Volvo makes significant investment in welding and line boring services.
If
like me when you hear the term line boring, it conjures up images of extremely uninteresting country and western enthusiasts, then hopefully this article will go some way to dispelling myths and putting the process into context.
To the uninitiated and in layman’s terms, it simply restores a bore to its original size and condition.
With regard to construction vehicles, bores are more often than not badly worn by ill-fitting pins or bushes, leaving them loose and unserviceable. The two options available to the consumer are either to replace components, or have the bore re lined in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost. Clearly in these times of austerity the latter is preferable.
The process itself consists of laying a weld through a bore then milling it with a specialised tool. Obviously the tolerances are critical, therefore making it a highly specialised procedure.
Volvo’s customer support centre at Duxford, along with two other Volvo locations have a dedicated welder/ line borer, who know only too well the importance of cost effectiveness and precision. Volvo plan to double this to six locations in 2013 to offer a nationwide service. Paul, Steve and Gary, (the team at Duxford) possess a wealth of knowledge in their field and between them have racked up in excess of fifty years in the construction equipment industry. But the one thing that is glaringly obvious is their old fashioned approach to engineering. I can already hear the gasps of horror so allow me to elaborate. Although they are completely au fait with the new technological advances available to them, they have the ability and penchant to repair or fabricate as opposed to replace, a skill and philosophy so often lost now in the field of engineering, yet a necessity due to the nature of the beast when improvisation is key. This is also important when working on other makes of machinery, which incidentally is something they do with aplomb.
By Pete Tanner
Two types of line borer are employed at Duxford, a powerful yet slightly cumbersome hydraulic system based at the workshops for obvious reasons, and a smaller but no less effective mobile electric system for on-site boring, which can be conveyed in the engineer’s vehicle to the disabled machine.
Through holes are most common for this type of machinery but blind bores will also be un- dertaken, with the same attention to detail and accuracy. Warranties carry the same terms and conditions as new parts, therefore providing the customer with many more hours of worry free operation.
It is worth mentioning from a potential customer’s point of view that Volvo has made a considerable long term investment in this project both in terms of research and equip- ment, proving, if proof were needed, that customer service is as ever at the forefront of its ethos and yet again with the construction industry suffering considerable hardship, Volvo has once again put its customers’ needs first by offering a more cost effective alternative.
In conclusion, this is just one more service to add to Volvo’s vast array and along with its one stop fix promise, must inevitably put them at the top of the pile when it comes to customer satisfaction.
THE VOICE PAGE 9
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