Parts supplier TruPar America Inc is expanding to provide General Motors Corp (GM) with non-warranty mobile equipment items that GM formerly sourced from Hyster Co.

TruPar will more than triple its GM business.

Detroit, Michigan-based GM awarded TruPar a three-year exclusive contract and a two-year renewal option. TruPar also supplies parts to Ford Motor Co, DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit and other companies.

Under the GM contract, TruPar has responsibility to supply replacement parts for about 10,000 pieces of mobile equipment, including 7000 forklifts, operating at more than 60 GM manufacturing, fabrication-stamping and spare parts facilities in the USA.

Greenville, North Carolina-based Hyster, a unit of Nacco Industries Inc, won a three-year GM contract and two-year renewal option to manufacture and supply original equipment forklifts and parts, but Hyster lost the non-warranty parts business.

"Hyster was doing what I am doing now," in supplying non-warranty parts, said Tom McDonnell, TruPar president and owner.

While Hyster may not share the sentiment, "our goal is to work closely with Hyster", he said. Forkliftaction.com News's calls to Hyster were not returned.

Before the new contract, TruPar generated about USD10 million in annual sales. "We anticipate a total of USD20 million" with the inclusion of the new deal, McDonnell said.

GM had accounted for 30 per cent of TruPar's business, but will now represent 60 per cent to 70 per cent.

"We were the low bidder and, to successfully get the contract, needed to expand our facility in Michigan and expand our inventory," McDonnell said.

That meant relocation. In the Detroit metropolitan area, TruPar leased and outfitted 20,000 square feet (1800 square metres) in Madison Heights and moved 20 miles (32 kilometres) from its 6,500 square feet (585 square metres) site in Livonia.

Upon request, GM plants provided TruPar with part sales histories and current usage, and TruPar, in turn, began boosting its stock of parts in its primary 35,000 square feet (3150 square metres) state-of-the-art Bentleyville facility and, now, Madison Heights.

TruPar's new contract with GM "gives us the opportunity to become a true one-stop shop", McDonnell said.

As part of the transition, Jeff Carnahan joined TruPar as vice president in early September after resigning as Hyster's GM relationship manager.

TruPar employs 20 people in Bentleyville and 15 in Madison Heights. "We expect those numbers to increase," McDonnell said.

Challenges remain. TruPar's current goal "is to have a minimal 90 per cent fill rate of items off our shelves" for parts requested three or more times in the prior 12 months, McDonnell said. "We are working towards that. We are getting new shipments of product on a daily basis."

The Hyster OEM agreement covers most forklifts for GM in Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico and the USA. Crown and Raymond Corp of Greene, New York, supply GM with narrow-aisle forklifts. Hoist Liftruck Manufacturing Inc, of Bedford Park, Illinois, supplies larger forklifts.

TruPar began its relationship with GM in 1995, supplying a GM plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, that was purchasing parts on-site at the time. Customer contacts alerted TruPar that GM planned to consolidate purchasing in Michigan.

TruPar managers became acquainted with GM Michigan procurement personnel and established a Michigan presence in 1996. "Overnight, they started doing more business with me," McDonnell said.

TruPar captured GM contracts in the USA to supply non-warranty mobile equipment parts for Yale, Allis-Chalmers and Clark forklifts in 1996-1997 and a large, separate blanket GM contract for 20,000 line items in 1997. Those four contracts continued until the latest GM renewal and the opportunity for TruPar to also supply non-warranty parts for Hyster trucks.

GM narrowed its focus in the new contract. "Of the original 20,000 line items, they drilled down to those active and removed obsolete equipment," McDonnell said.

In moving to the next business plateau, TruPar created a new corporate logotype and began to upgrade its website.

Other growth is contemplated. "Once we tackle this, we can fall into any kinds of large facilities" such as national distributors needing parts for forklifts and other equipment, McDonnell said.