The Heavy Duty Parts Report
Each week Jamie Irvine and his guests have conversations that empower heavy-duty people. They discuss tips, tools, and technology that help heavy-duty parts manufacturers and distributors sell the right parts to fleets, repair shops, and truck operators.
The Heavy Duty Parts Report
A Simple Approach to Turbochargers with Big Fuel Savings
Episode 336: Financial headwinds are slowing the trucking industry down. Parts companies must improve their value proposition, and one of the quickest ways to accomplish this is to bring innovative products to the attention of customers and help them lower their total cost of operation. From the fleet’s perspective, finding ways to reduce costs and make their fleet more efficient is always a good strategy.
Our guest is Dan McClave, President of Switchblade Turbos. He talks about their product, why it works better than traditional turbochargers, and how their product can save the fleet money. Their product also helps reduce pollution, so it is a win win all around and they have the testimonials to prove it.
Show Notes: Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com for complete show notes of this episode and to subscribe to all our content.
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You're listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, jamie Irvin, and this is the place where we have conversations that empower heavy-duty people. Welcome to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, jamie Irvin. In this episode, we're going to talk about turbochargers, and I want you to listen in to a sneak peek of the interview and also stick around to the very end of the interview, as we have an update from our featured guest. Listen into our sneak peek now.
Dan McClave:Jamie, the difference here with our turbo compared to what's on the market today is we've essentially created two turbos in one. That at start or at rest it's a small turbo. There's an internal moving part that chokes off or closes off and makes the turbo a smaller diameter than original. The boost pressure is higher than the back pressure of the turbo and if you talk with anyone in the industry, that's unheard of.
Jamie Irvine:Well, I'm so excited to share this interview with you. At the time of recording today's episode, we had not yet received the results of the American Trucking Research Institute, or ATRI's annual survey, where they get people from the trucking industry to tell them what the top industry issues actually are. Now, andrew Boyle, atri chairman, commented that for the past two decades, the industry has relied on the annual top industry issues survey to highlight the challenges facing our nation's supply chain, and that this research provides an opportunity for thousands of trucking industry professionals, from drivers to executives, to weigh in on the most critical topics that affect our day-to-day operations and collectively decide on the best strategies for addressing each. Now, last year, in 2023, when this survey was issued, the economy was top of mind. It was the most important issue that people felt was facing the trucking industry and, let's face it, society at large. Now, going into 2024, we expect it to be very similar, and last year, the top five issues included truck parking, fuel prices, driver shortage, driver pay and, of course, the number one being the economy, and this came from over 4,000 transportation stakeholders. So the data is pretty reliable.
Jamie Irvine:Now, for those of us who work in support of the trucking industry, let's say you're in the parts business or you're in the parts and service business, we're directly impacted by any issue that affects the trucking industry, especially economic issues and financial headwinds. That affects our business as well. At the Heavy-Duty Consulting Corporation, when we are working with our clients, one of the areas that we help them focus on is the development of a stronger value proposition, and one of the big advantages of having a strong value proposition is it makes it harder for your competitors to just slash prices and engage in a race to the bottom on price. And so when you have this stronger value proposition, really you're making your business more resilient to things like financial headwinds affecting the trucking industry, things like financial headwinds affecting the trucking industry. And really one of the quickest ways to accomplish this is to bring innovative products to the attention of our customers and help our fleet customers lower their total cost of operation. From the fleet's perspective, regardless of what the issues are that they're dealing with, finding ways to reduce cost and make their fleet more efficient is always a good strategy. So on the podcast, we are always striving to find these innovative products and share them with you, and this will really help the listeners of the show, especially if they're on the distribution side of the business, to enhance their value proposition and help their customers lower their total cost of operation.
Jamie Irvine:Today's episode will be no different and we're going to talk about one of the trends that has been creating a lot of pain for fleets. It's contributing to inflationary pressure and we're going to talk about one specific way we can address that problem. But before we share our interview with you, we just have to take a quick break to hear from our sponsors. We'll be right back. Are you deferring maintenance because of filter cost or availability? Or, worse yet, are you trading down to no-name filters to try to save a few bucks? Either way, you're rolling the dice. The good news there's a new premium filter option for fleets Hanks Filtration. If you're responsible for a fleet, you won't believe how much using Hanks filters will save you. But you've got to go to heavydutypartsreportcom slash Hanks to find out more. That's heavydutypartsreportcom slash H-E-N-G-S-T Head there now At Diesel Laptops, they go way beyond diagnostic tools.
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Jamie Irvine:We're back from our break, and before the break I was talking about the real need to help our customers lower their total cost of operation. This is a continuous theme of the show, and one great way to do that and enhance our own value proposition if we're in the distribution game, is to be the person who introduces our customers to innovative products. So listen in to my interview because our guest today is gonna help you do just that. So my guest today is Dan McClave. He's the president at Switchblade Turbochargers. That gives you a hint as to what kind of product we're going to talk about.
Jamie Irvine:Dan has spent the majority of his career in the automotive manufacturing and remanufacturing industry. That means him and I are kindred spirits on the remand side. He's now the president at Switchblade Turbochargers and they serve the heavy-duty agricultural and industrial markets. He's now made the full shift to heavy-duty. He now is one of our heavy-duty people. He is very proud of the company's patented design on their turbocharger and what the company's patented design actually does for reducing costs. This is going to be a great episode. I'm really looking forward to it. Dan, welcome to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. So glad to have you here.
Dan McClave:Jamie, thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.
Jamie Irvine:Well, it's been a while we have been planning this episode, so today is the day. Let's get right into it. What is one of the big macro trends? That is, pushing up the costs of operations for commercial fleets.
Dan McClave:Yeah, it's a great question. I think the major trend, not just for fleets but for you and I as individuals, and everyone across the country, is the price of fuel. Even though there's been a decline lately, I would say from maybe the summer months over the past five to 10 years, fuel prices have just consistently increased and it's impacting again you and I, but the fleets and owner operators, farmers, you name it, anyone that's in the industrial heavy duty industry. It's a massive pain point for them.
Jamie Irvine:Right, and I know when I was selling parts I would talk to fleets all the time about what their biggest cost centers were, and it the drivers, and it was fuel, tires, brakes, those kinds of things Fuel always ranked in the top one to three costs that they had to contend with. What has been the impact on fleets as these fuel costs have consistently gone up? I know where I am in Western Canada right now, diesel has been much more expensive than even gasoline. It's crazy. As a kid there was such a gap between gasoline prices and diesel prices like 30 years ago, and today, where I live anyway, that has flipped and to me that's just unprecedented. So what does that do to a commercial fleet when that's the situation?
Dan McClave:Well, it's a massive impact, obviously to the commercial fleet, because they have to keep their trucks running, they have to deliver goods and services to all of us throughout the country and across the world. But a lot of those costs unfortunately get passed to you and I, to the consumer or to the shop owner, whoever it is. So that cost is impacting the fleets tremendously and, to their defense, they're having to pass on a surcharge and now you have inflation. You have, you know, the economic state that we're in, which I won't get into, but the increase in the cost of fuel has just had ripple effects across this industry in a negative way.
Jamie Irvine:I'll get into it a little bit. We were just at the Technology and Maintenance Council's fall meeting and you know, one of the big concerns that I heard from not only the fleets but also the manufacturers that supply products for them is look, where is the state of the economy going to take us? How bad could a potential downturn be? This time around we see things going in the wrong direction. Tonnage is down, demand is down, costs are up. That's a tough market for fleets to be able to operate at a profitable level. When you've got everything going, what's seemingly in the wrong direction, Right, exactly, and it is going in the wrong direction.
Dan McClave:So there has to be some relief. Again. I think prices for diesel fuel have come down a little bit, but if you look at the overall trend over the last 10, 15, 20 years, it's a net negative in terms of higher pricing for these fleets and, again, the consumer. We have to fill up our gas tanks as well, so it's a pain point for everyone, but especially fleets and the heavy duty market.
Jamie Irvine:Yeah, and I think when you're on the part side of the business, you're limited to parts to offer solutions to fleets. Right, I mean, there's not a lot we can do about macroeconomics, geopolitics and demographic conversion. Those things are what they are and there's not even a lot that we can do when it comes to some of those other inflationary costs. But, as parts people, one thing we can do is we can turn and look at our own products. Before we actually talk about your specific products, tell me a little bit about the culture at your company and the way of thinking that you and your team at Switchblade and I partnered recently, this past year with Jim Blaylock, who's the founder and the inventor of the Switchblade Turbo.
Dan McClave:But Jim has been in business since 1980. He has been remanufacturing and repairing turbos since that time and has developed a better product. So his years and years of seeing the product that's been on the market the failure rates, the failure modes, what's been happening he just was driven to produce a better product. So he is a wonderful human being, a wonderful man. Everybody in the industry knows him. I've known him for 15 years. We just have recently reconnected and decided to partner together. Recently reconnected and decided to partner together on this product. So he just runs an honest business. I'm privileged and honored to just be partnering with him to try to get this product to more people.
Jamie Irvine:Well, I've met him in person at HDAW actually this year, earlier this year, and I can attest to that His passion for this industry is really contagious. How has that impacted the other people that work at your company?
Dan McClave:They're all striving for excellence. Jim is in Baxter Spring, kansas I'm just outside of Philadelphia, but I go there very often and they are all just striving for excellence. They just want this to be successful and they're impacted as well by the problem we're discussing. So they know they're sitting on a solution, which is why we've partnered together to kind of match our skill sets to get this product to the market in a bigger way.
Jamie Irvine:You know you got to have the right combination of people. That is absolutely true. There are so many really great products out there that they just they need something more to be able to get them out to more people and have a bigger impact. Right, and I think that's very exciting, that you have partnered and come together. So what are you doing from a culture perspective, from a leadership perspective in your company, to add something in addition to what Jim brings to the table?
Dan McClave:Well, my background, jamie, was with Cardone Industries, so a family-owned, privately held business. I worked there for 20 years. We did everything with the customer in mind. My background there was engineering, which went into product development operations. I was fortunate to do an international assignment in Belgium for about 5 or 6 years and Jim and I again, we met 15 years ago through our relationships at Cardone when we were getting into turbos. And just like you've met him this past year, immediately when you meet Jim you feel like you've known him for 20 years. So when we reconnected again it was just kind of matching his skillset, his passion for the industry, with my background of growing businesses and improving products and leveraging connections that I've been fortunate and blessed to have over the past 30 years.
Jamie Irvine:One of the things that I've seen in my career. I've seen this done well and I've seen this done poorly. So let me lay out the poorly edition of that and then you tell me what you're doing differently. One of the dangers, I think, is you can sit around in a boardroom for a very long time and you can sit around a couple tables with engineers and you can come up with what you feel to be truly great ideas, but if you fail to involve the customer in that conversation and get their feedback, you can miss the mark by a wide margin. So what are you doing to ensure that doesn't happen?
Dan McClave:Well, we have an incredible customer base. We have a lot of people. If you just go on YouTube and Google switchblade Turbochargers, you'll see a lot of positive testimonies and Jim has just worked with customers throughout the years as he's developed this product and he's nailed it. I mean, this thing works. This is not a conceptual idea in a lab somewhere. There's product in the field and happy customers saving dollars on fuel. So the testimonial really would be don't listen to me, don't listen to Jim, Talk to the customers, talk to people that he's partnered with and have been using his product and continue to use his product. He's an honest man. He does what he says he's going to do and, again, that's another reason why Jim and I wanted to connect and be together.
Jamie Irvine:So, dan, your company, has looked at turbochargers as an opportunity to not only provide a high quality product, but a product that works differently and that creates a better result. Right, so let's walk through that product. What makes your turbocharger different than a turbocharger I would get elsewhere in the market?
Dan McClave:Yeah. So, jamie, the difference here with our turbo compared to what's on the market today is we've essentially created two turbos in one. To keep it very, very simple, there is one additional moving part in the turbine housing of the turbo that at start or at rest it's a small turbo. There's an internal moving part that chokes off or closes off and makes the turbo a smaller diameter than original, so that eliminates turbo lag. It aggressively gets more air pressure into the turbine housing, which then spools the turbine wheel much faster, so you have faster takeoff. And then at top speed that internal part opens up and now you have a larger turbo as you're going down the road at top speed. So it's really the best of both worlds not to get too technical, but we have. Basically, the boost pressure is higher than the back pressure of the turbo, and if you talk with anyone in the industry, that's unheard of. But we found a way, a very, very simple, easy way to achieve this.
Jamie Irvine:That's awesome. It's an intriguing concept to me. Tell me more about that.
Dan McClave:If you ask anyone in the turbo world, what do I need for faster boost and elimination of turbo lag? Well, you need a small turbine housing at start, but at top end speed that doesn't work well. At top end you need a larger turbo housing. Well, with our design we've been able to achieve both in the same turbo, so that internal vein is closed at rest and creates a small turbo. It spools up a lot faster and then when we get to speed that vein opens up, and now we have a larger turbo than the original. So that's what gets the boost in the back pressure to be equal instead of a two to one ratio.
Jamie Irvine:What role did being a remanufacturer and doing failure analysis? That's one thing I know. When you're in the reman business, you get to see a lot of cores, so you get to do failure analysis and that often leads to innovation. So what role did being a remanufacturer all these years play in developing this different approach to a turbocharger?
Dan McClave:Yeah. So the one main thing that we've noticed there's a lot of internal moving parts in the turbine housing of a turbo. What we've been able to do has been to eliminate all of those. So it's a much, much simpler design than the original design that's out there A lot of the VGT turbos that are running around and we just thought there's got to be an easier, simpler, better way. And again we've just been able to come up with a way to at rest make the turbine housing smaller and then at top speed, because our turbo is a little bit larger than the original. So it's essentially an upgrade to the existing OE turbo system that's on any vehicle right now.
Jamie Irvine:Okay, so if you know anything about ICE vehicles and how they run, if you get more oxygen, more fuel, you get more power. How does this translate into better fuel economy, lower fuel consumption.
Dan McClave:Well, it's increasing the boost pressure and decreasing back pressure. So we've completely eliminated turbo lag. So a lot of applications that are a lot of start and stop take trash trucks, for example, or things like that where it's a lot of stop and start, you're losing fuel initially. So our design basically burns fuel more efficiently than the existing system. So that boost pressure to back pressure relationship, evening it up and making it actually a one-to-one ratio instead of a two-to-one ratio, is really the secret sauce in the way that we've been able to achieve these fuel improvements.
Jamie Irvine:So modern diesel engines are pretty complex pieces of really engineering marvel really, when you think about it, there's a lot of things to go wrong in an engine. So, as you change these different specs based on the upgrade to the turbo, how did you, from an engineering perspective, handle any of the potential issues of changing the parameters of how the turbo? How did you, from an engineering perspective, handle any of the potential issues of changing kind of the parameters of how the turbo operates? Did you run into any trouble and, if you did, how did you deal with it?
Dan McClave:Yeah, I think, jamie, we're actually making it. We're boiling it down and making it simpler. It is a one-to-one exchange from the original design of a turbo that's on an engine to our design. So we're simply getting more air into the engine at a higher rate than what has been achieved before, and that's resulting in, again, better improvements in fuel efficiency. And another improvement that we haven't really talked about yet has been extended oil life. So the black smoke that you're seeing come out of a stack of a truck or of a piece of agricultural equipment that's just unburnt fuel. Our turbo eliminates that virtually 90%. So we have again a lot of customers that have posted videos of a stack spewing out black smoke and, side-by-side, a stack with a switchblade turbo on it spewing out, you know, 90 to almost 100 less. So the environmental impact of this is massive, as well, yeah, it's a.
Jamie Irvine:That's a measurable difference if it's 90. The trend of the last few years in the trucking industry, with with the actual technology on trucks, has been trending towards increased complexity. Your company seems to be going against the grain. Tell me more about why you're taking this more simplistic approach.
Dan McClave:Yeah. So, jamie, we have seen a lot of being a remanufacturer. We've seen the complexity in these parts, the failure modes. I mean it's just plain and simple. I think the more moving parts you have, the more potential for problems. So we've taken the opposite approach and have been fortunate to come up with a very, very simple design that, again, we show people and they understand how and why it works. They're just surprised with how simple it is and they almost will say that's it. We said, well, yeah, that's it. Why complicate something that works? So it was something that we've just come across and are very happy and proud to say that it is a more simple design than traditional.
Jamie Irvine:Okay, so when I have a truck and I've got a turbocharger with an actuator on it and it's time for that turbocharger to be changed, I order a switchblade. What do I do with my core?
Dan McClave:You can return it to us. We have a remanufacturing industry, repair industry as well. You could keep it yourself. I mean we don't require that you send it back to us, because the switchblade turbo is a brand new product. It's not a remanufactured product from a core. So to kind of clarify that issue. So this is a product that we are tooling up. We're producing it in the US. We're very proud to say that it will always stay in the US as well, but it's a brand new unit. If you choose and want to send that core back to us again, we wouldn't say no to it, we wouldn't turn it down. But it's not a requirement at all.
Jamie Irvine:Do you have a core buyback program in place? We do, yep, fantastic. Well, it's good, because we don't want those cores just to go to waste, right, we don't want them to end up in a landfill. Remanufacturing is also an additional part of sustainability, because it's a real measurable way of keeping things out of landfills and not requiring as much raw materials to reproduce a working product that can go back out into the market. So I think that's great. To reproduce a working product that can go back out into the market, so I think that's great. What is maybe one of the real tangible stories of a fleet or an end user that you know of that bought this product, upgraded their turbo and then got tangible results? Could you give us a case study, if you will?
Dan McClave:Sure, yeah, we have a handful. We have actually many. One person that's in our revised and updated marketing literature and on our website is a guy named Otto Hildebrand of Bloom Recyclers. He's in Ogden, utah, and I had the pleasure of visiting with Otto last year and he put a switchblade on his 93 Peterbilt. It's an old cat 3406 engine. No way, yeah yeah, and in his words, not mine. It is the best running truck he has now in his fleet. He went from 4.1 miles per gallon to 5.8 overnight. That's not insignificant. It's not insignificant Overall. The engine is running better, the truck is running better, so the fuel savings are there. He has, I think, eight or nine trucks in his fleet and we're on a path to just keep changing them over for him. But again, he's one of many customers that we have that have been talking about the improvements of the Switchblade Turbo.
Jamie Irvine:And how do you go to market? Do you have a network of distributors and dealerships that are selling your product, or are you going direct to consumer? How?
Dan McClave:does that work? I mentioned our revised and updated website. We now have the ability to purchase a product on our website, whereas we never had before, and the reason I really got involved in Switchblade is to expand the market and start selling distributors and start selling larger fleets.
Jamie Irvine:Okay, so you're moving into pioneering this with distribution Absolutely Fantastic. Well, there's lots to talk about there that we can have further conversations on, because that's a great way to go to market. And there's lots of companies who are pioneering really new products that are exciting and that have a big impact and then they realize after a period of time that adding a distribution side to their business and managing that so that there isn't channel conflict is a great way of really rounding out the business and getting it into the hands of more people who really need this solution. Right, yeah, exactly. So that brings my original interview with Dan McClave from Switchblade Turbochargers to a conclusion.
Jamie Irvine:But a few weeks after I recorded that original interview, I caught up with Dan at a trade show and we had another conversation. He gave us more detailed information about their product and he also gave us an update on how they're doing so I wanted to share that with you now. Finally, we spoke to Switchblade Turbo. Now, this is a fascinating company. They've been on the podcast before and in the links in the show notes you'll be able to go and listen to that original interview that I did. But I think what's really interesting about my conversation with them today is how, at the end of the day, all they did is they took something that was complex and they simplified it and they got it to work better and to challenge the status quo. It doesn't always mean you have to go in the direction of greater complexity. This is a great example of where simplicity actually is better for everyone. Listen into my conversation with Switchblade Turbo.
Jamie Irvine:My guest today is a returning guest on the show Dan McClave, president of Switchblade Turbo Chargers. Dan spent the majority of his career in automotive manufacturing and the remanufacturing industry. That's close to my heart. And now you're the president at Switchblade Turbochargers. You're serving the heavy-duty agricultural and industrial markets. Dan, welcome to the Heavy-Duty Parts.
Dan McClave:Report in person. Thank you, nice to see you. Yeah, you too.
Jamie Irvine:Thanks for taking some time away from the booth and coming to see us. Like I said, it's so busy in there.
Dan McClave:I almost lost track of time, so it's been great.
Jamie Irvine:So since the last time you were on the show, some things have changed. Walk us through what's changed.
Dan McClave:Mostly what's changed is we've made progress. I mean, business has picked up, and thank you again for having me on the show. We started building out our team in the technical engineering aspect sales and marketing and just continued to build inventory to start to supply bigger customers.
Jamie Irvine:Yeah, it's fantastic to watch a company with a great product trying to solve a real problem and having the success you deserve. So what is exactly the product that you're promoting? Tell us more. Is it just another shop that rebuilds turbochargers, or what's different? Now, people who've watched the original episode, which we'll put- links in they already know the answer to this, but maybe the ones that are new to the show haven't seen it before. You can tell them.
Dan McClave:Well, the main product that we're manufacturing and selling is called the Switchblade Turbocharger. It is a modification to an existing OE turbo that significantly improves performance to heavy-duty trucks, ag equipment, you name it to the tune of significant fuel savings in dollars.
Jamie Irvine:Right, okay, so let's go a little bit deep on the actual product. So in a turbocharger, in its current setup, the way that it comes, oe from the truck, right, we hear about turbos and the VGT, and then you're going to retrofit with the switchblade turbo. So talk about the differences in the actual turbocharger and how it works. Okay, definitely turbo. So talk about the differences in the actual turbocharger and how it works okay, definitely so.
Dan McClave:The switchblade turbocharger we basically have and it's a patented design by jim blaylock. We're essentially adding one additional moving part to the turbine housing of the turbo. Okay, that fluctuates and and goes up and down throughout the operation of the turbo. So really, what he's invented is a two-in-one turbo. It's small at rest so it spools up a lot faster than a traditional turbo, no turbo lag.
Dan McClave:And then, as you're gaining speed and pressure's increasing in the housing, that vane opens up, and now it's a larger housing at speed. So you're getting the best of both worlds. So, at takeoff, fast takeoff, increased boost, pressure, no lag and at speed, major fuel efficiency and savings.
Jamie Irvine:Okay, so if I retrofit my truck with your turbo charger, when I take out that other one do I need the VGT part?
Dan McClave:No, you don't really need the VGT part. There's no electronics, which might sound scary to some people that how can you do something without electronics? But it's a very simple, easy design and it really just replaces the, the stock turbo or whatever turbo is on the vehicle at the time, whether it's uh, you know, a cat engine, detroit, cummins, you name it okay now, one of the things that people will hear me talk about a lot on the show is, uh, that you have to look at the whole system.
Jamie Irvine:So turbo is part of a larger system. It impacts the after treatment and other systems in the engine. So what have you done to make sure that the rest of the system continues to operate as it's supposed to?
Dan McClave:Well, we've had sales for the last five or six years of this product. We've never had one problem with an engine failure or anything resulting from our turbo. So it is an existing system and part of a larger system. But what we're really doing, jamie, is enhancing the performance of the engine. And again, go to our website. Look at our customer testimonials. People are just, uh, singing the praises of this turbo and it's just a matter of scale.
Jamie Irvine:Now we have to get it to to more people so, um, there's, there is a component I remember you talking about with with pressure and back pressure and things like that can you explain that?
Dan McClave:yeah sure. So to get a little more technical uh, typically the ratio of boost pressure to back pressure is two to one. Uh, double the back pressure to half boost pressure. What this system does is it actually increases the boost pressure to basically equal that of the back pressure. And people will say that's impossible.
Jamie Irvine:It's not.
Dan McClave:We have data, we have customers that have videoed their boost and back pressure gauges. While the switchblade is running and it's just attributed to that design, we're getting more volume of air into the system, which is getting into the engine, and it's just burning fuel a lot cleaner.
Jamie Irvine:A lot cleaner, more efficient. So I remember you saying that when this system is installed, things like, for example, the black smoke coming out of the stacks is eliminated. What is that actually eliminating? Not just the smoke, but there's something more about that.
Dan McClave:There's really two things. There and again we have tons of videos from customers showing this with and without the switchblade, and all the black smoke is coming out of the stack is unburned fuel. That's waste, and when I was a kid I thought, wow, look at that truck, the black smoke looks really cool.
Jamie Irvine:It's not.
Dan McClave:So all that fuel now is being burned more efficiently, so it eliminates the black smoke. The flip side of that with all that unburned fuel is it's putting soot into the oil, so oil changes are more frequent. We have one customer in particular. He doubled his oil life on all of his equipment.
Jamie Irvine:Caterpillar has tested this this is not I'm saying it, but it's verified Absolutely.
Dan McClave:So he went from 100 hours oil change to 200.
Jamie Irvine:So at the outset of our conversation you talked about a significant improvement in fuel. Can you go into more detail about what the expected gains will be from retrofitting to this? And really it's not really a retrofit, it's more of an upgrade to this switchblade turbo.
Dan McClave:Yeah, so we're calling it, Jamie an investment in your equipment. It's not a sunk cost if you have to replace your turbo with ours. It's not a sunk cost if you have to replace your turbo with ours. It's actually going to save you money. And this is a touchy subject too, because fuel efficiency there's so many factors involved with it, not just the turbo. So we tend to say this with a disclaimer, right, but we've seen some of our customers. Again, I have references. They've gone, you know, from four miles a gallon to almost six. We have one customer in particular near me. He's saving $140 per day in fuel that his truck is running. So the turbo paid for itself in about a month and he just keeps asking for more turbos to retrofit his fleet. So that's really what we're seeing on the fuel saving side. And again, it's going to differ because guys drive differently.
Dan McClave:fuel costs differently so the amount of weight that you're hauling all factors, but we can pretty much stand behind that. You are going to see significant cost savings.
Jamie Irvine:Yeah, it's one thing to have a marginal difference that you know okay, great, I'm picking up a little bit, but how much, right. It's another thing to get to a significant amount where you can actually calculate it in dollars saved, like with that one example, and that's what's really important here. So I think what do you recommend when somebody is thinking like, okay, I want to do this, I'm convinced, but before I start, do they call you and do you guys talk through their vocation and their fleet and what they're up against and kind of help them to see what the possibility could be? Like how do you work with your customers to really kind of take that first step?
Dan McClave:Yeah, that's a great question and again, they're more than happy, willing to call us. There's information on our website. It really has to do with what engine you're running and what's your horsepower, because that will determine the type of turbo that we supply you and in some cases there's other accessories that are needed. So we now have the ability you can order off the website. We would get the order and immediately call the customer and say hey, we just got your order. Any questions? Cause we just talked to someone at the show and he's he's been ready to take the plunge with this, and then that's almost why I was late we, I think, convinced him to go ahead and try one, but it's a different product. Some people haven't believed the claims of the cost savings, which is fine, but honestly, what I've done is I've given a turbo away, said look, don't pay me for 90 days. If you're not happy, I'll take it back. If you are, then let's start a business relationship.
Jamie Irvine:Ever had anybody send them back? No, now, when you do retrofit, you've got a core. What do you do with?
Dan McClave:that they can keep it. We are also remanufacturers, so we're happy to take that off their hands as well. So it's a conversation.
Jamie Irvine:Yeah, fantastic, fantastic. Well, if you want to learn more about this great product, first of all I would say, go back and listen to the original episode and also go over to switchbladeturbocom. That's where all the information is, and now you can buy it off the website. So thanks for taking some time really great to see you too.
Jamie Irvine:Okay as well, thanks what a great conversation with dan mcclave from switchblade turbochargers. Now it's time for that's not heavy duty. In this edition of that's not heavy duty, I wanted to talk about jumping to conclusions. So when we originally aired the interviews with Dan, we put out some content promoting switchblade turbochargers, and we did this by cutting a few small clips of our conversation and putting it on social media, and what I noticed is some people kind of had this knee-jerk reaction. They watched a 30-second clip and they jumped to a conclusion, and those conclusions typically were incorrect, but they were convinced that they had arrived at the right conclusion.
Jamie Irvine:The fact that you're listening to this episode to the end and you've listened to the entire set of interviews with Dan tells me that you're not this type of person. You actually want to take the time to listen to the entire conversation, and it's so important when we're selling parts, when we're buying parts, that we get all of the information right Because, let's face it, not every part works in every situation. There are certain parts, there are certain technologies, there are certain innovations, there are certain innovations that are really good in one vocation or one application and they don't apply to another and it isn't a one-size-fits-all. So it's really important, if we're going to do things the heavy-duty way, is that we take the time to do our research right, make sure we're picking the right part for the application, for the vocation, for the scenario, and also make sure that the product is something that is going to actually contribute to lowering total cost of operation. That's heavy duty. So this brings our episode to a conclusion and really want to thank you for listening to this week's episode. If you're listening to this episode on the day that it drops, then I am in the great state of Alabama and I am training salespeople on how to sell heavy duty parts. If this is something that interests you, we are developing a whole series of training programs that are specifically targeted for four areas of the heavy-duty parts business Outside sales parts management, hiring managers and executive leaders. If this interests you, reach out to us. We'd love to talk to you about these programs and how they might help you and your company and help people in your business to succeed. After all, at the end of the day, we have to help heavy duty people thrive. That's how we keep our trucking industry strong and that's how we support them to do what they do to keep our society strong. Thank you again for listening.
Jamie Irvine:If you haven't already, head over to heavydutypartsreportcom, click on the follow button on our website. That takes you to our sign up page, to our email. We only send out one email a week. You're not going to get any spam. Just keep you up to date on new content. If you listen on a podcast player, make sure that you hit that follow button for free. If it gives you the option, give us a five-star rating and review. That helps us to share our show and really helps with reach that other people will find the show. And if you watch the video version on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe and bell notification so you never miss out. Thanks again for listening and, as always, I want to encourage you to be heavy duty.