Volvo Construction Equipment customers in Canada will now see a significant reduction in parts delivery time, following the opening of a new distribution facility.
On March 26, Volvo officially opened its new parts distribution centre in Milton, Ontario. While the centre carries parts for Volvo and Mack trucks, it is also the first Canadian facility to stock parts for Volvo Construction Equipment.
The new 16,856 square metre parts hub will serve as an advantage for Volvo’s more than 40 dealer locations across Canada.
“The ability to draw critical parts in a timelier fashion to get them to our customers is a big key. It’s a differentiator for us,” said Oliver Nachevski, vice president and chief operating officer of Strongco — a Volvo CE dealer with 25 locations in Canada.
“It means a lot to our customers and Strongco.”
Previously, Volvo shipped parts to its Canadian dealers from the United States. However, clearing customs often added to the delivery time. For Strongco, shipping parts directly from Canada will save days on certain parts orders.
“Twenty-four hours is what Volvo’s motto is. We’re trying to make sure we can do that as well,” Nachevski said.
For Great West Equipment customers, parts are already quickly arriving at their destination. Stephen Roy, Volvo CE’s president for sales region Americas, explained a Great West customer in Whitehorse, Yukon received their parts order the day after making the request.
“It’s about 6,500 km from (Milton) to Whitehorse, and the next day at 2 pm he had his part,” Roy said. “I think that type of feedback from our customers and dealers shows this investment is well worth it.”
Volvo opened its first Canadian parts centre for trucks in Mississauga, Ontario in 2001. The new distribution centre, which is three times the size of the Mississauga facility, began shipping truck parts in May of 2018 and construction equipment parts began shipping in December.
“The purpose of this new facility was to really support the construction business, as we had big need and demand,” said Bob Hochwarth, Volvo Group’s vice president of service market logistics for North America.
Hochwarth also noted the parts centre staff were able to make the move from Mississauga to Milton in a matter of 10 days.
“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears from the employees that are here today to make that happen,” Hochwarth said. “I’m really proud of this facility and the work of the team here.”
The Milton facility will stock nearly 85,000 parts and handle more than 800,000 order lines per year.
“We understand, from a customer standpoint, that if we don’t have the part, we let you down and we impact your business,” Roy said. “This facility helps us get to that high uptime standard.”
Parts centres for Volvo Trucks are already well-established throughout North America. Looking ahead, Volvo plans to use its established truck network to expand the availability of construction equipment parts throughout the continent.
“This is the first of many planned investments from Volvo Construction Equipment in North America,” Roy said.
