Product support director Aram Ibrahim talks Volvo Active Care and why the service is essential for machine uptime.
What is Volvo Active Care?
Volvo Active Care is a monitoring service. We monitor the machines out in the field from our Uptime Center through the Volvo telematics system CareTrack.
We remotely see how machines are performing and monitor any error codes or alarms that appear. If there is a severe error that might lead to a break down, we create a case, call the closest dealer to that machine and suggest an action for the dealer to relay to the customer. For our customers in EMEA, the dealers are interfaced so they can rest assured that any problems will be noticed, processed and they will be alerted to avoid any unplanned downtime.
If the customer wants to purchase Volvo Active Care, are they then added to the monitoring service in Volvo Uptime Center?
Yes, their machines will be connected to the Uptime Center and they are continuously monitored. The product support teams will be able to monitor machines in the field and if they spot any errors or if any alarms occur, they can perform the necessary analysis of the machine and connect with the closest dealer for action.
The product support organization covers support for all Volvo CE products. The role of product specialist is to be first line of support to Volvo CE Dealers. The main purpose for the product support organisation is to maximise machine uptime. This means our focus is to support the dealers with technical issues so they can support the customer to bring the machines back to work as quickly as possible.
This approach has been a well-established process between product support and our dealers in the region. But we have recognised that customer demand on machine uptime is higher than before and unplanned downtime is extremely costly for our customers. Therefore, we developed Volvo Active Care to be more proactive in our support to customers so we can be one step ahead of a future machine breakdown.
Why is Volvo Active Care beneficial for the customer?
The main reason is to reduce unscheduled downtime – this is one of the key challenges for our customers when they work on their projects. Our ultimate target is to help the customer to plan for a service or repair instead of unplanned breakdown.
What are the top reasons to subscribe to Volvo Active Care?
It’s about proactivity. We provide reports on how customer machines have been operated, where they can get a consolidated view of most critical technical alarms, operator behavior alerts, how many alarms have occurred on the machines, their fuel consumption, idling time, etc.
It’s very valuable information for a fleet owner to improve productivity. For example, they could improve productivity and lower costs just by knowing the idling status of the fleet and setting targets to reduce it.
Where is Active Care currently available?
Active Care is available in all markets where machines can be connected through Volvo telematics solution CareTrack. Some examples of markets that are active are Norway, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa, and Denmark.
Volvo Active Care is brought to the market through our dealer network. This means our dealers play a key role in the process of bringing this service to market.
