CHARLOTTE, Mich. — Spartan Chassis, a business unit of Spartan Motors, Inc. (Nasdaq:SPAR), welcomed its original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their dealers to the Lansing, Mich., region for its annual Sales Training Conference Feb. 16-19.
Each year, Spartan Chassis utilizes the event to align the extended enterprise with its current market offerings through vital training sessions and presentations.
“The 2014 event centered a portion of the conference on the manufacturing process of our products,” said Michael Bowman, Director of Sales, Emergency Response Chassis. “This hands-on approach differentiates not only our training, but more importantly our products for both the OEMs and their dealers. With the reduction in classroom training, our attendees can maximize the learning opportunity and experience the assembly process first-hand. The guests learn directly from those intimately involved in the build process of every cab/chassis.”
The Sales Training Conference is a two-fold approach for Spartan Chassis. Not only are attendees able to get a glimpse of the company’s upcoming innovations slated for 2014, but the participants also interact directly with Spartan Chassis decision makers and suppliers to further improve the company’s voice of the market/customer procedure.
“The voice of the market process is of great importance to Spartan Chassis. This procedure is the cornerstone of our product development process, and events like the Sales Training Conference provide a very efficient means to gather feedback from the market. Our model works. We were very pleased with demand for Spartan Chassis in 2013; we continued to see the number of conquest orders improving,” Bowman stated.
The buzz generated in 2012 with the launch of the Spartan Advanced Protection System (APS) continued in 2013 with the APS being specified on over 70% of the orders received. With best-in-class performance, APS includes safety features never before available in the cab/chassis. Several industry firsts include: full side curtain airbags that are seven times larger than competitors’, driver-side knee airbags to lock the lower body into place, and outboard sensors to provide a zone of safety for occupants. Additional industry firsts include outboard sensors for faster deployment of airbags and protect occupants from side impact collisions, rollovers and occupant ejection and advanced seat belts to help control the strain on each occupant.
In 2014, Spartan Chassis will take you “Beneath the Armor” and present a closer look inside its Advanced Protection System (APS). Beneath the Armor is a Spartan Chassis recently-launched campaign which provides a unique look at the key features and components comprising APS.
During the event, over 150 attendees were immersed in the Spartan Chassis state-of-the-art design, engineering and assembly processes located in Plant 3 (52,194 sq. ft.) and Plant 8 (106,838 sq. ft.) at the company’s headquarters in Charlotte, Mich., located just minutes south of Lansing. The company segmented the assembly process into six tour stops, at which the attendees were trained by a combination of Spartan Chassis Associates from engineering, manufacturing and various customer-facing teams. The experiential nature of the tour stops enable OEMs and their dealers the opportunity to see first-hand the company’s best-in-class manufacturing practices, technology development programs, quality systems and, most importantly, the dedicated Spartan Chassis Associates, many of which have firefighting experience.
In addition to Spartan Chassis’ training, the conference attendees had the opportunity to participate in an exhibitor event with several of Spartan Chassis’ supplier partners. Each provided the attendees a chance to learn more about several products used in emergency response vehicles.
About Spartan Chassis, Inc.
Spartan Chassis, Inc. is a world-class leader in the engineering, manufacturing and marketing of chassis and aftermarket parts for emergency response, recreational vehicle (RV), defense and specialty vehicles. End users recognize and request the Spartan Chassis brand, which consistently delivers superior performance, exceptional safety ratings and innovations which distinguish us from the competition. Visit Spartan Chassis atwww.spartanchassis.com.
