There’s been a record uptime and a productivity boost at waste management company Collard.

Specifically, the improvement has come from a switch to using Genuine Volvo Parts to the fleet.

As a result, more than 100 Volvo trucks on the fleet have seen maintenance procedures improve. 

The parts are sourced from the local Volvo dealer in Reading. 

Two deliveries are made to Collard Group every day to help maintain the record uptime levels. 

Collard’s productivity boost has been welcomed by transport director Roddy Taylor.

He led the change and replaced the policy of using non-genuine parts from factors.

“Reliability is paramount for us,” he maintained.  

“If a truck goes down, it can directly impact our ability to deliver a vital service to a customer.” 

Furthermore, he said experience showed it added to the running costs and resulted in poor driver utilisation.

“We identified that certain non-genuine parts were failing a lot earlier than expected. 

That lead to costly downtime and putting more pressure on our workshop.

“Genuine Volvo Parts performed incredibly well, leading to a noticeable uplift in reliability and performance,” added Taylor. 

“Availability and first-time pick rates are excellent.”

“We phone our orders in, and the parts arrive on the next delivery – which is normally same day for most routine items ordered before 09.00hrs.”

Meanwhile, Volvo Trucks account for more than two-thirds of the company’s 138 HGVs. 

For example, the fleet includes a flagship Volvo FH16 750 8×4 heavy haulage tractor unit and 80-tonne FH tractor units.

In addition, there are 32-tonne FMX 8×4 tippers and tipper grabs, and 15-tonne FL 4×2 plant bodies. 

Finally, there are also some FL 4×2 skip loaders.