English - Nooteboom Giants on the Road Magazine English - Nr. 3 - 2016 | Page 41

ALL IN THE FAMILY Trailer Service Zwijndrecht EXTENSIVE SERVICE PACKAGE A new Nooteboom semi-trailer is going to have a tough and demanding life. During that long life everyone, irrespective of the brand, can call on Nooteboom for service, repairs, advice or refurbishment. By keeping all the costs under control during the lifetime of the trailer, Nooteboom can guarantee the lowest costs per kilometre. Over the past six years Trailer Service Zwijndrecht has become an important facility in the service organisation of Nooteboom. FROM PRODUCTION TO SERVICE Willem Thijssen (39) is as branch manager responsible for all the service and repairs activities in Zwijndrecht. Willem joined Nooteboom straightaway after finishing his studies at the MTS technical college 18 years ago. He held various positions within Nooteboom and for a number of years he was responsible for the production of the OSDS semi low-loaders. In 2010 he made the career change from production to service. He was offered the opportunity to start up a new service centre in the Rotterdam area. With success, because the service facility in Zwijndrecht has experienced spectacular growth during the past few years. WHY ZWIJNDRECHT? Willem: “In 2010 the decision was made to set up a service branch in the Rotterdam region. Looking for a suitable location we ended up at Scania Zwijndrecht, who were about to move to Alblasserdam. Zwijndrecht is ideal because the location is exactly halfway between Amsterdam and Antwerp and it is easy to get to from the A16. In this area there are many large and smaller companies that carry out abnormal transports. The service facility in Zwijndrecht turned out to be a resounding success. What started out as a workshop with one single mechanic has grown in six years into a dynamic business with 9 mechanics, led by team leader Kees van der Meij. With the latest expansion we now have at our disposal six service stations and an APK-street with a brake analyser. We intend to expand the capacity even further. We are actively looking to recruit more mechanics.” MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS Willem: “Several of our customers want to know the exact costs of their transport. One way to achieve this is to enter into a maintenance contract. With the wide variety of vehicles and applications in special transport it is not easy to offer a standard solution. Our maintenance contracts are tailor-made and based on a careful analysis of the vehicle’s utilisation. The maintenance contract gives an insight into the costs in the coming years without any unpleasant surprises. Several of our customers in the access platform sector are using this service already. In order to give them the best possible service we have an access platform semi low-loader at our disposal that they can ‘borrow’.” PARTS COLLECTION Willem: “Due to the increase in service activities in Zwijndrecht our stock of parts is now also much more extensive. There is a daily shuttle service between Wijchen and Zwijndrecht to keep stocks replenished. Our customers have the option of collecting the parts in Zwijndrecht. Ordering in Wijchen and collecting in Zwijndrecht is no problem. For fleet owners who have their own workshop we sell many parts over the counter, and we include advice on how to carry out the repairs if required.” SALES AND DELIVERY OF NEW TRAILERS Willem: “As of 1 January 2016 the Zwijndrecht branch has added sales of the Nooteboom SMART programme to the scope of its activities. These are mainly OSDS and MCOS 3-axle and 4-axle semi low-loaders with self-tracking or hydraulically steered axles, as well as ASD drawbar semi low-loaders. Various vehicles can be delivered