NEW UPTIME CENTER ADVANCES VOLVO TRUCKS' COMMITMENT TO CUSTOMER UPTIME

December 9, 2014 by Volvo Trucks North America

Volvo Trucks has opened its new North American Uptime Center, bringing together key resources to ensure that customers' trucks keep moving. The 123,000 square-foot Uptime Center consolidates the people and systems needed to monitor and respond to vehicle issues in real time, help dealers troubleshoot difficult cases and find the necessary parts for repair.

The operational teams responsible for customer Uptime had been in different locations in Greensboro, North Carolina, where Volvo Trucks' North American headquarters is located. A key benefit of the Uptime Center is that Uptime support employees now can frequently and easily interact with one another face-to-face, allowing increased flexibility and faster response times.

'Bringing these professionals together under one roof allows them to collaborate and prioritize more quickly and effectively,' said Göran Nyberg, president, Volvo Trucks North American Sales & Marketing. 'We owe it to our customers to make our superior service and support even better. They don't make money if their trucks are not running.'

Integrated Support

The Uptime Center physically pulls together the personnel and services that already had been working together to keep Volvo trucks productive. Volvo's philosophy is that technology alone won't get the job done. Uptime also requires the active involvement of dedicated professionals every step of the way.

The front lines of the Uptime Center are the Volvo Action Service agents who work directly with customers, dealers and Volvo representatives to resolve problems as quickly and efficiently as possible. They also rely on the work of product reliability engineers, who are responsible for diagnostics, developing service information and dealer tools, and ensuring issues are addressed.

Other members of the Uptime Center team focus on assisting the dealer in helping the customer. Dealer support personnel help troubleshoot challenging cases, manage warranty claims, and resolve information technology issues. Parts specialists assist dealers in sourcing and managing parts, and work with suppliers and production plants to fulfill orders.

These highly trained professionals operate and manage three integrated services that are core to Volvo's commitment to customer Uptime:

◾Volvo Action Service– Volvo's well-trained and seasoned staff of Uptime experts provide 24/7 support. They can intervene proactively if they detect potential problems, and they ensure a rapid response in the case of breakdown.

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◾ASIST – Volvo's service management platform offers a web-based tool for monitoring vehicle status and managing estimates, repair approvals, purchase orders and communications with dealers. ASIST documents all the interaction among customers, dealers and Volvo, including Remote Diagnostics activity, to ensure everyone knows exactly where a case stands at any moment.

◾Remote Diagnostics– Volvo's telematics-based proactive diagnostic and repair planning system monitors critical fault codes. Remote Diagnostics identifies what parts will be needed and provides technicians with straightforward repair instructions – even before the truck arrives for service. Remote Diagnostics can reduce the diagnostic time by up to 70 percent and lower repair time by more than 20 percent. About 50,000 Volvo trucks are equipped with the system, which has been standard on all Volvo-powered models since 2013.

Dealer network

Volvo Trucks dealers are key to customer Uptime as they carry out most of the service support required to keep trucks moving. Today, Volvo has 356 Class 8 dealer locations throughout North America. And just as Volvo Trucks is improving its own capabilities, so are its dealers.

Since 2010, Volvo dealers have invested $411 million, and more than 50 new facilities are either planned or underway. The investments have resulted in 50 percent more technicians, including a 150 percent increase in the number of Volvo master technicians. Service bay capacity has risen by 34 percent, while spare parts inventories are up 37 percent and the number of parts department employees has increased 68 percent.

'Uptime is an ongoing process of improvement that requires the diligence and commitment of our people and our dealers combined with our industry-leading products, services and technology,' Nyberg said. 'The new Uptime Center is one more step in the quest to make Volvo's trucks the most productive in the industry.'