Volvo Penta strengthens offer with connected services

Volvo Penta is highlighting how it’s ramping up progress in its services offering, with a sharp focus on creating value with customers through connected solutions.

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Volvo Penta is using its presence at bauma Munich to talk to customers about how it can improve uptime for OEMs and end-customers through connected power solutions. The company has run several connectivity pilots together with customers in different industrial segments. These have focused on the technology and new, proactive ways of working to deliver value-adding services to meet customers’ needs. Volvo Penta has connected units, including electric drivelines, operating in selected industrial sub-segments and the company is continuing to establish strong collaborative partnerships with customers.

“We have a co-operation and co-creation stepwise approach to connected services which involves having the whole value-chain – from the end-user to the service network – in mind,” says Victor Hugo Castillo Gutiérrez, Director Uptime & Productivity Services at Volvo Penta. “We work closely with our OEM customers to fully understand their needs, application and environment, in order to identify the value-added services. This, together with analyzing the engine data to maximize uptime, is the backbone of our connectivity offe

How it works

The engine or power solution is a critical machine component that has a major influence on uptime. Volvo Penta’s strength and expertise lie in this area, together with the related software, so the company can use this knowledge to help customers improve productivity and uptime through connected engine solutions.

Connectivity enables the real-time monitoring and measuring of a power solution’s status. By having a connected diesel engine or electric driveline, any emerging or potential issues can be detected through the data and dealt with quickly and efficiently before bigger problems occur – helping to maintain and increase uptime and productivity. By knowing what the problem is, you get more efficient diagnostics as dealers can approach customers with the issue and arrive with the right tools, parts and expertise to fix the problem.

“We see the connected services we provide as being an integrated component of the services that OEMs provide to their end-customers,” explains Victor. “Our engine is a critical component and our uptime services should be thought of in the same way.”

The strength of the Volvo Group

Volvo Penta started its connectivity journey in its Marine segment several years ago, launching its Easy Connect solution for Marine Leisure customers in 2018. Volvo Penta’s Industrial segment benefits from this shared technology along with the rest of the Volvo Group’s knowledge and experience from having over one million connected customer assets.

“There are endless opportunities ahead to co-create new services offerings to increase uptime thanks to the data from connected engines,” concludes Victor. “We can create new, predictive ways of working using data insights to drive efficiency in the whole value chain, increasing the end-customer’s uptime and productivity.”

Volvo Penta initially started working with European OEMs on connected solutions and is now opening up pilots in the US, before expanding the service to other markets.