Printed on a wall inside Mack Trucks’ new 123,000-sq.-ft. Uptime Center in Greensboro, N.C., is a quote that reads, “When a truck is down our customer’s business stops.” For that reason, Mack Trucks put its technology and personnel together in an environment designed to increase its customers’ uptime.
The Uptime Center is a Volvo Group North America facility that Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks share. The facility is able to handle both brands’ customer service needs. Click here for Volvo’s view of uptime.
The 24/7 Uptime Center houses over 170 personnel from every customer support function, connecting them to Mack customers and dealers through telematics, communications and case management tools. This allows cross-functional teams to quickly interact face-to-face when necessary to keep a truck on the road, according to Mack Trucks.
“The Uptime Center facilitates the balanced mix of technology, live expert support and proactive communication we need to quickly deliver solutions that directly impact customers’ bottom lines,” said Stephen Roy, president of Mack Trucks North American Sales and Marketing. “Unplanned downtime can cost up to $2,000 per day, per event when you take into consideration the loss or cargo and revenue, the additional pay for drivers, even lodging.”
At the Uptime Center, Mack OneCall agents offer critical support to customers experiencing planned or unplanned service events, including scheduling service and repairs. In addition to critical support, Mack OneCall agents also address and respond to potential service events as they are proactively identified through the Mack GuardDog Connect telematics solution. Using ASIST to provide service management structure, OneCall agents communicate with the customer, dealer and, if necessary, other Uptime Center colleagues to ensure the repair service is completed with as little inconvenience as possible.
“With the Uptime Center, Mack is moving towards a proactive solution where events that require roadside assistance are happening less and less everyday,” said Mark Curri, vice president of aftermarket quality and operations, Volvo Group North America. “We want to move towards being advisors and consulters for our Mack customers by preventing those events from happening.”
Mack executives pointed out that the availability and quality of dealer service facilities is equally important to vehicle uptime. The company noted that since 2010, Mack dealers have invested $400 million to improve service bay capacity, technician training and expertise, spare parts availability and hours available for service.
Lastly, Mack’s Roy added that fleets “can’t have uptime without reliable, durable trucks.” For that reason, data collected at the Uptime Center will be used for Mack’s R&D and future products, with engineers receiving reports monthly based on live telematics. Trend analysis also occurs at the center.
“Our data analysis tools help us identify emerging issues and root causes more efficiently so that we can ensure the reliability and durability of our products,” said Evandro Silva, manager of connected vehicle services at Volvo Group North America.
Site prep for the Uptime Center began in Sept. 2013. The center was completed in Sept. 2014 and has been fully operational and running since mid-October.
