LOUISVILLE, Kentucky—From the opening to closing sessions here at Wabash Ignite, the message was consistent: Change can be scary, so find partners who are willing to take a chance as well—and, even better, find partners with the skills and solutions the organization needs to improve and grow.
That was the theme of the breakout session, “Digital Evolution: Redefining Possibilities for a Connected World.”
“If you think about the choices for companies like Wabash—and many of you represent companies that have similar choices—we can either spend 20 years learning the lessons that have been out there, or we can partner with people,” said Wabash’s Mike Pettit, whose title recently became chief growth officer. “And that's the real simple way I think about it: We're bringing in people that have done it before and can help us do it."
“This is what really gets me excited about our journey: The ability for a company like Wabash to interface with next-generation digital technologies,” Pettit said.
Pettit’s comments specifically followed remarks by Parthesh Shastri, chief technology officer for Ayna.AI, the implementation partner for Fernweh Group LLC, with whom Wabash formed a joint venture a year ago to enhance Wabash’s e-commerce platform and partner ecosystem.
Ayna.AI works from an “engaged operator” model, Shastri explained, meaning the company evaluates an industrial organization, identifies areas where Ayna.AI can help, and co-invests in the development and implementation of solutions.
“We will bring to the table the industry expertise, the functional expertise, and the technical expertise for creating that value,” Shastri said.
With a background in IoT, he’s been digitizing physical assets since 2000. He recalled walking around a shop floor with an early Nokia phone and figuring out how to connect to a CNC machine. But, he noted, he had a “classic Silicon Valley mindset:” Here's a technology; let's find a problem.
And that approach, as emphasized throughout the Ignite meeting, is not the way to truly innovate.
“What we have learned and what we are doing at Ayna.AI is meeting our customers at the base of the problem,” Shastri said. “We are identifying what the industry problem is, and then bringing our digital capabilities, our advisory expertise, and packaging up a solution and delivering it.”
A key difference, however, is that Ayna.AI doesn’t walk away.
“We also help and build and operate that solution,” Shastri continued. “Does this really work in the environment, in the market? We tweak it, fine-tune it, make it operational. And, once it's operational, we hand it back to the organization to run.”
And such a partnership model for problem-solving is critical for a successful digital evolution, Pettit added. The traditional way—design products, create IP, make it efficient, produce it at scale—is becoming obsolete.
“When you think about our customers and the value created in transportation and distribution, most likely more of that value will be created outside the four walls of your company than inside the four walls,” Pettit said. “With how fast the cycles are, how quickly things are changing, you need to bring in partners that can help you create that value.”
And that value creation flows from upstream, as well. Kevin Stuban, VP of operating expense, product development, and business services at aluminum supplier Hydro, emphasized the value of supply partners. Hydro signed a 10-year key-supplier agreement with Wabash in 2021.
“This relationship agreement that we have is like a marriage: You take the good, you take the bad, and it's very forward-thinking,” Stuban said. “I encourage all of you to go back and be change agents. Look at the world a different way; and look at the world not tomorrow, not even a year from now. You have to treat it like a relationship. In the end, everybody wins—and it's built on trust.”
Getting buy-in from within
Speaking afterward with FleetOwner, Anna Brown, Wabash VP for strategy and digital transformation, provided some additional insight on how a company like Wabash tackled such a fundamental shift in approach.
“It's not an IT project. It's not up to a group of technologists to go solve,” Brown said. “In order for digital transformations to be successful, we know that the organization has to embrace it as a mindset, and really has to buy in. So we spent a lot of time bringing the rest of the organization along this journey.”
In late 2021, Wabash hosted a “digital day” to make sure everyone at the company understood how important the transformation would be.
“Listen, this hasn't been a priority for us as an organization historically, but we're serious, and we're investing in this, and we've got to change in order to be a strong organization in the future,” Brown recalled. “So that's how we kicked it off.”
Once the foundation was laid, the emphasis shifted to engagement.
“We had great participation across the organization, as people learned how they can use digital tools to solve their own internal problems—which created internal friction, and that’s likely felt by the customer at some point. Solving some of our own inefficiency will truly help our customers in the long run," Brown said. “It was also an opportunity for us to showcase with the organization where we were going with things like e-commerce, things like Wabash Marketplace. We spend a lot of time communicating to the organization to make sure they're brought along in our journey, that no one's left behind.”
