Who Is Coming To Detroit And What They Are Working On
More than 50 companies have already secured their place at the Service & Warranty Lifecycle Summit, bringing together a diverse cross-section of manufacturers, suppliers, technology innovators, and aftermarket leaders, including Ford Motor Company, PACCAR, Crown Equipment, Rotobec, Winnebago, Garrett, Cummins, Bridgestone Americas, International, Slate Auto and CARS Protection Plus.
For senior managers, directors and heads of functions, that mix opens up conversations beyond their own sector. How does another manufacturer organize dealer support? Who takes ownership when a technical case points to a quality problem? How quickly does information from a repair reach the people who can prevent the next one?
Read on as we explore these questions and more through this week’s highlights, including:
- Who’s joining the Summit so far and why attendance is accelerating
- The TAC Xchange Group’s progress and achievements since its launch in 2025
- A powerful interview with former Global VP Customer Care & Aftersales General Motors leader, Tim Turvey on the “4 Big Questions for Aftersales Leaders”
- Ben Bergman, Director of Customer Service at Crown Equipment, on getting critical service knowledge into the right hands at the right time.
Meet The Companies And Leaders Joining The Summit
The mix extends across:
- Automotive
- Heavy truck
- Agricultural
- Industrial equipment
- Powersports
- Motorcycle businesses
- Components
- EVs
- Extended warranty
It gives attendees a way to compare how similar service problems are handled under different operating conditions.
The Tech Expo, more than 12 hours of extended networking breaks and 6 executive dine-around dinners provide time to follow up with the people behind those approaches. Group ticket discounts are available for teams of 3 or more.
The Summit is supported by ServiceNow, Upstream, Circuitry.ai, Pegasystems, Sedgwick, MR Insights, Truepic, Syncron, WarrCloud, Advantage Technical and Certum. Explore the technologies, services and expertise supporting service and warranty operations at the Tech Expo.
How OEMs Are Developing Technical Assistance Together
The Technical Assistance Centers Xchange Group began in August 2025 with Kia, Hyundai, Hyundai Canada, Ford and Toyota. Winnebago and Rotobec joined in 2026.
After 3 virtual meetings this year, the group will meet onsite at the Summit.
New OEMs are welcome to join.
The work gives support leaders an opportunity to compare how they organize expertise, route difficult cases and measure performance. Those comparisons can help a leader distinguish a staffing shortage from a problem with escalation or access to service information before committing to a new system or additional resources.
Getting The Right Support To The Dealer
The panel “Getting the Right Support to the Dealer: The Evolution of Technical Assistance” examines changing TAC models, current operational challenges, AI in technical assistance and improvements in dealer support.
The discussion brings together:
- Shane Schmitt, Director Technical Hotline, Ford Motor Company
- David Brisky, Senior Techline Communications Manager, Kia America
- Miles Thompson, Senior Manager Advanced Diagnostics, Hyundai Motor America
- Russell Suzuki, Manager Field Technical Services, Toyota Motor North America
- Facilitator Dan Dobbs, Solutions Architect Vehicle Services Group, Advantage Technical
The discussion will also examine how they have been able to adapt technical assistance as their needs change.
2 Additional Onsite TAC Discussions To Put On Your Agenda
“Empowering Dealers Through Technical Field Support ” brings the TAC and Field Services & Connected Data groups together around support for the people diagnosing and repairing vehicles.
“When Does a TAC Case Become a Quality Issue?” examines the point at which an individual support case needs attention beyond the immediate repair.
Tim Turvey: 4 Big Questions For Aftersales Leaders
A correctly processed claim can still arrive too late to help prevent another failure. In his interview with Pam Walter, Tim Turvey, Former Global Vice President Customer Care & Aftersales at General Motors, examines the speed of warranty information, connected service processes, technology investment and the customer experience.
The full article brings those ideas together.
The first 2 videos focus on where time and information are lost.
Question 1: How Fast Does Your Warranty Data Move?
Question 2: What Changes When The Service Ecosystem Is Connected?
Make Service Knowledge Available When Decisions Depend On It
What does it take to get the right knowledge to the right person at the right moment in the service lifecycle?
Ben Bergman, Director of Customer Service at Crown Equipment, starts with culture and the discipline behind the information.
He identifies practical requirements: tools that make knowledge easy to capture, consistent writing standards, clear ownership of content review, a defined update cadence and fast publication.
“We have to provide tools that make it easy to capture knowledge, but the discipline behind it matters just as much”
That distinction matters for service leaders. Publishing information is only part of the job. The people supporting a repair must be able to find the current guidance when they need it.
Ben connects that work to stronger links between people in the field and the teams supporting them.
Continue the discussion with Ben at the Summit, where he will share more on getting the right answer to the right person at the right time.
Continue The Discussions In Detroit
Join the 6th annual Service & Warranty Lifecycle Summit, October 19–21, 2026, at The Westin Southfield Detroit.
Review the agenda with the colleagues responsible for warranty, quality, technical support and field service, and identify the discussions most relevant to the decisions ahead.
Bring the colleagues who will put these ideas into practice.
Group ticket discounts are available for teams of 3 or more.
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