News

As the lead times issue drags on, Scania and MAN have both announced their commitment to improving their aftersales services. Scania aftersales director James Armstrong reveals that the current 70-strong force of mobile engineers will increase to between 80 and 90 by the end of this year. The current force comprises 25 engineers directly employed by Scania and 45 from independent Scania dealers and third parties - all are manufacturer-trained.

The engineers specialise in the repair and  maintenance (both at operators' sites or at the roadside) of ancillary equipment, including tail-lifts, shutter doors, air-conditioning systems and fridges. There are now 3,000 trailer parts lines available, all with 12 months' parts and labour warranties. The mobile engineers programme has secured a number of "major wins with blue-chip clients", according to Armstrong, including Ceva Logistics, DHL Exel and ACC (Co-op Retail Logistics).

Scania Parts Direct is now being rolled out nationwide, following a successful trial in the North East. It provides door-to-door delivery of parts and is "designed to be hassle-free". Scania is also looking at how it can offer driver CPC-related training, like Mercedes-Benz (MT, 7 February). Scania has nine driver trainers and four training locations and is developing Driver CPC programmes this year for introduction in 2009. Meanwhile, MAN chief executive Des Evans reveals that this year will be "less about product, and more about service. We  want to help the industry operate more efficiently." Speaking candidly, he adds: "I want to change the perception of our aftersales. We have an ambition to earn ourselves a reputation as the best service provider in the UK transport industry."

MAN has decentralised to a three-region structure (North, Midlands, South). Its network structure has settled at a total of 69 UK outlets (33 truck centres and 36 service centres), run by 29 business partners - the majority of whom are ex-ERF. "The one thing we got from ERF was a fantastic service network," Evans confesses. These totals compare with the pre-restructure figures from three years ago of 149 centres, run by 74 busi-ness partners. MAN is investing £16m in improving branches half of this sum is being spent on a truck and bus centre in Trafford Park, Manchester.

Evans reveals that MAN improved substantially last year against its own service-related benchmarks: MOT first-time pass rate improved from 66% before it introduced the up-time principle to 87% PMI (preventative maintenance inspection) slippage improved from 58% to 83%. Evans says: "We believe we are the only manufacturer that centrally records and acts upon each and every VOR (vehicle off-road) situation in the UK." Evans confirms that MAN is also considering offering Driver CPC training courses.