Volvo has been at the forefront in the trucking domain, not only in selling vehicles across the globe but taking sales up with excellent aftersales support. In India, the company has been dominating the premium mining segment along with its class-leading heavy pullers in the on-road over-dimensional cargo (ODC) segment.
Considering the gruelling conditions its trucks operate in, be it mines or transporting ODC, proper service and maintenance, the company plays a crucial role in keeping the vehicles running.
Mr. Sree Ramarao A.S., Senior Vice President – Sales Marketing and Aftermarket, Volvo Trucks, highlights Volvo’s globally-proven basket of total aftersales solutions.
Exceprts:
Uptime guaranteed
Premium care for Premium trucks is what we at Volvo believe in. Uptime is the most important criteria in customer operations. At Volvo, world-class aftermarket support is an integral part of the transport solutions and we have set high standards to be No.1 in aftermarket services. Our focused approach is to provide comprehensive direct sales and service support for our technological advanced trucks. A high degree of customized services with container workshops deployed at mining sites even at the remotest locations that ensures the truck has maximum uptime. Across the country, we have over 138 touch points including state of the art workshops and various service support centers. We offer tailor-made service agreements that guarantee higher parts availability and ensure quality service throughout the life of trucks. As a next best option to Volvo genuine parts, we offer renovated parts that are certified by Volvo for quality, performance and reliability which comes at a cost effective rate.
Service Contracts
Tailor-made service offerings distinguish Volvo from its competition in the technologically advanced European truck segment. Volvo Service Agreements is a series of inspections and repair options designed to reduce operating risks, get the best value from trucks and increase the overall efficiency of the transport operations. Choosing a Volvo service contract makes life easier as customers no longer need to select a workshop, decide what needs doing and consider whether the price is right. Instead, they know in advance exactly what is included, and what they will have to pay each month. With costs evenly spread over the year and paid once a month, administration is reduced and financial planning is easier.
There are two levels of service contracts to choose from:
• Volvo Blue Agreement, which includes preventive maintenance.
• Volvo Gold Agreement, which includes preventive maintenance and truck repairs.
Apart from service contracts, we provide Volvo parts agreement and various parts and service schemes to customers, customized for their needs. Also, we ensure qualified service technician takes care for the truck, and every part that needs replacing is replaced by an identical part, ensuring that the truck continues to retain its high quality and availability. In addition, thanks to our care, customers can expect a higher second-hand price when the time comes.
Pioneering driver training
Driver productivity is the key element in transport operations. Therefore, even before we rolled out our first truck in India, we had set up the first of its kind driver training center in Bangalore. Since then Volvo Trucks Driver Training Center (DTC) has trained over 55,000 CV drivers. Our DTC offers both onsite training for Volvo tipper customers and training in Bangalore for Volvo tractors and buses. Over the past 16 years we have even customized our training program to meet customer’s specific needs. Apart from a 5-day basic driver training course which includes theory and practical training, we also offer a 2-day refresher training to re-enforce learnings. Our focus is to help our customers to continually develop the driver in the areas of sense of responsibility, motivation, fuel efficient driving, traffic safety, social aspects and preventive maintenance.
Reaching the customer
Across the country, we have over 138 touch points including state of the art workshops and various service support centers. We have last mile service support and container workshops deployed at mining sites even at the remotest locations that ensure the truck have maximum uptime for customers.
We at Volvo are pioneers of innovative aftermarket solutions. Volvo Action Service is one such solution which provides on road assistance to take care of en route breakdown repair needs. Volvo Action Service offers round-the-clock vehicle repair support. One phone call on our 24X7 toll free helpline helps us serve customers, no matter where they are – and skilled Volvo technicians’ starts within an hour and reaches them along with the necessary parts, tools and equipment as soon as possible depending on the distance from the nearest service touch point.
Partnering customers
The journey of Volvo Trucks in India for past 15+ years has been congruent with many customer organizations. At Volvo, we strongly believe in working as strategic partners with our customers and provide them with due inputs to get best out of our technologically advanced vehicles. We conduct Operation Manager Meet program to educate operations manager of large truck fleets on the importance of periodic service and proper maintenance annually which not only engages but enlighten them on industry best practices. It is a 2-day program conducted at our facility which has good mix of class room as well as practical sessions. Apart from this, Volvo Competence Development center also conducts a 4-day program for fleet managers each quarter which covers various topics such as preventive maintenance, fuel management, and fleet management, etc. leading to better uptime for them.
Total aftersales solutions
After sales is one of the most important criteria in the vehicle purchase. Customers are increasingly looking beyond products; they now want overall solutions. The market is steadily moving toward considering the total cost of ownership and overall usage experience rather than just initial prices or spare parts prices. This means that manufacturers need to focus on offering more and more value added services that would meet the end to end requirements of customers.
At Volvo Trucks we have always believed in offering total solutions to our customers, hence even before we sold our first truck, we opened our driver training centre to train customer drivers. We believe that all our offerings must spring from customer needs and end in to their satisfaction. This is what we call premium through purpose. Over the past 16 years, we have introduced several innovative and industry leading/first value added services such as, 24×7 on call services, call centre services, customized service agreements, on-site support services, fuel & operational advice programmes, and one of its kind innovative driver competition – “Fuel Watch”; to sensitize and motivate drivers, fleet managers & customers to focus on fuel savings and environmental care through efficient driving.
We see enormous potential in quality aftermarket services and hence invest heavily in it. We believe that premium trucks need premium care, and that is why most of our service network is our own (company owned company operated). This is what differentiates us.