Constructionshows
Volvo CE, VFS and Volvo Trucks are all helping to deliver a much needed 21km – mostly tunneled – E4 highway extension outside the Swedish capital.
Volvo CE, Volvo Trucks and Volvo Financial Services collaborate with Volvo Truck Center and Swecon to ensure the project’s success.
Road congestion is not a modern phenomenon – we have been stuck in traffic jams for literally decades. Take the Swedish capital of Stockholm, where they have been discussing a congestion-reducing bypass for the last half century. For them at least relief is at hand, as in September this year, after many appeals, all 13 land-use plans in order to create what will become the Stockholm Bypass became legally binding. When completed, the Stockholm Bypass will be a major new stretch of road for the E4 highway west of Stockholm. 21 kilometres long, of which 18 kilometres will be in tunnels, travel times dodging the city will be a little less than 15 minutes.
The new route connects the southern and northern parts of Stockholm, relieves Essingeleden, and reduces the risk of traffic jams in Stockholm’s road system. The Stockholm Bypass is estimated to cost 28 billion Swedish krona and will take 10 years to build.
A family road trip
Gearing up to make this important project a reality are Volvo Group companies Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE), Volvo Trucks and Volvo Financial Services. Volvo’s machines and trucks are often seen on the same work sites around the world and they have, together with VFS and the Swedish dealers Volvo Truck Center and Swecon, cooperated on different projects.
“The Stockholm Bypass was a golden opportunity to develop our cooperation even further. We have many common customers, we are on the same work sites, and we have a similar aftermarket. Together we can give a uniquely strong offer,” says Jan Willander regional manager at Volvo Truck Center in Stockholm.
There have been thoughts about developing that cooperation further – but it started to take shape first when the major Stockholm Bypass infrastructure project also started to take shape. “You could say that the Stockholm Bypass got us going from talk to action,” says Christer Söderberg at Swecon.
Swecon Anläggningsmaskiner is the national dealer for Volvo CE in Sweden. Swecon is represented by over 400 employees in more than 40 locations throughout the country. The company also has representation in the Baltic countries and in parts of Germany. Volvo Truck Center Sweden, meanwhile, is Sweden’s leading Volvo Truck dealer and has 21 facilities in and around the major city regions Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.
A Swecon service technician provides rapid help on-site.
The cornerstone of Volvo CE and Volvo Truck’s offer is the strong presence of both companies’ dealers in the Stockholm and Mälar region, with close to 180 service technicians on call, often with overlapping skills, as well as 11 workshops. To that are added 30 well-equipped service vehicles that can provide fast help on site.
“With our machines, our competence, and our availability, we have something to offer that nobody else can match. We promise uptime 24/7, that is extremely important to our customers to enable them to meet deadlines and demands on profitability,” says Per-Erik Lindström, vice president for Volvo CE Hub North.
“Our customer service is going to be staffed around the clock, every day of the week. Service and availability have highest priority,” says Christer Söderberg, managing director at Swecon.
Even if cooperation between two large service organizations can be difficult at first, all involved share a common goal: it should be simple for the customer. Daytime, both Swecon and Volvo Truck Center’s customers have their dedicated telephone numbers to customer service. Evenings, nights, and weekends they share a staffed customer service.
From left (back to front): Christer Söderberg, managing director, Swecon, Benny Rickan, aftermarket manager, Group Truck Sales, Sören Johansson, aftermarket manager region Central Sweden, Swecon, Per-Erik Lindström, VP Hub North, Volvo CE sales region EMEA, Hans Börjesson, MD market Sweden, Group Truck Sales and Jan Willander, regional manager, Volvo Truck Center.
Always available
“As a service provider, we should always be available. Now it’s all about the Stockholm Bypass, but that’s where the industry and customer demands are headed in general,” says Christer Söderberg.
And for Hans Börjesson, this cooperation is not a one-time deal, instead it is the beginning of a new way for Volvo Truck Center and Swecon to work together and make use of each other’s strengths.
“We are going to learn a lot while this project is up and running. We are going to benefit from that in the future in other major projects, such as the West Link (Västlänken),” he says.
