Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) is bolstering its commitment to customer uptime with a new parts distribution center in the Greater Toronto Area which is scheduled to open in early 2018.
“This new facility is a key step in our journey to be number one in machine uptime in the industry,” said Ken Silverman, vice president, Aftermarket and Customer Solutions, Volvo CE Region Americas. “Today’s customers have an expectation of next-day delivery, and the new distribution center, located near Toronto’s main international airport hub, will improve our lead times and give us the ability to deliver parts anywhere in Canada by early AM the next day.”
The distribution center supports Volvo CE’s best-in-class customer experience initiative and allows Volvo dealers to restock both common and business-critical parts faster — a huge advantage for its more than forty dealer locations across Canada. Currently, Volvo CE ships parts to Canadian dealers from the United States.
“For us, the new distribution center is significant because it will help avoid customs delays,” said Jack Bradley, vice president, Supply Chain, for Canadian dealer Strongco. “Now we will have much faster lead times and easier access to fast-moving parts.”
“This Canadian parts distribution facility will give our Strongco customers improved access to critical Volvo OEM parts inventory on this side of the border,” said Oliver Nachevski, vice president of the Construction Equipment Division for Strongco. “This is a very exciting announcement as both Strongco and our customers will benefit from enhanced parts availability, which will enable us to offer next day express delivery capabilities.”
This is the latest move in Volvo’s ongoing work to provide industry-best parts delivery. In 2015, it opened a 1 million square foot distribution center in Byhalia, Mississippi, in addition to secondary parts distribution centers in Columbus, Ohio and Reno, Nevada. Now by improving its distribution footprint with the new 181,000 square foot Parts Distribution Center in Canada, which replaces a regional parts depot there, the company will be able to deliver critical parts to any dealer across Canada in major markets —by 8 a.m. the next day after the order is placed.
“Clearly this is a big step in Volvo’s commitment to be number one in uptime in the industry,” said Colin Matejka, chief operating officer, Great West Equipment in Vernon, British Columbia. “This is really big for us and our customers since we can now ensure quicker delivery. For our staff, this is a huge morale boost — now we can confidently look a customer in the eye and commit to 24-hour delivery without hesitation.”
The Support Distribution Center will be operated by Volvo Group Service Market Logistics. In addition to providing parts for Volvo CE dealers, the distribution center will also provide parts for Volvo’s other business areas.
