Services speed Eaton push
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A PHONE CALL from the field service director of Saviem brought the Eaton Truck Components office in Chartres, France, swinging into action.
The problem — a Saviem 340 TT tractive unit had broken down outside Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on its regular run from Europe to the Persian Gulf. Range shifts with the Fuller Roadranger RTO 9509A ninespeed transmission were impossible to make and there were no Saviem dealers in the area.
The solution — Maurice Granier, after-sales service supervisor at Chartres, promised to get the vehicle rolling the next day by visiting Belgrade personally.
With no Saviem dealers in Belgrade, Maurice contacted a Berliet dealer — Berliet had recently become part of the Renault group along with Saviem — to meet him at the airport to help him clear customs.
Knowing that there would be no parts source available to him, Maurice had to take everything with him to carry out the repair. To be on the safe side he decided to take the entire auxiliary section of an RTO 9509A. The next morning Maurice flew from Paris to Belgrade with the auxiliary section — no easy task lugging 185Ib from the ticket counter, through baggage check and security control out to the aircraft. The local Berliet dealer proved to be an invaluable aid. Yugoslav Customs were clearly dubious about allowing through such unusual luggage. They finally granted a temporary visa with the proviso that the bearer would only be granted an exit visa if he returned with a 1 85Ib pack.
But Maurice's problems were still not over. He had chosen to arrive in Belgrade during a national religious holiday. As a result, garages were closed. So Maurice was compelled to repair the lorry in a rest area on the motorway outside Belgrade. With wind and snow hampering his efforts, Maurice, equipped only with a 9/16 wrench and chilled hands, exchanged the units in a very creditable two hours.
The Fuller transmission now functioned perfectly and the Saviem 340 IT roared back onto the motorway, heading once again for Kuwait with its cargo of prefabricated houses.
Checking back through Belgrade Customs, the returning auxiliary section proved to be even more curious to officers' eyes than the previous one.
Grime encrusted and dripping with dirty oil, the unit was wrapped in empty cement bags found abandoned in the motorway rest area. But no matter — a 1 851b package was all that was required.
This example according to Francesco Erriquez, Eaton's director at Chartres, is just one of many which has helped the company to recognition and success in France. "After-sales service is the main basis of all our successes," he affirms.
When the Chartres office was set up in 1973 to handle the full range of Eaton truck com ponents — the office had previously only handled Eaton truck axles — only 300 Fuller transmissions were in use. This year Chartres will be selling_ about 10,000 transmissions in Italy, France and Belgium.
"We have penetrated the market by retrofitting Fuller gearboxes to trucks in service with operators. Satisfying the Derators with the product, Iersales service, and training maintenance techniques, led the customers going to the EMs and telling them how iuch they liked our transmis ons. It was then a natural pro ression that the OEMs were ncouraged by popular opinion ) introduce Fullers as standard r optional equipment in their 3nges," Mr Erriquez said.
To date, more than 500 atrofits have been carried out in ranee to Berliet, Saviem, lcania, Fiat, Hino, Daimlerienz and Volvo trucks. To lack up Eaton's sales effort in 'ranee, Chartres run a new, fully !quipped tractive unit and railer. With the aid of films, ectures and practical denonstrations in a mobile workhop the "ins and outs" of Euler service and maintenance are ully explained,
Mr Erriquez added: "The 31-09513 is a sophisticated unit mdiwe need to go to the end user to show them how to get :he best out of it from the Jriver's point of view. At the same time we also teach operators how to service, maintain and repair them. Our main objective is making the customer feel he has a box he
knows intimately and generating confidence in our backup services so that he knows the total package will give him excellent service."
Despite a general depression in the market currently running at around 26 per cent down, Chartres has this year increased market penetration by around 15 per cent.
Last June Eaton opened a new $25 million truck transmission plant at St Nazaire on the West coast of France, the third plant in Europe producing heavy-duty truck transmissions. At present still tooling up for full production, the factory is currently concentrating on producing the Fuller RTO 9513 gearbox for DAF and Ford in Holland, MAN in Germany and Fiat in Italy. Tooling up is already underway for a start on producing Fuller PTO 9509 transmissions, many for the home French market, in 1979.
The 25,000 square metre plant, managed by Jean-Pierre Retif, is Eaton's third transmission plant in Europe — there are well established plants at Manchester and Basingstoke in the United Kingdom — and benefits from the latest manufacturing and quality technology.
The direct labour force, drawn in many instances from non-technical sources in the St Nazaire region, have adapted rapidly to the disciplines involved in transmission production.
The very latest fully automatic machines from France, Germany, the United States, Czechoslovakia and the United Kingdom have been installed for multiple batch gearcutting and milling to ensure high quality and efficient production. When the plant first opened, transmissions were initially built from kits of parts supplied from plants in the United Kingdom. Over the following 18 months, workers moved on to produce their own casting — the main case, shift bar housing and the rear housing — then to turning shafts, gear cutting, heat treatment and grinding. Since May 1978 all the major components of the Fuller 9513 have been made in-house.