Battling Blizzards: Training Our Force of Snow Fighters
For Todd Gibbs, director of operations for Eastern Iowa Airport (CID), getting an opportunity to meet with his counterparts to talk about snow and ice removal operations is a valuable chance to learn.
A lot of conferences have a broad spectrum of attendees from across North America, so when MacQueen Group approached him about attending a Midwest-focused summit on snow and ice removal operations with Oshkosh Airport Products at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wis., he knew it was a unique opportunity for a significant number of his team members to learn and connect with peers.
“I learned quite a bit from the presentations with Milwaukee and Minneapolis, which are much different operations than ours,” said Gibbs. “We had conversations with GA airport folks as well and discovered how, with limited resources, they have found some real efficiencies in their snow operations.”
Gibbs was one of 70 attendees representing 14 different airports from four states in the Midwest who took part in the Oshkosh & MacQueen Customer Summit on Oct. 22-23. Once in Oshkosh, Wis. attendees met representatives from Oshkosh Airport Products, MacQueen Group and Scania and went on a manufacturing plant tour. The rest of the day consisted of presentations from airports, training modules and even hands on sessions with four Oshkosh trucks. Attendees learned about maintenance and operations of snow removal equipment, and had the opportunity to network with the Oshkosh and MacQueen teams during a Voice of Customer session to discuss challenges and best practices within the industry.
A Need For Education
During a dealer meeting last year, Jeremy Bernard, Sr. Dr. of Snow Products at Oshkosh Airport Products, challenged the dealers to showcase all the aspects of Oshkosh that are unique and distinguish them from others. Bernard knows that Oshkosh has a lot to offer but he wanted the customers to see that and be engaged in more ways.
Oshkosh Airport Products has always brought individual customers to see the factory and product builds, but MacQueen Group approached the team, asking to do more.
“They asked me ‘Can I bring a busload of customers?’” Bernard said. “I said absolutely.”
Mike Purdy, director of sales for MacQueen Group, said one of the biggest points of feedback the dealer hears from its customers is the need for more hands-on operator and technical training. With attrition brought on by retirements coupled with advancing technology, he said the customer base is changing. MacQueen Group is now thinking about how it can structure itself to answer the evolving needs of the base.
“From our end, we have an opportunity as a corporation to walk into the regional, small commercial and large commercial airports, and get to know the depths of how they operate,” said Purdy. “When we walk out of these meetings, oftentimes we say, ‘Wow, if customer X could hear what this airport just said about their snow removal operation, we’d believe it to be very beneficial to the efficiency of that airport.’”
Bernard said Oshkosh Airport Products wanted a cross-section of attendees to make sure there were opportunities to learn.
“We immediately thought, not only would purchasing benefit from that session, but operators mechanics and maintenance groups, and management would benefit from that session,” he said.
Allie Keller, director of marketing for MacQueen Group, said the team wanted to give mechanics and operators a chance to network with their peers and share different ideas on utilizing their equipment.
“The value for them was being able to hear what other airports are doing and how they’re staffing, not just related to equipment, but airport operations overall,” she said. “We offered a lot of different scenarios where they were able to feed off one another, share their successes, failures, and struggles. I think that setting is a huge value they can take with them going forward.”
Purdy said the customer summit was held at the EAA Museum not only because it’s a phenomenal site, but the organization is also known for innovation. It was only marketed to airports via MacQueen Group’s sales staff, but the response was swift.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Purdy said. “We walked in thinking that we would possibly have 35 to 40 attendees, but quickly thereafter, we were having conversations about having to cap the event.”
An Education in Networking
The summit kicked off with a tour of the Oshkosh Airport Products plant where airport snow removal equipment is manufactured. The attendees got a firsthand look at how the company builds equipment and how the assembly line works, as well as meeting the team behind the products
“When the customer visits Oshkosh, they see the value we can provide,” said Thomas Carle, sales manager for Oshkosh Airport Products. “Not just the product, but the training and our production processes, and how we maintain quality with our service and parts people.
He continued, “We have so many resources, and it’s great to talk with customers about these when we visit their site, but to have them see our processes firsthand opens their eyes to the value we provide. They see we are unique in what we have to offer.”
Summit attendees had a full day of training on snow removal operations including presentations on snow removal operations from different airports, maintenance and operations best practices and a hands-on session with a variety of Oshkosh trucks.
One of the most unique sessions was called “voice of customer” where facilitators from Oshkosh and their dealer MacQueen asked questions about issues in the field. This included discussions on challenges with equipment maintenance and operations and how to manage these issues.
Ella Pelot, a marketing representative for Oshkosh Airport Products, said the company and MacQueen Group were both impressed with the voice of customer session. During one of the sessions, two attendees from different airports were talking, and one of them extended an invite to the other to visit their airport to see their operations and equipment.
“Seeing connections being made and the amount of problem solving, discussions and feedback that happened was incredible.” she said.
James Riley, operations manager for the Metropolitan Arports Commission Field Maintenance Department, said the authority sent 16 people to the event so they could learn while also teaching other airports some of their best practices in operations.
“It’s good to hear their plans,” he said. “I can give them my feedback or my ideas on how they can address issues like snow removal, field maintenance, and how to plan for snow-related events before, after, and during.”
Daniel Goeden, fleet director for Milwaukee County, said there were three members from Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport (MKE) present.
“There was a lot of benefit and training,” Goeden said. “It was nice to see MAC’s airports, what they do in their operations, and how it differs from what we do. Our operators thought the information we learned today was beneficial.”
Carle said the mechanics fix the trucks, the operators run the trucks, and often they work in silos. When they’re communicating together, they can be far more effective. The operators can learn from the folks maintaining the equipment on how best to use it.
“Our goal is the same as theirs — that’s to have clean runways and trucks that operate efficiently,” he said. “People have to be trained; parts need to be available. It goes so far beyond deciding to buy our truck based on the type of vehicle or the price.”
James Prewoznik, sales manager for industrial products for Scania, said the event provided him a chance to educate customers about their engines to better understand the product.
“Sometimes operators do not have a say in what equipment they use, and they have to deal with a product from whoever procures it. For them, they can learn more about what they’re getting, why it has been chosen and put a trusted face to the product itself,” he said. “They know there’s someone they can reach out to and talk to, and it’s a human being - not just some guy in Sweden.”
Purdy saw and heard from attendees from smaller airports about how they were able to cull information from larger counterparts and apply it. If this type of event is held in the future, they want to have even more collaboration and voice of the customer opportunities for attendees.
“I actually had several airports come up to me and want to buy our equipment, so it could be beneficial down the road because I know MacQueen Group is looking at taking trade-ins,” Goeden said. “That, in turn, will help us financing-wise because we won’t need as much money to buy the units. They can then turn around and sell them to some smaller airports that are looking for the equipment.
More to Come
Carle said the customer summit was a pilot for future events, as Oshkosh wants to hold more training summits moving forward.
“I had one of my larger dealers from Colorado attend this summit so he could witness it for himself, and be motivated to partner with us to do a customer summit in his territory,” he said.
MacQueen Group is also looking to have another event like this, given how positive the post-event feedback has been.
“We’re looking at all options for that,” Keller said. “It’s great to bring airport teams to the factory and give them that experience, but we’d also love to bring the event to a regional level, so we’re able to be in the individual areas where our customers live.
She continued, “I don’t think it’s a question if we will do it again, but just when and how we can structure it to be the most beneficial for our customers going forward.”
Keller said this kind of event is a look at the future of addressing industry needs and structuring the company as a center point for the airports moving into the future.
“As a dealer, this is really a partnership,” she said. “Our message going forward is that we’re not just here to sell the equipment, but we truly value the partnership with our vendors and will continue investing heavily in what we can provide as a resource in parts, service, and training going forward.”
