Thermo King Launches Customer Council to Provide Electrification Insights
Listening is the first step to innovating the right solutions for customers.
At Thermo King, electrification is core to our strategy. We are committed to innovating for our customers, reducing the carbon footprint of their operations, and investing in a sustainable future. In fact, over the next three years, we are investing more than $50 million in electrified and zero-emissions solutions.
As we continue to drive progress in electrification, we’re using some creative methods to gain critical customer insights. This includes the launching of a new customer council in the truck segment. The new council brings together a community of more than 100 truck customers and includes all categories of customers – from private fleets to owner-operators.
Over the next 12 months, we have a variety of events and activities planned for this virtual community. The customers will have the opportunity to participate in polls, surveys, chat room discussions, and focus groups about a variety of key topics such as operations, electrification, home delivery, data analytics, and more.
Through these events, we can get detailed insights around key questions like: “How many stops does your average delivery driver make on their route?” “How would you use advanced analytics?” or “What challenges do electric vehicles present to your business, and how do you foresee your company overcoming them?”
In return for council member participation, information gathered is shared back so peers can understand what the broader industry is doing; what the perceptions are related to electrification and the trucking industry; and ideally, what adjustments they need to make regarding their own strategic planning.
Our team can leverage this valuable customer input to inform and support our decisions related to electrification strategy and projects. “Bottom line, we want to ensure that we are innovating the right solutions for our customers. This new community provides us a front-row view of their thoughts, needs and concerns,” said Paul. “In return, they get to be an active participant in deciding what the future of refrigerated trucking will be.”
“The pace of innovation is now so rapid that the need for feedback and input into quickly-evolving product designs – from the customers who are using and depending on the equipment, is essential,” said Paul Kroes, Market & Technology Insights leader, Thermo King Americas. “We are constantly looking for ways to interact differently with customers to obtain accurate insights that will help us provide the right solutions.”
