Ford Connects with Dyson's technical aces

Household appliance manufacturer Dyson has chosen the Transit Connect for its UK service engineer team.

Dyson prides itself on providing the most efficient customer field service in the business. And when it came to specifying the best light van for its engineers, it had no hesitation in choosing the Ford Transit Connect. A total of 177 Connect 230 1.8 L diesel vans have now been delivered to Dyson, the name synonymous with technical innovation.

Based at the homes of Dyson's service engineers all over the UK and Ireland, the long-wheelbase, high-roof vans are used to provide what the company says is an unrivalled level of response to customer calls.

The company's field service fleet is completed by 15 Ford Focus models. Field Service Manager Malcolm Hird was originally a field service engineer himself, driving Ford Escort vans in the 1970s, and has been with Malmesbury-based Dyson for seven years.

"We have a lot of faith in the reliability of Ford, and we liked the style and size of the Connect," he says. Dyson had decided it needed a light commercial that would bridge the gap between medium and car-derived vans. "The Transit Connect was the most appropriate vehicle in terms of the carrying capacity, reliability and aftermarket care we needed.

"With the Connect we have a 28 per cent greater carrying capacity than before for spare parts and tools, which is of huge benefit in achieving our first-time fix rates," says Mr Hird.

And the drivers, he says, are "absolutely delighted" with their new vehicles. "They really adore the vans. We've specced them up with the six-way adjustable seats with lumbar adjustment and armrests plus air-conditioning, and they say it's more like driving a comfortable car than a van. It makes their whole day easier and less stressful."

The Transit Connect models are fully racked out inside and sport a striking livery featuring images of Dyson's latest vacuum cleaner, the DC15.

Design guru James Dyson's company has sold more than £3 billion of vacuum cleaners since it was established with the constant-suction DCO1 in 1993. Its customer-care centre operates every day from 7am to 10pm and its engineers are on call from 7am until 8.30pm, including Saturdays.

"Ours is the best field service division in the country by far," says Malcolm Hird. "We have the best first-time fix rates, as high as 97 per cent, and a maximum call-out time of three working days - though in 2005 we got that down to 2.36.

"Because we're so proactive we don't get complaint letters. Instead I get 20 or 30 letters of praise for our engineers' service every week."

Dyson's Ford Transit Connects are supplied on contract hire by Lloyds TSB Autolease on a four-year replacement cycle. Mileages vary widely, from around 50 miles a day in urban centres to four times that distance in rural areas.

"It's accepted that Ford Transits are the workhorse - the 'backbone of Britain'," says Malcolm Hird. "Ultimately they're used by everybody because they're so reliable and well-built."

"If any business knows about design and engineering, it's Dyson," says Ford's Fleet Operations Director Kevin Griffin. "That's why we're delighted that the company has gone with Ford Transit Connect to ensure that it can meet the very high customer-care targets it sets itself. Dyson is always looking to improve through innovation - and we share that objective at Ford."