English - Nooteboom Giants on the Road Magazine English - Nr. 4 - 2017 | Page 39

ALL IN THE FAMILY THE NOOTEBOOM DELIVERY TEAM COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTION WITH DELIVERY AS SOON AS A NOOTEBOOM TRAILER LEAVES THE FACTORY TO BE DELIVERED TO THE CUSTOMER THE VEHICLE IS PASSED ON TO THE DELIVERY TEAM. BUT SOME TIME BEFORE THAT HAPPENS JOEY BOUWMAN, OF THE SALES SUPPORT DEPARTMENT, IS GIVEN A DELIVERY DATE. ARRANGEMENTS WILL THEN BE MADE WITH THE CUSTOMER REGARDING THE DAY AND TIME THAT THE VEHICLE IS TO BE COLLECTED AND THE TRAINING AND INSTRUCTION WILL BE SCHEDULED BY THE DELIVERY TEAM. They also check that all the required transport documents have been prepared, such as a temporary registration, to ensure that nothing stands in the way of an efficient delivery to the customer. William, Jos and Jurgen are responsible for the delivery to the custom- er. A few days before the delivery they carry out the final inspection, test all the functions of the trailer and make sure all the paperwork that’s required is complete. The last part of the delivery procedure is the comprehensive training and instruction given to the driver, making sure that he knows all the ins and outs of the trailer. And to finish we wish him a safe journey and present him with a Nooteboom driver’s coat. FINAL CHECK Jurgen: ‘Every morning I select new trailers from the row of trailers that are ready to be delivered to our customers. I weigh the trailers, test the brakes and I check that all the options ordered by the customer are there. Before the trailer gets an ‘OK’-sticker I take it for a test drive to test all the functions. Even the smallest details are important, because Nooteboom stands for quality and therefore we want to prevent that, for instance, a light on the trailer doesn’t work when it is being delivered.’ INSTRUCTION William: ‘With every trailer comes comprehensive instruction. These instruction details can be found in the manual too and we have several instruction videos that can be viewed online. We prefer the driver to collect the trailer himself. If we are talking about a large low-loader with an Interdolly the instruction can take a whole day. To begin with we explain all the functions and details of the trailer. We start at the front and one hour later we will arrive at the rear bumper. We then couple a tractor to the trailer and demonstrate the steering system, extension method and how to uncouple the Multidolly. We then let the driver do everything himself once more. If the vehicle is totally new for the driver we will also take the time to make a test drive. We train and instruct the driver for as long as it takes until we are sure he can use all the features and functions himself.’ ONE SINGLE DEMONSTRATION SAYS MORE THAN A THOUSAND WORDS Jurgen: ‘Another aspect of our job is to demonstrate new trailers to customers. The operation of a Nooteboom trailer is simple and well thought-out. We may demonstrate, for instance, how to uncouple a Multidolly or how to adjust the fifth wheel load on a Manoovr. Our customers don’t just want to be told by a sales adviser, they like to see it in practice too.’ SAFETY William: ‘Safety is an important aspect of our job. We teach the driver how he can move the trailer to a safe place if there should be a prob- lem. It can all be found in the trailer’s manual but in our experience the manual is not always read properly. An explanation given at the delivery is bound to stay in the driver’s memory for longer. This year we are going to add more videos to our instruction films and they demonstrate step-by-step how to operate the trailer. We also have several instruction films that explain the various aspects of the trailer’s maintenance.’ REVERSING WITH A JEEPDOLLY Jurgen: ‘In this job no two days are the same. Sometimes an experi- enced driver will arrive in the morning before our morning coffee for whom the trailer is a piece of cake and that driver will already be on his way to collect his first load within an hour. But on another day we may come across a driver who has never coupled a hydraulically-steered and extendible trailer. In that case we take our time for the instruction and training. Sometimes a driver asks us to demonstrate reversing. A few years ago we were to deliver a combination with a jeepdolly. There was quite a delegation present: the owner of the transport company, his son and the driver. Of course father and son wanted to have a go at reversing with a jeepdolly, but they failed miserably. Then it was the turn of the driver. He knew very well how to use the remote control of the steering and reversed the entire combination into our delivery hall without any problems. This goes to show: drivers in abnormal trans- port are specialists who take their profession very seriously.’  ■ 39