Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) welcomed nearly a thousand customers and dealers to its North American headquarters for Volvo Days, showcasing dozens of new and existing products and offering networking, a dynamic machine show, factory tours and hands-on experience with machines and services.
Volvo Days is a customer event held every few years in Shippensburg, PA. The 2024 event shows customers how the OEM is growing its range of offerings in both conventional and electric power across the company鈥檚 extensive lineup. 鈥淧roviding an exceptional customer experience is something we鈥檙e focused on every day of the year, but Volvo Days gives us a special opportunity to celebrate our customers, strengthen relationships and allow people to talk with our experts and test-drive machines,鈥� said Scott Young, head of Region North America, Volvo CE.
Several new products were introduced to the North American market this week, including the SD125 soil compactor, the R60 and R70 rigid haul trucks, and the L120 Electric mid-size wheel loader and new-generation EC230 Electric mid-size excavator. The event is also the first chance for many customers to have firsthand experience with the new series of Volvo excavators introduced earlier this summer. The series includes several mid-size and large models, with more to be introduced in the coming months, and represents the biggest update to the Volvo CE excavator lineup in two decades.
Volvo Days attendees commented on the power and responsiveness of the new excavators, as well as the thoughtful cab updates. 鈥淚 like how they changed the seat and how you can drive with the dials on the joysticks. Everything is more comfortable for an operator who鈥檚 going to be in the machine for eight hours or more a day,鈥� said Gavin Craig, an operator at Craig’s Construction in Calhoun, Georgia. 鈥淰olvo has the smoothest machines on the market. Others I鈥檝e used are more jerky.鈥�
Dalton Nokes, general superintendent at Garrett Excavating in northwest Arkansas, agreed. 鈥淭hese excavators are very responsive and smooth 鈥� some of the fastest excavators I鈥檝e ever run,鈥� he said.
Nokes added that he was highly impressed with what he learned about Volvo products at the event. 鈥淚 can tell that Volvo people take a lot of pride in what they do and they鈥檙e very knowledgeable,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 big part of this business is having a product you believe in and knowing that the people who build it stand behind it, and I definitely saw that today.鈥�
In all, more than 65 machines from across the Volvo CE product lineup were on display. There are also demonstrations of technology like machine control systems, advanced telematics, productivity services and site solutions. 鈥淚t鈥檚 critical that we give customers comprehensive solutions for their projects,鈥� said Young, 鈥淎nd that means pairing the right machines with the right services to help them optimize their safety, productivity and uptime.鈥�