Camerons buys up big with Volvo

Service and aftersales a key to large investment

The Glen Cameron Group, has purchased 35 Volvos in the last 12 months to fill a contract obligation with CHEP, collecting and delivering pallets throughout Victoria. The trucks had to work with a specially-designed low-height trailer capable of carrying a load 20 pallets high.

“We needed trucks with low-profile tyres and a turntable height of 1150mm to fit under the trailer,” said Shane Coates, Group Asset Manager for the Glen Cameron Group. “A standard turntable height truck was not suitable for this task.”

Volvo Trucks flew their engineers down to Victoria to better understand the specific requirements.

“The engineers observed the task and challenge provided to them by our client and came up with a solution,” said Shane. “Having a manufacturing facility in Brisbane enabled Volvo to offer a local purpose-built low-profile truck that would suit the application. Fortunately the trucks also came with a range of safety features that our customer had mandated.”

Shane ordered 14 FM450s in the low single-trailer configuration, four FM540s for B-Double work, and six rigid FE Euro-6 flat tops for the CHEP contract, and several more for their interstate PUD business.

While Shane was happy with the way Volvo was able to manufacture the right truck, it was the aftersales support and service resources that was the most important box that needed to be ticked. “Buying the trucks is the easy part,” said Shane. “It’s what happens afterwards that counts.

Managing uptime is 100% critical for both us and our clients. It’s important to manage cents-per-kilometre and total life costs, as any value we might make on the purchase price in a bulk purchase can disappear pretty quickly if a truck is sitting off the road waiting for a spare parts.”

Shane had been investigating Volvo’s servicing facilities and support resources for some time before the purchase. Getting this key resource in place was a priority, because without it, there could not have been a purchase on this scale. Working with Vince King at CMV Laverton, he soon discovered that the Volvo Trucks support network and CMV’s facilities and staffing were up to the task.

“They listened to what we had to say, we made our expectations crystal clear so they could understand our business and the importance of keeping our trucks on the road,” said Shane, “and to their credit they stood front and centre and they’ve been solid in their support.”

With 23 locations across Australia, and a business that provides contract logistics, warehousing and range of transport solutions to some of Australia’s biggest companies, Shane doesn’t have time to be distracted by trucks being off the road unnecessarily. This is why most of the Volvos in his fleet are on premium maintenance service contracts.

“Volvo has put measures and solutions in place to maximise our uptime,” said Shane. “CMV service our trucks overnight to make sure we’re back on the road the next day, and they have plenty of spare parts so we’re minimising our downtime. In addition, they provided driver training resources, which has significantly assisted us in improving our fuel consumption across our Volvo fleet.”

Since the initial purchase, Shane has ordered a further ten Volvos, evidence that both the quality of the trucks and the dedication of the aftersales support are up to his rigorous standards.

Camerons buys up big with Volvo

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