Volvo’s 20,000-square-foot Customer Center will conduct more than 20,000 hours of Road Institute, sales and operator instructor-led training, with an additional 40,000 hours of dealer technician training.More than 6,000 customers, operators and dealers are expected to visit Volvo’s Shippensburg, Pennsylvania-based Customer Center, a new facility that on Monday hosted ribbon cutting ceremonies by Congressman Bill Shuster, Congressman Lou Barletta, Congressman Scott Perry, Swedish Ambassador to the United States Björn Lyrvall and Pennsylvania State Senator Richard Alloway.
Set on 40 acres, the 20,000-square-foot center is part of a $100 million North American investment that includes consolidating Volvo’s North American operations in Shippensburg and localizing production by moving wheel loader manufacturing to Shippensburg.
The L60G flag loader, the first wheel loader produced at the Shippensburg factory, was custom painted with U.S. and Canadian flags by Volvo employees.Excavator and articulated truck production are also planned for the location. Eventually, 70 percent of the Volvo equipment sold in North America will be produced at the Shippensburg complex, says Volvo CE Americas President Göran Lindgren.
The center will host sales, operator training, dealer visits and events. An equipment demonstration area replicates jobsites, and features 10 bays.
More than 70 models will be onsite for customers to get hands-on experience in operating the equipment, and the area will feature segments for specialty machines such as pipelayers and high-reach demolition excavators.
The demo site will also have a 1.5-mile test track with steep grades, a replica quarry application and a ground structure for demonstrating articulated haulers.
Also on site is the Heritage Hall, which acts as a small-scale history museum for Volvo equipment, and a Volvo shop.
Editor’s Note: Amy Materson is the managing editor for sister site Equipment World.
