kind of how you gotinto it.
Talk to me a little bit aboutthe role of mentorship with some
of those older racers, like howimportant was that to guide you
(07:15):
in your career?
Alan Speyrer (07:17):
Yeah it was, it was great.
I mean, I don't think I wouldhave been interested in
machining had I not been aroundthose guys.
And you know, you go to theirshop and, hey, can you bore out
this cylinder here?
We need to rebuild this engine.
And OK, yeah, they can do it.
And they got all the tools andyou watch the process and and
you're just like wow, theyreally did that, you know, and
(07:38):
it didn't take long and thatreally works.
So I'd like to do that.
You know, just get exposed tothose things and lights a fire
and you know, you're justpassionate about that, you know
Absolutely.
Jamie Irvine (07:49):
I remember when I machined a set of Ford controls
and a set of horns to go to goon the windscreen of my
motorcycle, like when Iinstalled it, I took a step back
.
I remember the excitement oflike I did that, Like that was
in my head and I figured out away to make it and now look at
it, it's, you know, done.
I can imagine you had the samething when you were out on the
racetrack and your engine wasperforming and you were winning
(08:12):
and you were like, yeah, that'sbecause I did that.
Alan Speyrer (08:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Just, you know, just look atthings a different way and think
about it.
And you know, I'll just drawsomething on a piece of paper
and we're now on the computerand and think about it, and then
you machine it and well, maybeit didn't always work the way
you wanted it to initially, soyou got to tweak this and tweak
that.
But just because you can drawsomething on a piece of paper
(08:37):
doesn't mean it's going tofunction the way you want it to
function.
Yeah, 100 percent.
Jamie Irvine (08:41):
So did you come from a family with a lot of
people that had mechanicalbackground, or are you kind of
like the first in your family toget involved in this?
Alan Speyrer (08:55):
Yeah, mother's a nurse, father's a pharmacist, so
not really Grandfather.
He worked for Johnson, evinrudeand OMC Outboards.
All three of those outboardsare made on the same assembly
line and so he was the headmechanic.
When back in like the late 70s,early 80s, when you had the
bass boat tournaments you see onTV, he was the guy that was
(09:18):
there that was working on RolandMartin and Bill Dance's bass
boats for the tournament.
Jamie Irvine (09:24):
So now let's fast forward to where you are today.
You've been running AES Machinenow for over 20 years, so walk
me through your process fordiscovering opportunities to
manufacture innovative parts.
How does that usually comeabout it?
Alan Speyrer (09:38):
usually comes about when you just meet
somebody or you connect withsomebody through social media
and they just get to talkingabout this and you just I don't.
You just got to listen and saywhere are they going with this?
What?
What exactly do they do theywant out of this conversation?
Are they?
Are they asking for a solutionto a certain thing, or what is
(10:02):
it you know?
And, and sometimes at leastit's something thing or what is
it you know.
Jamie Irvine (10:09):
And sometimes at least sometimes, sometimes it's
just a couple of guys talking,you know, listening for the
problem, Right?
So once you, once you start tohear, hey, I'm hearing this
problem and I think maybe Icould, you know, do a solution,
let's talk about what happened.
Tell me the story of how youdiscovered there was a problem
with Peterbilt hood hinges andtell us how you came about to
(10:29):
discover that problem, what youdid about it.
Alan Speyrer (10:31):
I owe that credit to my brother-in-law, who owns a
trucking company about an houraway.
All his trucks were Peterbilttrucks and he had bought a brand
new hood hinge bolt kit and putit on the truck and well, you
can still move the hood up anddown.
It still rattles, it stillvibrates.
(10:53):
It's a brand new kit.
So he's like, hey, could youmake these and could you make
them better?
He's like look at this.
So I was over there, went overto his house, measured
everything micrometers, calipers, made a drawing and thought, ok
yeah, we can take this threepiece kit, make it into a two
(11:14):
piece kit, add a grease fitting,make it greasable.
You know it took a little trialand error but it works.
Jamie Irvine (11:23):
It works really good a little trial and error,
but it works.
It works really good.
So once you, once you figuredout the solution, like what was
the benefit that now customerswho buy this kit get over the
original equipment oraftermarket that's been, you
know, traditionally beenavailable?
Alan Speyrer (11:36):
So the original part is either made in China or
Taiwan, not to knock thosecountries.
I think manufacturers can getthe part they want from those
countries.
Or they can just get the partthey want from those countries,
or they can just get averageparts.
If you want a really goodquality part, it costs some
(11:58):
money and it can be madeanywhere.
But the parts you get from thefactory is not that good.
Machining tolerances are plusor minus a 32nd of an inch.
So no matter how hard youtighten down on the factory kit,
the bolt and the bushing, itdoesn't fit good.
There's too much slop there.
It's going to rattle.
The bushings are polyurethane.
They're real cheap and theywon't last.
(12:21):
They wear out prematurely.
So CNC, a better qualitybushing and a better quality
bolt, adding a grease fitting inthere, allow just enough room
for grease around these twocomponents.
So you get a good quality partand it works and it'll last many
times longer.
Jamie Irvine (12:42):
What happens to the assembly and the hood if
there's too much movement, toomuch vibration and, and you know
, you're using that lowerquality part.
As they say, you rarely getmore than you pay for, so like
what, what would happen if youhad that you know cheaper part
on and everything wears out.
Alan Speyrer (12:58):
Over time, those polyurethane bushings.
They just wear out against thatsteel sleeve that's put over
the factory bolt and then itstarts wearing into the hood
hinge brackets which arealuminum.
Now you got to replace all ofit.
The whole assembly, yeah, yeah,yeah that makes sense and I made
(13:18):
some oversized bushings foranother trucker who had used a
factory component and didn't getit done in time and had some
wear.
So we had to make someoversized bushings because he
didn't want to replace thefactory hinges, factory brackets
.
You know it works and he'shappy with it, so it should last
(13:41):
him a long time like that.
Jamie Irvine (13:43):
So your brother-in-law gave you the idea
.
You figured out and kind oftested the solution with him.
You got it figured out and nowyou've started to sell it.
I does that give you as someonewho's providing a real quality
solution.
I don't know.
Alan Speyrer (14:10):
It's just a great feeling.
It's kind of like back whenyou're a teenager and you start
to get into this and back toracing and stuff and you're like
, okay, we're going to make this, we're going to modify this,
we're going to change, we'regoing to machine this and we're
gonna make this, we're gonnamodify this, we're gonna change,
we're gonna machine this and wehope it functions this way.
And when it does, then you'relike all right, this, this is
really good.
You know, this is really Idon't know.
(14:31):
It's thrilling and and to thinkthat I can improve a product
and it's gonna support thetrucking industry and those
customers going down the roadday in and day out.
You know that's just.
You know it's just, it's just agood feeling.
You know, like you know, Iimagine maybe Henry Ford felt
the same way when he inventedyou know his first car.
(14:52):
Or you know his first dozencars and got to see them right
up and down the street.
You know, it's just, it's justan exciting thing.
So I just love machining parts.
Jamie Irvine (15:02):
You know, make it a difference, one part at a time
.
I do yeah.
Alan Speyrer (15:07):
It's good.
Jamie Irvine (15:08):
You've been listening to the heavy duty
parts report.
I'm your host, jamie Irvin, andwe've been speaking with Alan
Spire, owner of AES machine.
If you want to learn more aboutAES machine and if you want to
look at these Peterbilt parts,go over to AES machine LLCcom.
Alan, thank you so much forbeing on the Heavy Duty Parts
Report.
I really appreciate your time.
Thank you, adam and.
Alan Speyrer (15:25):
Jamie.
Jamie Irvine (15:26):
Well, I hope you enjoyed my interview with Alan
Speyer from AES Machine.
Make sure you go over and checkout his website and, by all
means, if you sell to people whohave Peterbilts, or if you own
a Peterbilt, check out hiswebsite, buy that product that
he has developed.
I think that it is an excellentsolution to a real problem.
Okay, so now it's time forthat's Not Heavy Duty.
(15:47):
In this edition of that's NotHeavy Duty, what I wanted to
talk about is I wanted to talkabout my most recent experience
traveling to South Carolina todo field work for one of our
clients.
As you may have heard, therehas been some big time problems
with flights over the last fewweeks because of a computer
update that went bad and reallymessed up the system, and as I
(16:11):
flew down to South Carolina, Iheard horror stories of people
who had been on four differentflights over two different days
just trying to get from Texas toLA.
I heard one woman who had comefrom Peru and she was being sent
all the way back to SouthAmerica because her ticket had
disappeared in their system, andso I considered it kind of
(16:32):
fortunate that I only had tospend 18 hours flying from
Edmonton to South Carolina on myway down.
At least I made it to mydestination on the same day.
Now, when I was flying back,there were more problems.
One of my flights from Atlantato Edmonton was canceled and I
was rebooked on a flight toCalgary, which is only about a
three-hour drive away fromEdmonton.
(16:53):
But they wanted me to wait inCalgary for over nine hours.
So I called the airline andthen I went down to the actual
airport to talk to the agents,and then I had to call again and
stay on hold for a couple hoursand I got it all sorted out,
and so I was able to be moved toanother flight so that I was
(17:14):
able to fly into Calgary, have ashort layover, get on the next
flight to Edmonton and meet myfamily there.
Who were coming in fromVancouver we're all supposed to
meet at the same who were comingin from Vancouver?
We were all supposed to meet atthe same time, roughly the same
time.
What happened?
I couldn't get that thirdflight.
I couldn't get a boarding pass.
They kept telling me it's not aproblem, but they couldn't
provide me with a boarding pass.
And when I finally did get toCalgary, there was only about 45
(17:38):
minutes before the flight leftand I was told by the one
airline the Canadian side of theairline, westjet that they
couldn't help me.
I had to talk to Delta.
I went to talk to Delta andthey told me they couldn't help
me because it was within thewindow of 45 minutes before the
flight left.
Now, at this point, I had noknowledge that they had kept my
(17:59):
original flight.
Nine hours later, the way thatthey communicated with me, it
sounded like I had been moved tothat flight and then I had been
removed from that flight.
So I ended up taking an Uberand my family met me halfway.
It cost me over $300 to Uber.
We met up and then we drovehome.
A few hours later, I'm home andI'm getting a message on my
(18:23):
phone that my flights have beencanceled and delayed, that the
nine hour layover was going tobe 10, then it was 11, then it
was going to be a 12 hourlayover.
(18:43):
This story is because it made methink of times where, from a
consultant's perspective, I'vebeen working with clients of
ours, and some of the peopleworking at some of our clients
tend to have this attitude oflike.
Well, this customer centricpolicy that is being proposed to
be put forward is going togenerate a lot of work on our
end, and so we don't want to doit, and so that's really a
(19:10):
problem.
We want to make sure that weare doing everything we can to
make it easy for our customers,and one of the problems with the
flight that I had it wasn't somuch that it got messed up.
I understand that there's thismajor update issue, and these
things do happen.
If you travel as much as I do,you just learn to deal with it.
But what upset me was theattitude of the employees.
They really weren't interestedin helping me.
(19:30):
They kind of had a bit of adismissive attitude and like
well, sorry man, what do youwant us to do?
Kind of attitude.
And certainly if we're heavyduty people and we understand
the role we play in society asthe backbone of society, we
would never want to have thatattitude.
So, yes, sometimes to get thecustomer what they need, it
(19:52):
requires extra effort on ourpart.
Sometimes it requires us to dothe hard thing on their behalf,
but that is the heavy duty way.
So having a dismissive attitudeor being more concerned about
how much effort it's going torequire on our part to provide a
great customer experience.
That's not the heavy duty way.
Understanding our why,understanding why what we do is
(20:14):
so important, and doingeverything we can to make sure
our customers in trucking havewhat they need to be successful
that's the heavy duty way andthat's what we all need to do,
and obviously none of us areperfect.
We all at times, may slip intothat attitude because we're
tired, we're overworked, we'refrustrated.
I get that those things happen.
(20:35):
But it's a good reminder forall of us and we really do need
to do our part and really giveit our all as much as possible.
And if we can, you know, andafter you're hearing this, if
you can think of things that youcould personally improve on, or
if your department could makesome improvements, or if you're
a leader of a company, yourcompany could make improvements,
you know.
I think it's worth it to takethat effort and do what we can.
(20:58):
Okay, so thank you so much forlistening to today's episode.
I just wanted to remind youthat next week is break safety
week.
It starts on August 25th, goesto August 31st, 2024.
And we're going to have aspecial episode next week
dedicated to break safety week.
We already had one a few weeksago to help people prepare.
(21:18):
So make sure that you go over toheavydutypartsreportcom, sign
up to our weekly email so younever miss out on any of our
content.
If you like you know listeningto the podcast on a podcast
player, hit the follow buttonfor free.
If it gives you the option togive us a five-star rating and
review, you can do so, andthere's a new feature inside the
show notes on your podcastplayer app where you can
(21:39):
actually text us.
So if you want to communicatewith us and pass along some
information, we'd love to hearfrom you.
Finally, if you like watchingthe video version, hit that
subscribe button.
On YouTube, hit the bellnotification so you never miss
out.
Thank you again for supportingthe Heavy-Duty Parts Report and
listening to today's episode and, as always, I want to encourage
you to be heavy duty.
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