Visiting Volvo Construction Equipment’s Shippensburg facilities

Volvo Construction Equipment has been busy in Pennsylvania. Three-plus years ago, the company announced a $100 million investment aimed at reinventing its North American footprint in the small town of Shippensburg, Pa. Volvo Construction Equipment acquired the Shippensburg facility from Ingersoll Rand back in April 2007 for $1.3 billion, when Ingersoll Rand divested its large line of road machinery. That turned a few heads.

Since then, Volvo Construction Equipment has relocated its sales team from Asheville, N.C., into a new sales office attached to the Shippensburg operations plant. The company has brought wheel loader production to Pennsylvania, with plans for articulated haulers and excavators in the future; the facility currently manufactures soil and asphalt compactors, motor graders, pavers, screeds and milling machines. Today, the site employs about 1,000 employees representing nearly 20 nationalities working in everything from fabrication and customer support to sales and assembly. What does all of that mean to you, the contractor?

Commitment to the marketplace, says Volvo. In fact, the company is so committed to customers it says that it will soon be inviting those equipment professionals out to Shippensburg too. Last month, its North American Customer Center opened. It’s a facility aimed at hosting dealer meetings, customer conferences, media events and company functions, but mostly it’s a place where buyers like you can actually operate Volvo machinery before you buy — in a demonstration area that replicates actual jobsites.

“The Customer Center is designed to give our customers and dealers hands-on experience with our machines and provide the help they need to put them to good use through training, information and support,” said Volvo Construction Equipment Americas president Göran Lindgren at the Customer Center “chain cutting” on June 23. Lindgren estimated that more than 6,000 customers, operators and dealer personnel will visit the new complex for training and activities annually, but the new 40-acre Customer Center in Shippensburg is just one piece of the puzzle for Volvo Construction Equipment in North America.

“We are the only Volvo Construction Equipment site in the world with engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing and aftermarket support all located on one campus. This means we can develop and build products closer to where our customers and dealers live and work. Plus, we are conveniently located next to Interstate 81, which is one of the main East Coast corridors and great for transport,” explained Amy Crouse, product and marketing communications specialist.

To show us how far its commitment reaches, Crouse and Volvo Construction Equipment invited Compact Equipment to Shippensburg — not only to see the new Customer Center (which was still under construction when we visited) — but also to tour its growing manufacturing facilities, survey its famous Volvo Road Institute, operate its compact machinery and soak up a little Keystone State culture.

The highlight of the trip was actually visiting nearby Chambersburg, Pa., to attend a morning at the venerated Volvo Road Institute, which will eventually be housed in the new Customer Center (along with a brand shop and Heritage Hall, a facility highlighting Volvo Construction Equipment history). For 50-plus years, the Road Institute has been training paving contractors around the country in everything from road machinery training and asphalt paving to compactor applications and asphalt mix education. The institute, which started off as a Blaw-Knox road school, boasts 19 different courses spanning 47 training sessions.

“During the wintertime, we conduct hands-on operator training in Phoenix because we can better rely on the weather there,” said Chris Connolly, paver training specialist. “So we go there about 12 times between November and April. Then toward the end of April, we’ll start offering classes here in Pennsylvania. We offer three of these hands-on classes here and then, because the weather is beginning to break, that’s the end of it because most contractors are sending crews back to work. During the summer months, we’ll also go on jobsite visits to see some of the people who have completed the class.”

I joined a Paver and Compactor Operation and Maintenance course for the morning, which included a crew from the City of Wooster, Ohio (less than an hour from CE headquarters). The course focused on paver and compactor preparation, operation and maintenance, as well as materials education (using hot-mix, warm-mix and/or stone-matrix asphalt). Wayne Tomlinson, compaction training specialist at the Road Institute, strapped me into a Volvo DD38HF double drum compactor. He explained to me there are a lot of factors that affect mat quality, pointing to the fresh, uncompacted asphalt mat in front of me. The end product should be a smooth, dense appearance that looks flat and tight, without any gaps between the aggregates. Proper speed, mat temperature, amplitude, stopping angles and communication between employees are all keys to success.

“And you don’t have to own Volvo equipment to learn those techniques. We train folks regardless of the machines they use,” explained Tomlinson. “We’ve trained crews with the smallest pavers paving driveways to municipalities taking care of cities and streets — all the way up to the highway pavers and the folks that do airport work as well.”
After a morning of surveying the Road Institute, the fine folks at Volvo Construction Equipment were kind enough to set up a personal ride and drive for Compact Equipment. John Comrie, 30-plus year veteran at Volvo Construction Equipment and utility product manager, personally gave me walk-arounds on the Volvo L50G compact wheel loader, MT135C compact track loader, ECR25D compact excavator and the BL70B backhoe loader. Which ones impressed the most? Well, I’ve always been a big fan of the one-armed skid steer and track loader designs. With only one loader arm, cab access to Volvo skid steer loaders and track loaders is much safer with side entry.

“Obviously, the huge benefit to the Volvo machine is the single arm design — safety, visibility and serviceability,” said Comrie. “Here’s a neat thing people don’t really talk about. You can tilt the cab. It’s a one-piece cab, so that when the cab goes up, the seat goes up with it, the controls go with it, everything goes up with it. Plus, if this was a conventional machine, and you were working here — what’s above your head? The boom arm. There’s only one arm on our machine, so the mechanic can work on the other side.”

Equally as impressive was the L50G compact wheel loader. Featuring Volvo’s patented Torque Parallel linkage, which combines Z-Bar and Parallel link designs in one system, the L50G can deliver high breakout torque and parallel movement through the entire lifting range. Last month, we did a deep dive on the American compact wheel loader market. These machines have never been very popular with American contractors, but once you jump into one like the L50G, it’s hard to deny their superior visibility, higher dump heights and versatility and maneuverability that’s equal to a skid steer loader. Plus, cost of ownership is just better.

“I’m really surprised the compact wheel loader hasn’t caught on more here in America. Fuel consumption, tire wear and running costs are 50 to 60 percent less than a skid steer loader,” explained Comrie. “Plus, if you’re going to be lifting 3,000 or 4,000 lbs, you can buy an L20 small compact wheel loader and you’re going to lift 5,000 lbs for maybe another 10 percent of the price of a skid steer.”

Each machine I operated lived up to the quality, performance and safety you would expect from the Volvo brand name. With the completion of its expanded Shippensburg facilities matched with its growing line of compact machinery, Volvo Construction Equipment looks eager to supply the American contractor with quality equipment and dealer service. But don’t take our word for it. Find your local Volvo dealer and convince him or her to take you to the new North American Customer Center where you can operate Volvo machines on simulated jobsites. Then, you can judge for yourself.

Keith Gribbins is managing editor of Compact Equipment, based in Brecksville, Ohio.