Customer Support Series Part 3: On-site Service

At the Wirtgen Group, fast and efficient on-site customer service has utmost priority. An extensive service network and on-site solutions ensure that Wirtgen Group customers enjoy the certainty of maximum machine availability.

The Wirtgen Group itself has a distinguished history as a service provider in the road construction segment, which is why we are familiar with the challenges that our customers encounter on construction sites around the globe. This is why customer support is so important to the Wirtgen Group. The operational readiness of our customers’ machines is essential, and ensuring this is the top priority of our entire service organisation. In critical situations, service technicians are quickly on site and get the machines up and running again. The Wirtgen Group provides professional service through a network of workshop and on-site service teams at numerous subsidiaries and authorised dealers around the globe.

Highly qualified service team

Whether for machines from Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm and Kleemann, or plants from Benninghoven – the Wirtgen Group’s service technicians are regularly trained at the respective brand headquarters and know ‘their’ machines inside out. Equipped with special state-of-the-art tools and the Wirtgen Group’s diagnostic equipment, they ensure that malfunctions are quickly diagnosed and rectified and that the machines remain in top condition – from the day of delivery and throughout their entire service life. To keep the worldwide subsidiaries and dealers up to date on the latest machine developments, all Wirtgen Group brand headquarters operate their own training centres and offer comprehensive training programs that are constantly updated to reflect current requirements. Customers also benefit from the expertise of the Wirtgen Group, as all Group subsidiaries also offer training programs for their customers’ repair shop personnel and machine operators.

State-of-the-art digital aids

Precise diagnostics are the key to speeding up the troubleshooting process. With WIDIAG, the Wirtgen Group’s service diagnosis system, service technicians can easily update software and quickly diagnose machine malfunctions at the construction site. The tool acts as an interface between man and machine and makes it possible to perform specific service diagnostics directly on site. The Wirtgen Group’s maintenance experts always need up-to-date, easily accessible information and data.

Unsurprisingly, the Wirtgen Group also makes this knowledge base available to its customers. WIDOS, the Wirtgen Group’s electronic documentation system, enables repair shop personnel, service technicians, buyers and technical managers to access the key data for all machines and systems of the Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm and Kleemann product lines. This tool can be used, for example, to quickly and easily identify machine components and order them online with just a couple of clicks. The digital documentation also includes the complete Parts and More spare parts catalogue, user manuals, electrical, hydraulic and hose diagrams, machine data and the safety manual.

Proactive maintenance

The Wirtgen Group systematically upgrades its service solutions to mitigate the risks of critical situations before they happen. Customers can work with their local service partner to create a maintenance plan that schedules preventive maintenance at the right time to ensure that machines are always in peak operating condition. Advanced telematics also set new standards in fleet management. WITOS FleetView, the telematics solution from the Wirtgen Group, supports fleet and service management for Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm and Kleemann machines. WITOS FleetView offers a clear overview of the customer’s machine fleet and facilitates maintenance and diagnostic processes.

As Markus Strunk, Head of Customer Support for Southern and Eastern Europe, Great Britain and France at Wirtgen GmbH, explains: ‘WITOS is currently the main tool for both customers and the Wirtgen Group Service team.’ The system tracks the status of all essential machine parameters such as engine condition, fuel consumption and engine load, and delivers the information gathered in the form of automated messages and customer-specific reports. If maintenance is required, notification is sent 50 hours in advance. ‘WITOS is a great planning tool that allows customers to work with their local partner on the development of an ideal maintenance plan’, says Markus Strunk.