The average time taken for Bridgestone’s truck fleet service network to resolve a commercial vehicle breakdown upon arrival in 2016 has shortened to just 49 minutes, new company figures reveal.
The strength of the Bridgestone Partner network – comprised of hundreds of respected tyre dealers across the UK – has been further underlined through end-of-year data which can now be shared for the first time.
In 2016, 35,000 jobs were accepted, with an average time of 62 minutes taken from the time the first call was made to the moment a Bridgestone Partner member arrived at the roadside.
Having then arrived at the stricken vehicle it took an average of 49 minutes – two minutes quicker than in 2015 – to complete each job, meaning that each vehicle was up-and-running in an average of less than two hours, from the time the first call was made.
Statistics show that over 40,000 commercial vehicles were worked on by Bridgestone Partner in 2016, with 250,000 tyres being managed overall, compared with 207,000 in 2015.
Bridgestone Partner aims to reinforce Bridgestone’s position as a true premium player and can assist in fuel, repair and downtime savings.
Each member of the network is also trained to the highest industry standards, thanks to Bridgestone’s award winning staff training and development programme, led by IRTEC accredited assesors Paul Turner and Phil Thirsk.
Commenting on the impressive Bridgestone Partner roadside assistance results, Paul Sheehan, National Operations Manager, said: “These figures certainly make for positive reading and provides a tangible example of how we support commercial fleets.
“Our levels of aftercare and support are amongst the very best in the industry and underlines why it is preferable to work with a premium tyre manufacturer like ourselves.
“We appreciate the need to get fleets back up and operational as soon as is possible. Any roadside breakdown is an unwanted headache for a fleet. Knowing that we can get them back up and running again so quickly will be viewed as a major positive amongst operators.
“When we talk to our fleets, they cite vehicle uptime as one of their most important factors, so every minute we can save results in improved operational costs for our customer.
“We have over 315 commercial tyre dealerships and more than 1,000 vans in our Bridgestone Partner network, which means that we are the leading UK fleet tyre service provider.”
Paul once again praised Bridgestone’s online Total Tyre Manager system, which allows fleets to gain access to their own KPIs, including breakdown statistics, at the click of a button.
This open book approach puts the information in their hands and means that there are no surprises when it comes to servicing.
Paul added: “Our proactive tyre husbandry and national audit teams mean that we have reduced the number of breakdowns per vehicle in 2016. Over the past 12 months, we have been asking fleets that aren’t operating a Bridgestone tyre policy to challenge our service provision.
“We carry out free of charge audits at these fleets, and find that in the majority of cases we can find ways to reduce their tyre costs and minimise their downtime.
“I am hoping that the statistics we are revealing will encourage more fleets to challenge us to reduce their costs.”
