Volvo Trucks opened its 123,000 square-foot North American Uptime Center in 2014, consolidating in Greenboro, North Carolina, the people and systems that monitor and respond to vehicle issues, help dealers troubleshoot difficult cases and find the necessary parts for repair.
Comprising roughly 600 employees, the operational teams responsible for customer uptime had previously been in different locations, "and that was problematic some times," said Steven Walker, director of uptime support, noting it was impossible to get eye-to-eye with all stakeholders, and having it all under one roof facilities cross-departmental collaboration.
On the front lines
This week I was able to job-shadow Tameisha Copeland, who's been working in Volvo Truck's Uptime Center for just more than a year.
The Uptime Center handles upwards of 250,000 inbound calls annually, alongwith 350,000 additional outbound calls with agents attempting to coordinate service with dealers, other providers and customers. All calls, wether for Volvo trucks, Mack or the company's bus brand Prevost, are handled on site and aren't re-routed to third-parties or agencies, even at odd hours, and the route to a real-live operator is a quick one.
"When you get that live voice – a human – quickly, you get a sense of calmness," said Magnus Gustafson, vice president of connected solutions.
To give you an idea of how important the customer service center is to Volvo, Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America, started his career with the company in a call center.
Tuesday, I was able to job-shadow Tameisha Copeland, who's been working in the Uptime Center for just more than a year, fielding customer calls and helping coordinate service between drivers, fleets, dealers and service providers.
Our driver called in (and this was a real call) with a data link issue, poor battery voltage and inoperable driver assist features, like cruise control. Once she'd collected the basic data, like the driver's name, truck VIN and truck number, Copeland was able to notify all concerned parties of the issue. This truck was a dealer leased unit, so there were several people that needed to know what was going on.
From just a few pieces of information (namely the VIN), that took her just a few minutes to gather, Copeland was able to see the truck's history, including all the active faults about which the driver was calling.
Our caller was in Virginia Beach, Virginia, but we had few options for service. There was one local dealer about 10 miles away, and one third-party provider about 15 miles away.
I assumed Uptime agents had a Batphone-like direct line to a dealer's service center, but that's not the case at all. Copeland had to navigate the same phone tree that I would have as a driver in need of help. As much fun as it is to press seemingly random numbers to get the help you need, Volvo agents go through all of that for the customer, deflecting any frustrations.
"We're trying to make that customer's worst nightmare into a positive experience. We're a concierge service," Walker said, noting the Uptime Center handles roadside assistance and repair, towing, in-house warranty filing, serves as a customer advocate and fields general inquiries.
After making a few phone calls, Copeland was able to coordinate service with the closest dealer. What the driver didn't have to deal with was calling the dealer who initially couldn't see him until three days later; calling the only third-party provider in the area who offered in-shop services and "could get to it, but probably not today"; and calling the dealer back to arrange a diagnostics check that day, under the expectation that if service was needed the driver may have to leave the truck.
Customer service is an interesting business because you know when that phone rings the person on the other end has a problem, and the odds that person is happy are low. Our caller couldn't have been nicer and that is apparently the norm. Copeland said in her 12-plus months on the job, she's only had three meanies. Yet, nice or not, Copeland handles them all with a bright attitude.
"If you're smiling when you take that phone call, the customer can tell," Walker said.
Copeland's final call was back to the driver to give him the address and let him know the dealer was expecting him.
"What hasn't changed is the empathic part of the whole situation," Voorhoeve said, noting that as important as all the technology is, it's people like Tameisha Copeland that drive the process. "The whole people-to-people thing is the most important. It is people talking to people; people helping people."
The connected truck
As important as the people element is to all this, the truck itself is a key player in delivering uptime solutions.
Factory-installed telematics are standard on all Volvo trucks, enabling around the clock monitoring. There are more than 532,000 connected Volvo Group trucks in North America and 1 million-plus connected globally.
“It’s a ton of data that’s coming off the trucks," said Nicole Portello, Volvo Group North America senior vice president and chief digital officer.
All the data collected by the truck, including faults and driver performance, among many other things, is collected and analyzed by the Uptime Center, but Portello said how the company uses that data has evolved over the years. She said when Volvo first started collecting data 20 years ago, it was used to refine product enhancements and to deliver insights into how customers use their trucks.
The company then started sharing connected data with its dealer network help dealers optimize truck specs for customers. That data is now also shared with customers via Volvo Connect, a digital suite of state-of-the-art services, analytics, and reports launched in 2023 that deliver fleets a range of truck data like fuel consumption, idle time, vehicle speed, seat belt information and location information – all in near real-time.
Volvo Connect provides "a screen shot in time of what was happening to that truck when the fault occurs," said Chayene De Souza, product marketing manager for connectivity and safety, leading to a 22% improvement in repair time because the repair facility is getting more and better data faster.
Data is also used in service contracts to help refine maintenance intervals and needs, increasing customer satisfaction, Portello said.
The new VNL expands connected capability from beyond the powertrain, as it is “the most connected truck in the industry,” said Magnus Koeck, vice president of strategy, branding and marketing. VNL's souped-up connectivity has enabled Volvo to add proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) models to its dealer-managed preventive maintenance program Blue Service Contract for customers with 2023 model year and newer trucks. The AI data-driven adaptive maintenance system replaces static service intervals with customized schedules, and is capable of adjusting service intervals based on factors like fuel consumption, idle time and oil samples, said Mike Furst, director of service contracts.
Connectivity also helps keep trucks out of the service bay for mundane things like software flashes. Remote updates saves fleets about $3,750 in service event duration for software updates and parameter changes alone, said Conal Deedy, director of customer productivity solutions. Remote programming services allows for software updates on the engine (EMS); aftertreatment system (ACM); transmission (TECU) modules; instrument cluster (IC) – Controls the dashboard lights, dials, and screens; Vehicle ECU (VECU) – Controls a wider variety of functions from the adaptive cruise control and overall engine management system to the tire pressure monitor and parking brake; and Body Builder Module (BBM) – Controls the functionality for specialty vehicle modifications for applications such as refuse trucks and transport refrigeration units (TRUs).
