TRUCK manufacturer Scania has announced major investments in Australia with plans for its ninth factory-owned sales and service outlet later this year and the purchase of two warehouses for parts and spares.

It has started building a sales and service branch at Eastern Creek in NSW to cope with demand for parts and to ensure supply in the future. The new branch is the second factory-owned outlet in NSW and complements the existing ones in WA, South Australia, Queensland (two) and Victoria (three).

Scania’s warehouse investment aims for additional capacity for spare parts storage and dispatch. The biggest, in Campbellfield in Victoria, is a new 9000 square metre complex that will open in September this year.

It is located close to the company’s headquarters and is substantially bigger than the existing national parts warehouse which opened in 1992.

The second investment is a new standalone warehouse facility in Perth, where 2000 square metres of parts storage will, from now, support Scania’s WA operations.

Scania said this facility is required to service its growing base of on-road and off-road clients, particularly among demanding applications such as mining where parts access is critical.

Scania aftersales director Patrik Tharna said the move to boost warehousing facilities was based on accelerated sales growth of its trucks, buses and engines, especially over the past decade, which affects expected demands for replacement and service parts into the future.

“We have doubled our truck sales and market share since 2010, and our bus market penetration remains extremely high, underscoring the need to supply many customers around the country with a reliable flow of parts, as well as the additional service capacity we are adding with our new company-owned branch at Eastern Creek,” he said.

“We live in an increasingly uncertain world and we have all seen over the past year the impact on long-distance supply chains during a pandemic.

“With this added capacity for parts holdings we anticipate being able to provide more parts, more quickly to more customers from these new warehouses.”

Scania last year increased parts stocks at its national warehouse in Victoria and at branch warehouses around the country when COVID hit to build resilience in case of major supply chain disruptions.

It also secured capability to deliver directly to workshops and customers from other warehouses in Europe and Asia.

However, Scania national parts manager and the team member responsible for the warehouse expansion program, Ben Nicholson, said production capacity and container availability has had – and still has – impact on spare parts availability.

“The new national warehouse in Campbellfield will allow even more stock to be located in Australia to counter the negative effect COVID has had on global supply chains and make us more independent,” he said.

“With the addition of the new regional warehouse in Perth, we will also build some additional resilience into our supply chain within Australia.”

Scania will also increase its employee numbers with the new buildings coming online. It already employs more than 500 people.

Scania’s new branch in NSW is also in response to demand. The company said that its Prestons branch was running an evening shift five days a week in order to deliver on time to customers.

The new, state-of-the-art workshops will have eight work-bays including three inspection pits, a bespoke wash-bay and a full complement of vehicle testing equipment including shakers and rollers for assessing suspension, braking and steering components.

Trailers and trailer equipment can be serviced on site along with prime movers, vocational rigids (such as construction and Jetvac trucks and fire appliances) as well as Scania buses and coaches.

The new site is expected to open its workshop Monday to Friday from 7am through to midnight, and on Saturdays until midday.

Scania said the new location was well positioned to support many customers in the area who previously would ferry their vehicles to Prestons for servicing.

But it also sees the location as a base to continue to prospect for more customers in the busy surrounding suburbs from Parramatta to Penrith.

The company will transfer some experienced staff from Prestons to Eastern Creek and also create new job opportunities at all levels with the opening of the new branch, particularly in the workshop.

By Neil Dowling