Mack Trucks Showcases Upgraded Experience Center
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ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Mack Trucks has opened the doors to its renovated Mack Experience Center, complete with an updated test track, redesigned meeting space and a renovated vehicle showroom that are designed to help widen customers’ access to the manufacturer’s offerings, and give Mack a more complete way to learn about their needs.
“The industry, and Mack particularly, is transitioning from an equipment provider to a services and solutions provider,” Jonathan Randall, president of the company’s North American operations, said during a June 6 media preview. “It’s about more than the iron. It’s about the services and the solutions we provide — to wrap that with services and support for our customers, so that ultimately our customers are succeeding with their customers.”
The $3.2 million renovation began in December. Sitting on 60 acres, the complex opened in 1975 and originally was used for technical and engineering research. The facility transitioned to the Mack Experience Center in 2010.
A centerpiece of the upgraded vehicle showroom is a new hydraulic vehicle lift that customers can use to inspect either their own vehicles or other Mack models in the company’s lineup. There also is a new boardroom for meetings.
“It’s about more than the iron. It’s about the services and the solutions we provide," says Jonathan Randall, head of Mack Trucks' North American operations. (Joe Howard/Transport Topics)
The facility’s test track, where customers can drive Mack trucks both on- and off-road, was renovated to include a mud and rock pit area to demonstrate capabilities of vocational models. Media members attending the event were offered test drives in Mack Anthem, Granite and MD models, as well as the LR Electric refuse model.
During a market update, Randall noted that the company is gaining ground in new areas such as medium-duty and electric. With the Class 6-7 MD model in particular, he stressed that the company increased its share of that combined segment from zero to 5.5% since 2021, the truck’s first full model year of production.
A Mack truck on a hydraulic lift was on display at the unveiling of the renovated Mack Experience Center in Allentown, Pa. (Joe Howard/Transport Topics)
Randall noted that having exposure to that section of the medium-duty market was especially helpful during the post-pandemic supply chain struggles.
“It’s been one of those things that’s been really nice to have,” he said. “As we launched into challenges since 2020 about supply — supply constraints, and production issues — it’s been nice to have something else for dealers to lean on and sell in the market,” Randall said. “We’re thrilled, and our dealers are thrilled to be in this [market].”
@MackTrucks executives including North American president Jonathan Randall and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk cut the ribbon on the truck maker’s renovated Customer Experience Center this morning. pic.twitter.com/oOY2Pw2XDC — Joe Howard (@JoeHoward_TT) June 6, 2023
Connected to the Experience Center is the Mack Historical Museum, which features trucks and artifacts that illustrate the company’s 123-year history. This area also was upgraded, with a new gallery floor, graphics and heritage displays. The museum will open to the public June 12, and reservations can be made through the museum website, www.macktruckshistoricalmuseum.org. Customers and their dealer representatives schedule visits to the Experience Center separately.
Taken together, the upgrades equal Mack’s commitment to addressing a wider swath of customer needs going forward, Randall said.
“What the Experience Center allows us to do, more so than it has in the past, is tell that holistic story about the services and solutions that we will be able to provide beyond the asset,” he said. “We’re really, really good at the asset stuff — we’re really good at spec’ing, we’re really good in engineering, we’re really good at developing,” he said. “We’re getting equally good at those other support functions that are just necessary to be successful in today’s world.”
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