Vision Truck Center of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; Vanguard Truck Center of Phoenix, Az.; Nextran Truck Center of Birmingham, Ala.; and Westfall O’Dell Truck Sales of Kansas City, Mo. – each part of Mack’s Certified Uptime Center pilot program – were the first to achieve the certification.
The goal of Mack Certified Uptime Centers, the company says, is to provide faster and more efficient service experiences through standardized workflows and service processes, as well as redesigned service bays.
“Through our Mack Certified Uptime Centers, we’ve completely rethought our approach to how trucks are diagnosed and repaired, enabling us to get trucks serviced and back to the customer as quickly as possible,” says Stephen Roy, president of Mack Trucks North America.
The certification evaluates dealer service locations on 28 required process elements, ranging from shop organization to implementation of diagnostic tools. While many of the elements were already considered “best practices,” Mack combined the elements under the Certified Uptime Centers effort to maximize their impact.
“We, along with other dealer groups, worked closely with Mack to gather proven ideas that help improve the service process for customers,” says John Slotegraaf, dealer principal, Vision Truck Center. “In fact, many of the 28 process steps required for certification are tried-and-true methods that have been tested every day at the dealer level.”
Completion of the certification process takes approximately eight weeks, and includes a final assessment to determine whether all Certified Uptime Center requirements have been met. Mack’s Dealer Fixed Operations Managers conduct the assessments and assign the final certification.
To qualify as a Certified Uptime Center, Mack dealer locations must demonstrate proficiency in new procedures designed to simplify and accelerate the service process.
In addition, Certified Uptime Centers must implement redesigned service bays focused on quick turnaround times. These “uptime bays” utilize Mack’s vast array of uptime tools to rapidly diagnose customer issues. Trucks with repairs that require less than four hours are repaired immediately, rather than being shuffled to the back of the line, as with the typical “first come, first served” practice common in today’s shops.
David Pardue, Mack vice president, connected vehicle and contract services, says Certified Uptime Centers have not only addressed the pace of the repair process, but have also taken steps to ensure diagnoses are even more accurate.
Mack’s uptime solutions, including GuardDog Connect telematics and the Mack ASIST service management system, are fully integrated with the Mack Certified Uptime Centers’ workflows. In addition, Mack’s recently announced integration of Truck Diagnostics System (TDS) and Mack ASIST also supports Mack Certified Uptime Centers, delivering faster, more efficient information sharing. All of Mack’s uptime-focused personnel, including Mack OneCall agents, are housed at the Mack Uptime Center, located near Mack world headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Mack will continue to roll out Certified Uptime Center certifications to its dealer network throughout 2016, with a focus on major markets.
