Going "all in" to keep customers running

Pike Industries, a CRH company, is New England's largest asphalt and aggregate producer, with quarries, aggregate crushing, and hot mix asphalt production facilities throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Pike also operates paving and road-building divisions concentrating on the New England region's heavy infrastructure projects.

The company owns 56 pieces of Volvo equipment including L150 and L180 wheel loaders, EC480 excavators and A30G articulated haul trucks. 

While its Gorham, New Hampshire, sand and gravel screening plant may be one of its smallest, it serves the remote northern band of the state with a steady parade of triaxles loading daily. 

In late July, their primary Volvo L180H wheel loader had an issue with its cooling fan that resulted in the need to replace the radiator. It was peak construction season, and the plant came to a sudden stop. Piling on to the pressure, the part was on backorder, which is not unusual in today's supply chain environment. The extraordinary is what happened next.

Melissa Anderson at local Volvo dealer Chadwick-Baross began making calls across branches and to Volvo's key accounts team in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Simultaneously, a loaner loader was secured and delivered to the Gorham site. The replacement radiator was secured, and delivery was expedited. The installation was scheduled at Chadwick's new Lancaster branch, less than ten miles from Gorham, which had yet to hold its official grand opening.

Less than a week after the downtime incident, the L180H was repaired, serviced, cleaned, and back in action at the plant with minimal impact on Pike's end customers.

"Gorham is a one-person operation, so when the loader went down, eight to ten drivers were immediately sitting and waiting. So, it's great to have a partner like Volvo and Chadwick to ensure we stay up and running," says Gary Brown, vice president of equipment for Pike Industries.

Pike also uses Volvo's ActiveCare Direct telematics system to avoid potential downtime threats. "We get the alerts sent to our shops and manage them to a 'T.' For example, if we get a new shop foreman in New Hampshire, we set up the machine alerts to go directly to him. If a DEF tank is low, he gets an alert, and depending on severity, we also get a call from Chadwick. It's an awesome tool."

Levi Wardner is the new general manager at Chadwick's Lancaster branch, moving into the role after years in product support. "When Melissa came to me with the issue, she said, I know you will make it happen. I appreciate the confidence Gary and Pike Industries have in our team and that we were able to deliver," he says.

Operator Francis Briere with the L180H.