Mar 20, 2015 Volvo, Trucks, Aftermarket, UDTrucks, Renault, Warehouse, Parts, service
The Volvo Group SA launched its new R60 Million Regional Distribution Centre (RDC). Located in Boksburg, the upgraded facility incorporates the parts warehousing and logistical services for the various Volvo Group brands operating in southern Africa.
The more than 52 000 parts housed include stock items for Volvo Bus, Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Penta, Renault Trucks and UD Trucks. The main warehouse size was increased to 11 500m² and now also has an additional 1 500m² storage capacity for cabs, as well as for hazardous materials such as coolants. The investment is aimed at allowing for faster parts deliveries, more streamlined and efficient operations, as well as increased warehousing capacity for all its brands.
According to Torbjörn Christensson, President of the Volvo Group SA: “As the Volvo Group SA we believe that the merger of our warehouse facilities under one roof will enable us to better support the company’s future growth within southern and East Africa. It is therefore a strategic investment in our future and will enable us to support our customers more efficiently and timely, especially in light of the significant volume growth our brands have experienced over the last number of years.”
“Increased uptime for our customers is one of our core objectives within the Group,” explained Christensson. “Customers are rightly demanding exceptional parts availability – something we believe we will be able to achieve with the new facility, its innovative systems and skilled workforce.”
“The aim of Volvo Group Logistics Services - (who design, manage and optimise logistics services within the company) is to deliver services with world-class operational excellence, in an efficient and sustainable way, thereby reducing costs, disruption and environmental impact,” said Christer Svärd, Senior Vice President of Volvo Group Logistics Services. “We also aim to constantly ensure the global availability of aftermarket parts to dealers and end-customers at the right time, the right place and at the right cost.”
Parts are supplied to the Johannesburg RDC from the various brands’ Central Parts Distribution Centers (CDC) in France (Renault Trucks), Japan and Singapore (UD), Sweden and Belgium (Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Bus, Volvo Penta and Volvo Trucks).
Colin Govender, General Manager, Logistics Services, for the southern and East African region adds: “We have agreements in place with the various CDCs for the prompt processing of emergency parts, as well as for day and stock orders. Agreements are also in place with transport providers for the forwarding and clearing of daily air and weekly sea shipments – ensuring a continuous flow of regular maintenance, as well as critical parts to dealers and ultimately to customers.”
The Volvo Group RDC boasts a same-day delivery policy to dealers within 50km of the facility, and a 24/7 set-up in place for emergency parts. Overnight and next day deliveries are in place for the remainder of the dealers across South Africa, as well as up to twice weekly dedicated deliveries to export dealers outside the country.
The facility has staff compliment of 16 office workers and 52 industrial workers – all of whom have been trained in the new warehousing processes and systems to ensure accuracy, productivity and efficiency.
“The integrated warehouse boasts one system that effectively covers all the brands supported from South Africa,” says Govender. “Ultimately, this means one defined process, one way of developing the competencies of our staff, and creating more opportunity to have multi-skilled people that can support the operation in different areas as needed.”
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