December 10, 2021 • Denise Rondini • Bookmark +
Volvo Trucks North America has launched the Volvo Blue Contract Service product, a comprehensive maintenance program designed to improve uptime and simplify maintenance management.
When it comes to trucking, everything has to do with uptime. Keeping trucks on the road for delivery is the top priority for all fleets. Volvo Trucks hopes that its new Blue Contract service will help the fleet do just that.
Ashley Murickan, Volvo's product marketing manager for safety and connected cars, said that the new plan is more comprehensive and has higher value in bundles than the previous plan provided by the company.
Mike Furst, Volvo's Director of Service and Solutions, explained that what had previously existed was "more of a choice of cafeteria style." You can just change the oil and filter, or you can develop a more comprehensive plan that includes post-processing maintenance. You can piece together a comprehensive plan. But we want to reassure the fleet about the work that needs to be done on the truck, so we integrate the best maintenance services into one plan. "
According to the plan, every oil change includes 74 vehicle inspections, including safety inspections. "Obviously, a well-maintained truck is a safe truck," Murikan added. “Therefore, accidental failures on the roadside due to parts failure are less likely to occur, and the risk of any related incidents can be minimized.”
The fleet must bring their trucks to Volvo dealers for maintenance services, but Furst said that if problems within the warranty are discovered during inspections, this may bring benefits.
Denise Rondini "We think it is good to do all the work under one roof, whether it's contract, warranty work or customer payment," he explained. Through the work of Volvo dealers, Volvo can understand the maintenance plan, and can facilitate the plan and ensure that the required parts are provided-this is a great advantage given today's supply chain issues.
Furst said that although Blue Contract’s upfront costs seem to be higher, “we are not advertising it as the lowest cost upfront option. We are really thinking about total cost of ownership.” Save downtime by pairing operations with drain intervals Factors such as those are part of the TCO equation.
"We are using our dealer network to be able to inspect and inspect trucks faster. We are actively working to ensure that trucks do not wait for repairs." Measure the time spent at the dealership. Some fleets have service level agreements about what the stay time looks like, or how much store time there is—the actual wrench time at work. “We are using all the tools available to us and our dealers to facilitate the repair process, which is what really drives TCO,” he explained.
In addition, all maintenance service records are kept in the Volvo system. "When this truck is handed in at the end of its useful life, we hope this will translate into a higher resale value because it is well maintained and all records are on the truck," Foster said.
Blue Contract Service can obtain funding through Volvo Financial Services. The cost of the plan can be bundled with truck payments or billed monthly.
Furst encourages fleets to compare this new product with other maintenance programs, regardless of whether the fleet is maintained in-house or through a third-party provider. No matter what maintenance option the fleet chooses, it needs to go down to the details of the operation level to ensure the best maintenance service at the best cost.
This comment originally appeared in the December 2021 issue of Heavy Truck Transportation.
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