Technological developments in filtering products will maintain category’s viability for years to come

May 8, 2019
Innovations in the filtration segment continue — including applications for electric vehicles — and will maintain the aftermarket's role in selling and servicing the category's vast product lines for years to come.

Just to clear the air, it will remain necessary for aftermarket professionals to be fluid in addressing the finer elements of vehicle filtration.

Not only have dirt, grit and liquid contaminates been posing a constant threat to prime engine performance and other mechanical functions since the advent of the horseless carriage, but invasive airborne pollutants have long been an irritant to vehicle occupants as well.

While goggles and trench coats are fortunately no longer needed as motoring apparel, engineering innovations regarding the filtration segment are ongoing among OEMs. These continuing design developments include new filter applications for electric vehicles – a trend that will maintain the aftermarket’s role in selling and servicing the category’s vast variety of product lines for years to come.

“E-mobility also requires clean air and clearly defined conditions. In that respect I see good opportunities,” says Dr. Martin Lehmann, vice president at the Champion Air Filtration division of MANN+HUMMEL, which additionally includes WIX, MANN, Purolator, NAPA and numerous private label brands.

“The requirements will be partly different, but just as before we will have to separate particles and water,” he points out. Collaborations with automakers pertaining to future EV filtering needs, along with filtering for eventual fuel cell propulsion systems, are moving forward. “The combustion engine will nevertheless continue to remain important, and we will continue to develop products in this area.”

For technicians and owners of aftermarket businesses, “We offer several training programs for beginners all the way to advanced,” adds Donald Chilton, MANN+HUMMEL’s director of product management.

“Our WIX Institute offers extensive teaching on all aspects of filtration over the course of two-and-a-half days. This takes place at our Gastonia, N.C. factory. In addition, our sales team offers 10-minute trainings at the counter called WIX 10,” he notes. “We also offer the opportunity to take advantage of our e-learning, which can be done at your own pace online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

A filter-specific self study course from General Motors and ACDelco covers oil filters, air filters, fuel filters, automatic transmission filters and cabin air filters. A selection of video titles such as Cabin Air Filters: Air on the Side of Science and Oil Filters: Filter Out the Facts are also a part of the firm’s educational offerings.

“ACDelco’s approach to training combines a variety of proven delivery methods to help ensure maximum learning potential for the service professional,” according to company spokeswoman Christine Kunde. “In addition to traditional instructor-led technical training courses and seminars, a wide selection of online courses is also available – allowing participants to complete the courses at their own pace and on their own schedule.”

As K&N Engineering rolls out its new Professional Series filter line for distributors and repairers serving DIFM customers, K&N University Field Training Clinics and a package of videos deliver useful product knowledge and marketing expertise.

“We do not want our video training series to be viewed simply as a K&N commercial,” says senior sales director Dennis Grau. “We will provide the shop owner and their technicians important technical information that will teach filtration as well as provide tips on how to sell premium filtration. One glaring opportunity is training the market on the negative results of not replacing the oil, air or cabin air filters on a regular basis.”

In April, Luber-finer expanded its Digital Advantage Program by introducing the Vindetech filter search feature that allows product lookups based on a customer’s Vehicle Identification Number, rendering the precise filter model.

“This project is the culmination of years of hard work and catalog system software development,” says Layne Gobrogge, director of heavy duty marketing at parent-firm Champion Laboratories. “We knew that once we got the concept to work, it could be a game-changing tool for installers, parts managers and our own sales force.”

The company is also adding to its Luber-finer University curriculum. “This engaging, interactive training program is specifically developed to provide you with the technical knowledge and insights you need to help drive your team’s filter sales – and most importantly – equip your customers with the best possible heavy duty filtration solutions,” according to Gobrogge.

“Previous modules in Luber-finer University offered the in-depth knowledge about heavy duty filtration that every sales professional needs,” he explains. “This module takes the next step and is designed to help sales professionals at every level learn the skills and techniques that are the keys to a rewarding sales career.”

This Module 6 utilizes the company’s outside sales team as instructors who convey their “tricks of the trade” to increase your selling abilities, plus the insights provided can benefit:

  • Parts counter salespeople interested in making the transition to outside sales
  • Truck drivers looking for a career change within the industry
  • Warehouse workers who want more direct interaction with customers

“With the release of this new module,” says Gobrogge, “Luber-finer continues its effort to offer cutting-edge training materials engineered to grow the heavy duty community’s collective knowledge and help industry partners succeed.

Shared solutions
Seeking a career within the engineering, manufacturing and marketing aspects of the vehicle filtration category is widely viewed as a fascinating and promising occupation. The overall worldwide automotive filtration marketplace -- valued at more than $5 billion as of 2015, according to analysts Kunal Ahuja and Sonal Singh at Global Market Insights – is expected to notch an annual growth rate of 8.4 percent through 2023, reaching a value exceeding $9 billion.

New challenges and applications are a constant. For example, in 2017 WIX was called upon to invent a fire-resistant air filter to fit John Deere bulldozers at the request of the Florida Forest Service; a standard filter would otherwise combust after prolonged exposure to intense heat or flaming embers.

“There’s not a day that goes by when we aren’t fighting a fire somewhere in the state,” says Ron Worrell, government operations consultant for the Florida Forest Service. “This fire season was our most active in the past five years and with these new model dozers we needed to be proactive in finding a fire-resistant air filter.

In 2017 WIX was called upon to invent a fire-resistant air filter to fit John Deere bulldozers at the request of the Florida Forest Service; a standard filter would otherwise combust after prolonged exposure to intense heat or flaming embers.

“It takes only the smallest of embers to light the filter media of a standard air filter, and once an ember comes in contact with the air flowing through the filter it’s like taking a blowtorch to it,” Worrell observes. “There was not an aftermarket fire-resistant air filter available for the 650K Tier 4 dozers.”

“As the fire season escalated, the Florida Forest Service came to us as they were in immediate need of fire-resistant air filters for the new dozers,” recounts Jerry Parker, a WIX district sales manager. “Every time dozers are deployed into a scene, the risk of injury due to air filter ignition grows worse, and the issue is magnified in larger fires.”

The company’s key challenge was that it not yet cataloged a standard air filter for the new John Deere dozers, much less a fire-resistant filter. But as soon as the WIX product team identified the proper John Deere filter, it quickly moved to develop a fire-resistant version.

“Once the product team identified the filter, it launched a flurry of activity across multiple departments to develop and deliver the new fire-resistant filter,” Parker says. “Engineering quickly confirmed we had the materials necessary, change orders were written and manufacturing was scheduled.”

The company produced more than 200 fire-resistant filters – the WIX 49035FR – less than 30 days after being contacted by the Florida Forest Service.

“WIX stepped up at a tremendous time of need and helped us solve a vexing safety issue. We can’t have equipment failure in our line of work given the potential jeopardy a stalled dozer could have on both the lives of our firefighters and the success of our mission,” says Earl Seagroves, the agency’s operations manager. “Fire-resistant filters are one of the tools we rely on to help our dozers last longer when pushing through flames.”

As if being in the forefront of fighting fires wasn’t enough, in March of this year engineers at Jaguar announced the pending debut of a cabin filtering system aimed at combating global pestilence.

The unit, currently being tested as a pilot project, could help stop the spread of colds and flu – while reducing the transmission of superbugs by up to 30 percent -- via an innovative ultraviolet light technology, known as UV-C, which has been utilized within the medical industry for more than 70 years.

Exposing pathogens to UV-C within the air conditioning system neutralizes them by breaking down the molecular structure. Clean air is then released into the cabin.

“The average motorist spends as much as 300 hours per year behind the wheel. There is a clear opportunity to better utilize cars for administering preventative healthcare,” according to Dr. Steve Iley, the automaker’s chief medical officer.

“The implementation of individual wellbeing measures as part of our ‘tranquil sanctuary’ research promises to not only improve quality of life for our customers but in this case, offers clear advantages in reducing pathogen spread,” he elaborates, “protecting the overall population from the threat of disease; particularly as we move towards shared mobility solutions.”

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