Show notes
Find out how NetSuite can help your business balance the demands of a global supply chain: https://tinyurl.com/3b253s98 Hear the story behind auto parts manufacturer Speedmaster and why they turned to NetSuite to run their growing business in this episode with Speedmaster CEO Jason Kencevski and cohost Ian McCue. Jason starts by sharing how his father came to start the company [2:15] and key moments over the past 40 years that made the company what it is today [7:52]. The CEO explains the influence of his own interest in technology on the business [10:32], which led it to adopt SAP Business One. Jason explains where that system fell short [14:06], then highlights the benefits of a "living, breathing system" such as NetSuite [19:41] and how it supports better decision-making [26:16]. He walks through how NetSuite helps the manufacturer-distributor efficiently manage international operations [28:05], its supply chain [29:21], ecommerce [37:37], and online marketplace sales [41:30]. Jason wraps up by explaining what's next for Speedmaster [43:52]. Follow Us Here: Jason Kencevski: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonkencevski/ Speedmaster: https://www.speedmaster79.com/ Oracle NetSuite LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/NetSuiteLI Facebook: http://bit.ly/NetSuiteFB Instagram: http://bit.ly/NetSuiteIG Twitter: http://bit.ly/NetSuiteTW #Speedmaster #autoparts #NetSuite #NetSuiteERP #manufacturingERP -------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;14 Hey Suite listeners. Welcome to the NetSuite Podcast. I'm Ian McCue, a co-host of this podcast and senior content marketing manager at NetSuite. We have a great guest on today's show, Jason Kencevski from Speedmaster. Jason is the CEO of Speedmaster, a large manufacturer and seller of aftermarket auto parts for classic cars. To start, Jason shares why his dad started this business and how it turned into an industry leader over the past 45 years. 00;00;30;17 - 00;00;58;09 He explains how his own interest in technology led the company to invest in new systems that included implementing SAP Business One more than a decade ago. Jason dives into where the on-premises SAP application fell short when it came to running a global business and updating product data for 25,000 items. The CEO walks through how those frustrations led Speedmaster to replace SAP with NetSuite after a few years and how a "living, breathing system" made an enormous difference. 00;00;58;12 - 00;01;26;13 He digs into how modules including NetSuite OneWorld, NetSuite WMS, and NetSuite SuiteCommerce Advanced all helped the company run a smoother, more efficient operation. Jason wraps up with a few thoughts on what the future holds for vintage cars and what that means for his company. Stay tuned because all of that and more is coming up next. You're listening to the NetSuite Podcast, where we discuss what's happening with the next week, why we're doing it and where we're heading in the future. 00;01;26;15 - 00;01;45;22 We'll dive into the details about the software and the people at NetSuite who are behind all the moving parts. We'll also feature customer growth stories discussing the ups and downs of running a company and how one integrated system can help your business continue to scale. 00;01;45;24 - 00;02;11;17 So to kick this off, Jason, tell us a little bit about Speedmaster. What do you manufacture and who do you sell to? Yes, So I mean, Speedmaster has been around for over 40 years. We have a slogan, you know, we just make awesome car parts. But drilling into those awesome car parts, we design, test, and manufacture over 25,000 V8 car spare parts, you know, specifically aftermarket automotive, V8 car, spare parts. 00;02;11;20 - 00;02;31;21 And this is a business that your dad started back in 1979. And I saw on your website, you know, a cool video about kind of how it started. But for people who haven't seen that video, don't know that much about Speedmaster, could you kind of share that story about how this business came to be? Sure. Sure. I mean, you know, every great entrepreneurial story always starts with solving a problem. 00;02;31;23 - 00;02;48;21 I think that problem was my dad, you know, wanted to be the coolest kid in the block and have the fastest car so he can impress all the girls. I was doing that. You know, he was racing, legally of course. And, you know, he was racing and he blew up his engine and had to find out what broke. 00;02;48;24 - 00;03;05;22 Some of the components that broke were actually, you know, weren't perfectly designed or could have been designed better. And, you know, he started with the simple, simple entrepreneurial spirit of making something better, and the rest is history, believe it or not. Is this something that was kind of always your dad's passion? And did he did he have a knack for that stuff? 00;03;05;23 - 00;03;24;06 I mean, it seems crazy to just say this broke. Okay, let me now build, you know, a replacement part for it. Yeah, it's funny you say that because, I mean, I don't know, like, cars were his passion at the age, but, you know, becoming one of the most influential brands in the world right now. I don't think he was envisioning to do that. 00;03;24;06 - 00;03;44;01 I think at the time he's like, hey, a broken something. I want to be fast. Let me just fix it and move on. And it's just I guess that's probably the best way to start. You know, you don't always have to have the answer. You don't always have to think. With the Indy mind or not, you know, I appreciate, you know, Seven Habits of Effective Leaders will tell you always think with the end in mind. 00;03;44;01 - 00;04;07;01 But sometimes the start doesn't have to be that that far fetched. So Speedmaster seems to take a lot of pride in the fact that it designs and manufactures over 25,000 car parts. Why is that kind of important to the company and maybe a source of pride for the business as well? So I guess at its core, when you get to a certain point, you know, the top end of town, this, you know, three major players, you know, which is holy, it'll work. 00;04;07;01 - 00;04;41;00 And speedmaster you try to scale, you try to be horizontal. So what happens is you try your best to start looking for companies to buy or just shortcuts in to achieve your goal of widening your, you know, your variety. So for us, we take a lot of pride in that. And that good thing is that we're still privately owned, so we take a lot of pride in making sure that everything we actually design test the manufacturing house is actually done by our specialized team and we're not looking for which is fine, but we're not looking to find growth hacks to, you know, acquire companies to grow quickly. 00;04;41;00 - 00;05;03;04 And then you're not sure the quality of the products. You may have some problems. Also, at the same time, you will you know, you could inherit some of their bad behaviors, too. So, you know, it's always been the founder's ethos, you know, to really be hands on to design tested manufacture most of those components. And it seems like it's kind of become increasingly rare for an automotive components company to design and make its own products. 00;05;03;07 - 00;05;28;21 Why is that? Is it just is it more cost effective to go other places? Typically, it's hard to do in-house. Yeah, I mean, I guess, you know, touching on the scale portion, it's hard. The scale, you know, it's really difficult to produce, you know, that amount of SKUs in a short period of time to scale. I guess, you know, if you want to increase 50 or 100,000 SKUs, it's a lot it's a lot quicker and easier to just buy a brand and, you know, have their offering. 00;05;28;24 - 00;05;54;11 You know, we try to keep it in-house and push that ahead. And I guess that means in turn, you're not buying a company, you're investing in other people. They work for you or work, you know, directly for you or indirectly for you. So, you know, the industry becomes intertwined with Speedmaster a lot more as opposed to just, you know, buying and selling someone else's parts to solve to not to solve a problem, but to increase a product offering, if that makes sense. 00;05;54;13 - 00;06;12;20 And part of your mission is kind of to create products that, you know, I'm quoting your mission here, are inspired by the blend of old and new technology. How is that that idea of kind of blending old and new? How is that core to what Speedmaster is and how does that maybe help differentiate you from some of the other companies out there that make automotive parts? 00;06;12;23 - 00;06;31;12 Yeah, So exactly that, you know, the mission statement is a blend of old and new technology. So the probably the best way to explain it is we're an aftermarket automotive car component manufacturer. So we have to solve a problem. Like every good business, we have to solve a problem. Typically the problem is that people want to go faster or, you know, the engine or whatever it may be. 00;06;31;12 - 00;06;52;13 The specific component is, you know, under higher amount of stress. I mean, back in the day, engines, you would only make 25 horsepower. Now they're making 400 horsepower all the way up to a streak, you know, like a current model Mopar or, you know, like a Dodge Chrysler, Mopar Demon has almost a thousand horsepower. So those sorts of engines back in the day were racecar engines. 00;06;52;13 - 00;07;16;26 And now the cars that you buy off the shelf at your local Dodge dealer. So what happens is, you know, to solve a problem, you want to be profitable and you want to do it the quickest way possible. And typically the easiest way is just to solve the problem. And you design something that solves the problem. What we do is we actually try to solve a problem by incorporating the original view, look and feel of the item, which becomes timeless. 00;07;16;26 - 00;07;42;04 So I think Apple does it very well. If you have a look at a lot of the Apple products, if you go back in time, a lot of the look and feel, I think there was a brand, I forget what it's called, but they all you know, it's basically replicating 1960s and 70 year old products today. So they become timeless and Speedmaster's aim on that front would be to create a timeless looking component, not one that's functional and highly profitable, if that makes sense, which makes it tough. 00;07;42;04 - 00;08;05;20 And that's what makes us different. You know, we're timeless. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. One more question kind of about your history as a as a brand. So this this company started as Peak Performance about 45 years ago, like we said, or almost 45 years ago. And it's now become a big global operation as we kind of think about how, you know, what started as a small storefront, almost 45 years ago turned into what it is today. 00;08;05;21 - 00;08;29;10 What are some kind of key moments you think, in the company's history that got it to where it is now? heaps. Heaps adversity for sure. You know, originally my dad was solving a problem of just making car components to solve small issues that he found. And, you know, he'd become a manufacturer back in the day. But one massive key turning point was, you know, my dad had created a part that just wasn't working. 00;08;29;12 - 00;08;49;27 And the typical thing of, you know, not asking for help, people these days are too scared to ask for help. My dad was completely the opposite. He went to America and was at the SEMA show in Las Vegas in November. Every year it's been around for, I think, 50 or 60 years, and he took one of his distributors, which was problematic at the time, and he couldn't get the phasing right. 00;08;49;29 - 00;09;02;20 So, you know, he took it to the show and he spoke to one of the guys there whose technician is like, Hey, I've got this problem. You know, he gave him the distributor and they later he came back and said, Hey, have solved the problem. This is all it is, the phasing out, you know, this is what it is. 00;09;02;20 - 00;09;15;23 And when the guy brought it back, it was really funny because he brought the item back and he brought this gentleman along. My dad had no idea who it was, and he started asking questions, you know, how many do you make? You know, like, how do you make them? All that stuff was very simple at the time. 00;09;15;24 - 00;09;31;04 Yeah, we make a lot. He's like, What do you mean, a lot? And he's like, we make 500 a year. It's very, very good item. We make him in Australia. We design, test and manufacture them in Australia. Very, very proud. The guy's like, okay, great. You know, would you, would you have a look to export them to America? 00;09;31;04 - 00;09;49;09 My dad was like, Yep, sure, of course, why not? So the next day the man came along and I think at the time, I mean, I forget what the company was called at the time. It was one of the largest distributors of automotive car parts at the time. He came along and said, I'd like to buy your capacity of 500 per year, if that's okay. 00;09;49;09 - 00;10;06;14 And my dad's like, wow, Yeah, of course, no problem. It is like, but I need that per month. So you know what my dad was doing in one year potentially, You know, he just got an order for 12 years or 12 months worth of orders. In one conversation. So on the back of just the most random experience of, Hey, I need help, how do I fix it? 00;10;06;17 - 00;10;24;18 People respect that and respect the fact that you're willing to make things better, willing to ask for help. And that was pretty much the start of what you now know is Speedmaster America. And how long ago was that? When did that happen? So I think it was probably close to 25 years ago. Okay, We've been here for now. 00;10;24;25 - 00;10;51;01 Again, just don't quote me on it. But around 22 years, that was almost close to 25 years ago. Yeah, believe it or not. So, Jason, you obviously have a long history of the business. You grew up around it. You today are CEO and have been for quite a while. But as you just kind of look at your personal time with the company from when you first got involved and maybe when you first kind of started to take a leadership role within the company to where it is today, how did those how do those two things compare? 00;10;51;01 - 00;11;11;17 How does the Speedmaster of today compare to the one that you remember from early adulthood, childhood, anything like that? Yeah, lots of changes. You know, definitely couple of things. Definitely keeping up with the times, as you should. And I think this one has some of my flair attached to it. I'm not saying that all the amazing things that Speedmaster have done are my doing. 00;11;11;17 - 00;11;26;16 I'm saying that a lot of things that, you know, a lot of the direction I'd like for the company of the brand to go towards, you know, heavily influenced by myself, like, for example, you know, I'm a tech geek, I think would touch on that a little bit later. I'm a tech geek. You know, I built computers when I was a kid. 00;11;26;20 - 00;11;48;02 All my life I've been breaking those code in games and trying to hack computer games and whatnot, building computers. So always have had a tech savvy background. So applying that sort of tech savviness to Speedmaster, it was definitely one of the core fundamentals at moving forward for sure. And a key part of kind of keeping up with the times, like you said as well. 00;11;48;02 - 00;12;13;04 So makes sense. Yeah. So is this a company that kind of always saw value in technology and invested in kind of new and better technology as it became available? Or would you…
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