face to faceVinceWelshAfter Sales Director,MAN Truck & Bus UKCommitted to becoming ‘the best serviceprovider in the industry,’ the MAN Truck& Bus dealer network extends to almost70 dedicated MAN service and supportlocations around the UK, offering thehighest standards of vehicle up time.And they do it increasingly courtesyof MAN’s unique ‘Up Time Principle,’through which, for example, MOT firsttime pass rates have now reached animpressive 93% among MAN dealers.<strong>Export</strong> & <strong>Freight</strong>’s Helen Beggsrecently caught up with MAN’sAfter Sales Director VinceWelsh to find out more.36As After Sales Director,Vince’s area ofresponsibility is extensiveand covers service, parts, networkdevelopment, MAN OwnedDealer Operations, Warrantyand Contract Maintenance.“In summary,” he says, “myresponsibility starts after thevehicle is sold and continuesuntil it is scrapped, covering allpoints in between including theinfrastructure to support it.”There are customers whoare holding onto their trucksfor longer because of theeconomy, meaning AfterSalessupport becomes even moreimportant; what is MAN doingto meet that demand?We have noticed this is truebecause, over the last few years,our vehicle parc increased evenin depressed new vehicle marketconditions. The challenge isto increase our penetration ofthis market. We currently sell53% of all new vehicles onsome form of contract. We aredeveloping additional productsin the areas outside Repair andMaintenance contracts, suchas, comfort managed, partssupport on parts for oldervehicles, used vehicle warranties,repair and maintenancepackages for used vehicles.What, in your words, is theconcept behind Valueline, andwhat has been the reaction fromcustomers?Valueline was conceived toovercome the ‘perception’ inthe market place that all MANparts were expensive (in truth,some had been but this wasdue to exchange rate increasesbetween 2008 and 2010 ) Todate we have realigned 500 partsto ‘market related’ prices. Thereaction from both our dealernetwork and customers has beenextremely positive. Valuline hasincreased our retail turnoverbetween 2010 and 2011.How is Scania influencing theparts side of the business?We don’t have much competitionfrom Scania to be honest. Thepeople who are extremelyaggressive in the parts marketare the OE suppliers, such asKnorr Bremes and Wabco.Will there be an exchange ofmajor components such as MANbuying ZF gearboxes – will youuse Scania gearboxes in future?I don’t know to be honesthow any collaboration withScania will work out.Have you any moredevelopment plans for theaftersales side of the businessin terms of network expansion?We see expansion of the networkas natural progression. As we sellmore trucks we will need moredealer points. At the moment wehave 68 and we see the potentialof this being above 80 by 2020.How is the Irish market Northand South responding andperforming in terms of partssupply? A lot of hauliers arenow seeking cheaper partsand servicing from the holein the hedge brigade? Howare you dealing with this?We have two different marketswith different parameters.Our Northern Ireland dealer iscontracted to MAN Truck andBus UK, while our SouthernIreland dealer is an importercontracted to MAN Munich.Regarding parts business, dueto exchange rate differentialsthey have advantages anddisadvantages. The implimentationof VOSA standards in NI willmake a huge impact fromJuly this year and we feel theoperator will be keen to use themain dealer more and more.Our UTP programme in the UKhas made a huge difference tooperator standards throughoutour dealer network An exampleof this is is our increase in MOTfirst time pass rate. In 2006, atthe start of UTP, it was 67%,today it is up to 93%...and rising!Face to Face-Vince Welsh 1pg.indd 36 09/05/2012 12:14
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