Dairy Crest go for Volvo Service Point Online
The Nuneaton depot of Dairy Crest, the UK’s leading chilled dairy foods company, have saved time and money, improved their financial reporting and transformed their workshop scheduling by using the latest transport solution from Volvo Trucks - Volvo Service Point Online, which they are using to handle all their fleet’s maintenance and repair work.
Operating a fleet of 54 Volvo FM artics and 76 Chereau lightweight trailers, they are already an enthusiastic user of Volvo’s Dynafleet telematics, and Volvo Service Point Online has added even further to the efficiency of the fleet.
Dave Wilson the Transport Manager (Fleet) for Dairy Crest at Nuneaton explains the benefits, “Volvo Service Point Online is an invaluable tool for us in service schedule planning and control. We can book our own servicing online without even needing to call the dealer and my service schedules are booked in a year in advance.”
He added, “The days of waiting a week for the paperwork to arrive are history. Any queries are resolved before an invoice is generated. It saves us so much time. As soon as a technician completes a job, he can scan the paperwork into the system and it is immediately available to the customer.”
Dairy Crest’s Volvo FMs are supplied by Volvo Truck and Bus Centre East Anglia, Coventry from where Regional Administration Manager Darren Wymer said, “Dairy Crest have already improved efficiency and cut costs by using Dynafleet telematics on the road and now they have taken that same philosophy into the workshop, where it is proving to be invaluable”.
Using Dynafleet was a big step forward for Dairy Crest as the previous system was not ‘real-time’ and data came from sometimes unreliable sensors at the depot gate. Dave Wilson at Dairy Crest said, “Dynafleet is a Godsend for us. We’ve saved an enormous amount of fuel by changing driver behaviour, 10,000 litres at one site alone. It’s like having a driver trainer in the cab all day, every day”.
Operating an all-Volvo fleet from their Nuneaton depot, except for occasional spot-hire needs, means that Dairy Crest can have all their vehicle records contained on Volvo Service Point Online. This gives peace of mind with all the legal documentation and Dairy Crest’s Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) is also boosted with the service records that are now available. As Dave explained, “Our local VOSA inspector is happy with the records that we can now provide and we are completely compliant and with less work to achieve that status than before.”
On the cost control benefits, Dave Wilson commented, 1502 D
With their specially-built Chereau trailers that give a 26 tonne payload, Dynafleet and Volvo Service Point online, Dave Wilson is confident that they are running a tight ship. “The accuracy of the data and our ability to use it instantly make Volvo Service Point Online a powerful ally. With Volvo’s Dynafleet ensuring that our drivers are also getting it right on the road, it is a very effective combination”
