Andries Mellema

Andries Mellema has never managed a truck dealership before. Nonetheless, with three junior but very experienced partners he just bought the former Toronto Truck Centre in Mississauga-Volvo’s underperforming $75-million shop with room to grow.

Mellema is a soft-spoken, reflective man with a talent for putting together a strong management team. His new partners: Ross Hill, latterly with Minacs Group, is CFO; Gary Van Ryswyk, most recently with Kenworth Toronto Ltd., is parts and service chief; and Brad Bowering, ex of Volvo’s head office, handles sales and marketing.

During his four-year tenure as president of Canadian Kenworth a decade ago, Mellema was revered by employees, and known for civility and good common business sense. He has since honed his approach at other manufacturing operations, most recently as president of auto-parts maker A.G. Simpson.

Mellema-European by birth, international by attitude, and firmly rooted in Toronto-brings a sophisticated approach to truck sales and service, one that will emphasize trust and integrity at least as often as dollars and cents.

I asked if his experience in the head offices of large manufacturing firms could be applied to a truck dealership, and he responded by talking about his time running a plant in Tunisia. He realized there in North Africa that people want and expect the same things no matter where they are or what they’re doing.

“I think that the basics of management are the same for any business,” Mellema told me. “Where organizations go wrong is very often when the vision isn’t clear. That’s when people start playing games. And so I believe it’s very important that everybody understand the vision. We have to know what to expect from each other.

“I understand that head offices are different, but I also understand that why I’m here is that Volvo thinks the traditional dealership has to change.”

With the help of his wife, Dr. Anjelika Mellema, a behavioral psychologist who regularly contributes to our Virtual V.P. section, Andries will start by doing an attitude survey of dealership staff. Knowing what needs to change internally, then he’ll survey customers to discover what needs improvement on the outside. A strategic plan will follow.

Part of that plan will be the creation of electronic interchange with his key customers, a link based on service contracts in which paper invoices won’t play a role. He was surprised to find it wasn’t already in place.

“It would make sense to hook up with major customers so that we can look into their schedules, know when their trucks are available, and send somebody over to pick them up,” he told me. “Why not? How much money and time are we losing in phone calls and call-backs and waiting? It’s almost like going back 20 years.”

Among his other intentions is to move ASAP from the cramped present quarters and to add two satellite locations east and west of Toronto.

Mellema wants to earn recognition for excellence in customer service by way of honesty and integrity. To promote that, he’ll likely pay bonuses to shop staff, based partly on how many trucks come back a second time for the same repair and partly on independently measured customer satisfaction.

He understands what quality should mean after many years on the production side of manufacturing operations.

“When I started in manufacturing, we had an objective for waste of 7% or 6%. I would say, ‘Why would you not have an objective of zero?’

“My father is a surgeon, and his objective for defects is zero. Why would it be different elsewhere? Why would you accept a failure rate of more than zero? And if failure happens, why is it not tragic?”

That kind of thinking separates Mellema from the fray, and it’s going to make for interesting spectator sport in the coming months.

He’ll change the culture at one specific dealership, but his efforts may resonate well beyond what is now called-as of May 20-Volvo Trucks of Toronto.

As he puts it, “Are we going to be an aberration or are we going to be the beginning of a big change?”