Volvo CE expands Nevada regional distribution center

Volvo Construction Equipment completed the 75,000-square foot expansion of its regional parts distribution center in Reno, Nev., and increased the facility’s floor space by 125%

Volvo CE expanded its regional parts distribution center in Reno, Nev., by 75,000 square feet to bring parts closer to construction equipment customers with faster delivery times and reduced shipping costs, the company said.

The project, completed in conjunction with Volvo Group Service Market Logistics, increased the facility’s floor space by 125%.

Volvo Group has operated the Reno facility, which supports the Volvo Trucks and Mack Trucks brands, since 2006.

According to Volvo CE, ground orders for California and the Pacific Northwest are now arriving two days faster compared to shipping from the Volvo Group’s central distribution center in Byhalia, Miss.

The company also said a new Dedicated Delivery Service now operates out of Reno as an exclusive carrier to expedite overnight shipments to western U.S. dealers and arrive dealer branches by as early as 4 a.m. the next day.

“By pooling the resources of the Volvo Group, these improvements to our North American logistics network increase efficiency and provide faster response times,” said Stephen Roy, president of Region North America, Volvo CE. “Our commitment is to ensure we support machine uptime for our West Coast customers and moving parts closer to where they do business is one of the major steps.”

Additional benefits of the Reno distribution center’s expansion include:

Inventory of critical machine down parts on the shelf in Reno for overnight shipping

Parts order cut-off time extended to 4 p.m. PST

Cost savings to customers with more deliveries shipped via ground versus air

Tom Zimmer, president of Tri-State Truck & Equipment – a dealer of Volvo Trucks and Mack Trucks in Montana, Wyoming and the Nebraska panhandle – said that many western U.S. dealers are challenged to support customers spread across a vast territory and that planting a stand-alone parts center in their region has significant impact.

“The Reno parts center has cut our lead times by 40-50% for construction equipment stock orders,” Zimmer said. “We have seen the faster delivery times gained by having an aftermarket parts warehouse in our region. Now, we can offer the same level of uptime support to construction customers.”

Although the facility’s expansion directly affects customers in the western U.S., customers and dealers across the country are benefitting from rebalanced parts volumes throughout the supply chain, Volvo CE said.

The company ended 2020 with record parts availability and dealer fill rates, despite constraints caused by the pandemic and increased demand on freight carrier services.

Volvo CE hired additional employees and established an onsite training center to support higher volumes and maintain agility, according to the manufacturer, and the Reno facility also features a new collaboration spaces and a central command center for team leads to improve communication flow.

“The employees at this site have proven their abilities through sustaining top-tier quality and productivity — attributes that make a meaningful impact for dealers and customers across the Volvo Group,” said Bob Hochwarth, vice president with Volvo Group Service Market Logistics for North America.

Volvo CE said the Reno facility has been consistently ranked as one of the highest-performing warehouses in the North American automotive sector by third-party benchmarking studies, and North America is one of Volvo CE’s largest markets, according to the company’s release, as more than 20% of the region’s total business comes from the western third of the U.S.

The expansion follows the opening of the Toronto Distribution Center in 2019, and the Volvo Group parts distribution network now spans eight locations in the U.S. and Canada.